Houston's Smelly Water
Houston's smelly, strange tasting tap water raises major concern despite city's plea to drink: Complaints pour in
Notice a lingering aftertaste in your water? No, it’s not just you. Tons of Houstonians will agree — something is up.
Houston's tap water seems to be emitting an odd smell, an off taste and in some cases, murkiness. Despite the not-so-well received change, the Public Works and Engineering Department of Houston insists that the water is still up to if not exceeding FDA regulations.
“PWE water quality professionals have concluded that the change is attributable to increased levels of a naturally-occurring compound in our upstream surface water supplies which is known to cause earthy or musty tastes and odors. Houston’s water continues to be safe to consume,” Public Works spokesman Gary Norman said in a statement.
Houston's tap water seems to be emitting an odd smell, an off taste and in some cases, murkiness.
Assurances aside, the concern is real. Several hundred complaints about the water were logged in the city's 311 service request line between Friday and Sunday alone. Before the tap water turned funky, there were only 13 water complaints total from June 1 through June 20.
And the smell, taste and look of Houston's tap water doesn't appear to be the city's only water issues.
When someone at CultureMap went to wash their hands this morning, we found there was suddenly no running water in our office building (which includes separate apartment levels upstairs). The building's landlord says the city is currently working on the water supply to the building, along with many others in the downtown area.
