If you are experiencing an issue with odor in your water, the first step is to determine if the problem exists in the water supply or in your plumbing. If the water supply is causing the odor, you will experience the odor at every water faucet and it will not fade as the water runs. It will also be present on the cold water. If the source of the odor is in your plumbing, you will experience the odor in only one or several, but not all, of the faucets. If the problem goes away after running the water for a few minutes, the cause is somewhere in your plumbing. If your plumbing is the source of the odor, you can try flushing the plumbing system or you can contact a licensed plumber.

When you detect an odor in your tap water, we ask that you perform what we call a “glass test” at the faucet where you first noticed the odor.

• Run the cold water tap for 20 to 30 seconds.
• Get a clean glass and fill and rinse twice with cold tap water.
• Fill the glass and turn off the faucet.
• Step away from the sink (this eliminates the possibility of mistaking odors from your drain for odors in your water).
• Smell the water in the glass and characterize the odor, if any. Please see the descriptions below to characterize the odor you are detecting.

Select the water odor/smell you are experiencing:

• Chlorine/Chemical/Medicinal Odor 
• Foul/Sulfur/Rotten Egg/Sewage Odor 
• Petroleum-like, or Organic Solvent Odor