There’s nothing quite as nauseating as running some water for a bath, or pouring yourself what you think will be a nice, refreshing drink, and then realizing that there is a bad smell coming from your water. It’s made all the worse by the fact that most of the time we don’t expect it, and it can take a little while before we even identify the source. By then you might already be immersed, or worse, have take a sip!

So what is it that causes your water to take on that disgusting smell? In this article, we will take a look at some of the most common odours in water and what causes them.

Sulphur

The biggest odour complaint when it comes to water supplies is the smell of sulphur. Sulphur has a very tell tale scent, most people describe it as close to that of rotten eggs. Sulphur is a wide spread smell, occurring due to the natural metabolizing done by some forms of bacteria (it’s important to note that although bacteria may have some negative connotations, it certainly provides some necessary functions in nature, so the presence of sulphur producing bacteria isn’t bad in most contexts, nor will it cause illness; it just smells bad).

Nevertheless, you probably don’t want your water to contain the scent of even beneficial bacteria. There are various treatments available to reduce the smell in your water as well as the shock option.

Pipes

Another big cause of complaints when it comes to odours in a household’s drinking water is the scents picked up through the pipes in a house. This may actually indicate a serious problem with the way in which you are getting water from your home. Pipe smells in the water are almost always of the metallic or plastic variety. What this indicates is that your pipe system is starting to break down: as with sulphur, the scent indicates small molecules that are present in the water itself.

The only way to get rid of this smell permanently is to undergo a renovation to your household’s plumbing systems. It’s an expensive process, but in the meantime you can eliminate the problem using water filtration systems and other treatments.