Spring runoff causing funky water with strong chlorine smell in Edmonton
Global News
EPCOR says a big increase in spring runoff organics showed up late last week, leading to increased disinfectant chemical use — but tape water remains safe to drink and use.
Several things are pretty much guaranteed during spring in Edmonton and that includes tap water that tastes and smells… off.
That, combined with a stronger smell and taste of chlorine, has some residents thinking twice if they should use it.
“The water is safe to drink,” said Jonathan Gelinas, EPCOR’s senior manager of operations at the Rossdale water plant.
“We use chlorine all year round as our primary disinfectant. In this time of year, though, we do get sometimes some higher smell of chlorine because of the organics in the water.”
That’s due to spring runoff season getting underway.
As the longer, warmer days melt snow that flows into the North Saskatchewan River, it brings with it large amounts of sediments, decomposing vegetation and other organic materials that are washed off the land upstream of the city’s two water treatment plants: Rossdale near downtown and E.L. Smith in the city’s southwest.
This leads to a change in the quality of the water in the river, giving it a musty or earthy smell. Some people last week also complained of a rotten citrus-type smell to the water.
“We really saw an increase in organics (last) Thursday,” Gelinas said, adding that a lot of organic material showed up in the river water over the weekend. As a result, EPCOR had to boost the amount of chemicals needed to make the water safe for use.
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