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What Should You Do If Your New Hampshire Tap Water Smells Bad?

small_3630280033Clean water is not supposed to give off any particular smells. So if the water that comes out of the taps in your New Hampshire home has a strange odor, that’s an almost certain indication that it suffers from some sort of quality issue. Some odors simply make it difficult to drink your water, while others can mean that your water contains contaminants that can affect the health of you and your family. Today we’re going to talk about the types of water contaminants that give off foul smells and how you can remove odors from the water in your home!

What causes New Hampshire water to smell bad?

Tap water can develop different types of smells depending on what types of contaminants are present. Some of the most common tap water odors include:

  • “Swimming pool” odors. When you shower or drink a glass of water, does it smell like your water came straight out of a swimming pool? That’s because the same disinfectant that’s used to clean swimming pools is also used by water treatment plants to disinfect public water supplies. That disinfectant is chlorine. When chlorine is present in your water, it produces a class of chemicals known as trihalomethanes (THM’s). After long-term exposure, THM’s can increase the likelihood of developing major health issues like a weakened immune system, birth defects in children, a malfunctioning liver and various types of cancer.
  • Earthy or fishy odors. Most public water comes from surface water supplies like lakes and rivers. At various times throughout the year, these water supplies can experience algae blooms. High levels of algae in source water can translate to earthy or fishy smells in your home’s tap water. Algae also gives off a type of toxin known as a microcystin, which can cause nausea and dizziness in the people who are exposed to it.
  • Metallic odors. Heavy metals like copper and lead can give off a metallic odor in water. Often times these metals come from corroded pipe materials in homes, and they can cause a wide variety of serious health effects including damage to the brain, stomach, kidneys, liver and heart. Iron and manganese can also both make your water smell metallic, although they are not generally associated with serious health effects.
  • Rotten egg odors. One of the most common complaints we hear from New Hampshire homeowners who get their water from a private well is that their water smells like rotten eggs. This smell comes from the decaying of organic matter like iron and manganese bacteria. These bacteria typically grow at the bottom of the well and give off a very potent rotten egg smell that makes your water difficult to drink and bathe in.

How can you remove bad smells from your tap water?

All of the odors above can be removed by installing the proper water treatment system to take care of your home’s particular quality issues. The best place to start is by scheduling a water test with McBride’s. We’ll determine what exactly is causing your tap water to smell bad and then recommend the right systems to take care of those issues.
If you have any questions about why your tap water smells bad, or if you’d like a water system serviced or installed in your home, contact McBride’s Water Advantage, your water softener and water filtration system dealer in Epsom, NH. We provide service all over New Hampshire, including towns like Goffstown, Loudon and Canterbury, NH.
photo credit: BaileyRaeWeaver via photopin cc