Tap Water Smells Fishy? (Austin, Spring: 2013, high schools, live)

[datacity]

This tends to happen from time to time... something about the algae levels being higher than normal. Check this recent link from October...maybe things have gotten worse since then.

City of Austin - AWU Continues to Monitor Algae in Lake Austin

[corundogs]

I just walked past the bathroom again...and yup! It's a "dirt" smell. The closest thing - I think most OBVIOUS thing based on common knowledge - was that it was mold. I mean, what else would a bathroom smell like, if not the "given" things? hehehe!

Boy, so glad that I came across this thread. I was going to call my landlord, because I TOO checked underneath my sink for leaking/rotting/mold. I had decided there must be a leak in my toilet.

So thanks everyone...saved my call and my landlord I am sure thanks you too!

[corundogs]

WOW! Talk about the tv "talking" to me! I experience this often...it's weird and sometimes freaks me out! I think of something, and the very next commercial I see is for that. Or something going on in my life, and it seems EVERY commercial I see is for that. Example - dental problems = every commercial, news story, article I see is for a dentist or something relating.

CNN just did a story about "dirty" water (in this case, not safe to drink, arsenic, etc).

AMU says our water is safe. Knowing it comes directly from Town Lake, where I see lots of activity, is a bit strange to me. Especially the cars driving over it. I know this is normal.

What I find so weird is that my friend who used to live in Del Valle on the river, now lives in Marble Falls, says "Austin water is great. You are so lucky!"

Makes me wonder what HER water is like! HA!

[ATX Wahine]

My husband warned me when I relocated here with him that Austin water is gross. He said it was even WORSE when he was a little boy. In SF our water comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite and we sarcastically refer to it as "John Muir's tears". I took the ability to drink water right out of the tap for granted my entire life until I moved here and tried doing the same. No big deal though - we have a great filtration system on our Samsung fridge and it cleans that Colorado chumsludge right on up.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by DugRay

Just moved into Circle C from out-of-state, and I've noticed that our water has had a fishy smell for the past week or so. I called the water utility to see if this was a known issue, but they said it wasn't. They came out and flushed the line, but that didn't do much of anything. I've found some web bulletins on algae bloom from earlier in the fall, but nothing of late. Is this just normal? Is it still the algae problem that was last mentioned on the utility web site back in October? Or lake "turnover," which I found some references to? Or is it just my new house? (Hopefully not.) Thanks.

Doug

I'm sorry to hear they say it was not a known issue. Hogwash, it has been a known issue for as long as I have lived in Austin, 1977. I live just North of CC and have been noticing the smell on and off for months whenever I get a glass of tap water. The water tastes fine but smells fishy. We normally get our drinking water filtered via the refrigerator ice & water tap.

[DugRay]

Thanks for all the replies! On the one hand, I'm sorry our water isn't better year-round. On the other hand, I'm glad it's not something wrong with my new house! (There are enough things to fix in this house as it is!) I do have to say that when I first got into town around mid summer (we rented for a few months), the water was fine. We still filtered it, but it wasn't like, say, Florida water (yuck). I am surprised that the water utility denied there was a problem with the water smell, but maybe after you live here for a while, you don't notice it anymore.

Doug

[inthecut]

Question....isn't the source of it the answer? Is all of it coming from the Edwards Aquifer, or are there multiple sources? If all is from the Aquifer, there should be a pretty straightforward uniformity to the same, unless you have older pipes in the house that are bleeding chemicals from the same...

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by inthecut

Question....isn't the source of it the answer? Is all of it coming from the Edwards Aquifer, or are there multiple sources? If all is from the Aquifer, there should be a pretty straightforward uniformity to the same, unless you have older pipes in the house that are bleeding chemicals from the same...

No, it is not coming from the Aquifer, that is deep underground. Most, perhaps all, of Austin's water comes from surface water runnoff in the Colorado River. Algea blooms in Town Lake have had a major impact on smell in the past.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

No, it is not coming from the Aquifer, that is deep underground. Most, perhaps all, of Austin's water comes from surface water runnoff in the Colorado River. Algea blooms in Town Lake have had a major impact on smell in the past.

No kiddin'? Did not know that.....I always thought that the ruckus per the tearing up of ground for high-rises on east riverside was due to our drinking out of that aquifer, and the construction run-off that would migrate into the same....

Yucch! Did not know that the river I Kayak in was my drinking water...and I understand that our colo river is quite polluted from utility and industrial runoff, which is the cause of algea blooms in the first place......

Looks like I'll be buying distilled water from HEEB for my coffee/drinking water from now on!

A little article on the web explains how phosphate and other pollutants create algae blooms, which combine to poison our drinking water....

"Nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen poison Florida's waters during each rainfall, running off agricultural operations, fertilized landscapes, and septic systems.


The poison runoff triggers algae outbreaks, which foul Florida's beaches, lakes, rivers, and springs in increasing quantities each year, threatening public health, closing swimming areas, and even shutting down a southwest Florida drinking water plant serving 30,000 people.


These images document the harmful algae blooms in Florida waters triggered by the nutrient runoff."

[CptnRn]

City of Austin - Water Treatment Plant

The City of Austin currently has two water treatment plants, Davis and Ullrich, which draw water from the Colorado River and treat it to drinking water quality. The City is in the process of planning another water treatment plant, Water Treatment Plant 4. Austin's first water treatment plant, the Green Water Treatment Plant was decommissioned in October 2008. After water is pumped from the river into the plants it goes through several treatment steps. The City of Austin's approach to treatment--screening, disinfection, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration--ensures that citizens are provided with clean, safe water. The process takes about 6 to 10 hours to complete.

Note that all of Austin's water treatment plants are on the West side of town, uphill from Austin.

Actually, Austin's water supply is less polluted then most Cities because there are no large Cities and few industries upstream to pollute the river.

Some of the water flowing into the river is aquifer water, such as what flows out of Barton Springs and down into Town Lake. I'm sure there are some other small hill country springs that contribute to the water in the Colorado River, like Krause Springs, but by far the most of it is surface run off.