Strong Chlorine/bleach smell in tap water, south shore Nassau?

[LoveBeingAMommy]

Originally Posted by incivism

I work for a water company, but not the one servicing your area. All water suppliers on Long Island treat groundwater with Chlorine. You'll only get that bleachy odor or taste when the levels are too low (think swimming pool). There are a few factors which may drop the levels that are not the fault of the water company's pumping station, in your case, American Water.
Fill a clean glass with tap water and walk out of the room with it. Do you still notice the smell? No? Sounds silly but you maybe smelling an old sponge or the drain in your sink.
Do you have any filters? Change them. I don't recommend them at all, if you don't stay on top of them you will end up with zero chlorine which can be a very bad thing.
Are you on a dead end block? A call to your utility will likely have them showing up and gently spilling the last hydrant to get the water flowing and chemical reads back to normal.
There may be a leak on your water service line, possible but unlikely.
Call your water company! Taste and odor issues are taken very seriously and they will send someone out relatively quickly.

I've called the water company several times and was told that despite the overwhelming chlorine odor, if they come out to my house and water tested within their range of normal, they'd charge me for service call and test. It's their way to deter people from calling.

I've got a power line 9' over lawn on one section of my home. LIPA (whatever it's called now) won't raise it because it's within "normal" parameters. We pay more and more in utilities and get less and less service.

Cablevision would only install cable if they drilled a hole in my hardwood floors. They don't "fish" through the walls. The serviceman refused to run the wire into our base moulding pre drilled hole because he was too lazy to fish it up 2".

[Joe461]

Originally Posted by incivism

Do you have any filters? Change them. I don't recommend them at all, if you don't stay on top of them you will end up with zero chlorine which can be a very bad thing.

Could you elaborate on that?

First, why don't you recommend filters? Even if minimally effective, wouldn't they still provide _some_ benefit?

If you don't stay on top of them, wouldn't filters be less effective and allow more chlorine (and other contaminants) through?

Why would ending up with zero chlorine be a very bad thing?

Not arguing - I'm genuinely curious as these claims seem counter-intuitive.

[incivism]

Originally Posted by Joe461

Could you elaborate on that?

First, why don't you recommend filters? Even if minimally effective, wouldn't they still provide _some_ benefit?

If you don't stay on top of them, wouldn't filters be less effective and allow more chlorine (and other contaminants) through?

Why would ending up with zero chlorine be a very bad thing?

Not arguing - I'm genuinely curious as these claims seem counter-intuitive.

Filters turn brown, you buy more filters. Water on Long Island is from underground aquifers which are typically loaded with iron (brown!). Filter companies love ground water for this reason alone. The vast majority of people do not have an adverse reaction to iron, although more and more companies are removing as much as then can for aesthetic reasons. The aquifers are naturally filtered by the earth before the water is brought to the surface. Once drawn up, it's treated with chlorine after any nasty volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are removed. The chlorine is there to protect the consumer from anything that may enter the 'clean' water supply once it leaves the pumping stations. All water suppliers must meet or exceed state and federal regulations and are monitored constantly. Zero chlorine allows for bacteria growth, a very bad thing! Not keeping up with monthly filter changes leads to a breakdown of the filter material, your water pressure will suffer, and all the chlorine entering the filter will stay there to kill the bacteria you're now growing.

As for the other poster above, who is your water supplier? I've never heard of charges for a negative reading after an odor complaint. In my district, I WELCOME these calls as they often lead us to noticing a slight drop in chlorine residual from the source. We actually rely on the consumer to let us know anytime they believe there's a drop in quality.