Why does the water taste so bad? (Dallas, Austin: living, restaurants)

[FrankLabs]

Our water here in Colleyville smells awful - like rotten eggs. Is this treatable and am I alone with this problem? Thanks -

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by FrankLabs

Our water here in Colleyville smells awful - like rotten eggs. Is this treatable and am I alone with this problem? Thanks -

You can get a filter for your water. I have several friends and co-workers i Colleyville and they haven't aid anything about the water being bad, so maybe it is just a temporary issue. Hopefully anyways!

[Bostonian08]

I've found the water in Richardson and Plano is nasty, it tastes like dirt. In all my trips to the city of Dallas I have found the water is fine.

We put a Pur filter on our tap and that solves the problem at home. You can tell which restaurants filter their water (and ice!) and which ones don't.

In the late 19th century, the cities of Boston and New York both annexed all their surrounding cities entirely for the reason of sharing the water source. I think the crappy suburban water is a typical problem with young and expanding cities like Dallas is and like NY/BOS were at that time.

[DaveG99]

I never thought much about water tasting bad until I moved to Plano last month from Downtown Dallas. When I lived downtown the water was fine. But in Plano its terrible! You can even taste the nastyness in the soda drinks at restaurants! The city of Plano really needs to do something about it.

I emailed webmaster@plano.gov and let them know how terrible the water is. I am sure they already know this but more emails about it doesnt hurt.

[El Passeaux]

i just moved to Garland and agree that the water is awful. Even using a brita filter system running it thru several times doesnt get rid of the smell/taste. We went to a pizza place Saturday night and you are right, the Pepsi tasted like the local water. I guess the solution is bottled water.

[txhawk36]

I moved to Austin and came back last week for the holidays, I almost always order water, and I was dying it tasted like dirt! Now I wonder did I really drink it then and not notice that or was last week extra special? I know it was bad in summer months sometimes!

[gokctx]

The water in Dallas does taste like mud. I have lived/worked in Allen, Plano, Dallas, McKinney, Lewisville, and Duncanville and the water is nasty in all those locations. I do think it is worst in Plano however. From what I understand Dallas gets its water from the area lakes and due to algae blooms and the muddy water in general contribute to terrible taste.

For those that don't think the water tastes good you probably do not have a reference to compare against. Other parts of the country that get water from rivers or deep wells tastes a whole lot better. We always filter our water at Kroger in reusable 3 gallon jugs. Friends of ours installed built in filtration system in their sink which seems to help them also.

[renlouis]

I have lived in Flower Mound for the last 10 years and in the DFW area for the last 16. Have only noticed bad water taste a few times, which when I asked around, people said was algae from lakes. It didn't last long. Obviously everyone's tastebuds are different.......................

[DaveG99]

well its winter and it tastes like crap. And not only does it taste bad but it has very high TDS readings. TDS=Total dissolved solids. I have a saltwater aquarium and I cant use the tap water to make the saltwater for my tank. When I lived in Florida I was able to use the tap water. There is a huge difference. And Plano is 10 times worst than deepellum for water quality.

[DaveG99]

This is Plano's excuse. I dont buy it one bit. They seem to blame algal blooms for all the bad flavor wether it be winter or summer. The website says this..

Temperature increase – the optimum temperature range of the lake water for an algal bloom to occur is between 80° - 85°. This is provided through many hot summer days

so the water must be 40-50 degrees now and algae stil blooms. I dont think so.


Thank you for your email and comments.

The taste and odor problem with the drinking water is caused by a winter Algal Bloom in the surface water storage reservoir Lake Lavon. The City of Plano purchases its potable water from the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). That is our sole source of drinking water. NTMUD is the responsible agency for treatment of the water and supply to Plano, as well as 12 other Member Cities in the DFW Metroplex. The water distributed through the City’s system is perfectly safe to drink and exceeds all State and Federal Regulatory requirements for potable water systems, although as you indicated, it is not always pleasantly palatable to humans.

I have included a link with additional information regarding these types of problems for your use. I also want to assure you that we work along with the NTMUD to counteract these types of problems as much as we possibly can.

http://www.ntmwd.com/taste_odor.html

Again thank you for your comments and I apologize for any inconvenience.

David Falls
Public Works Operations Manager
davidf@plano.gov