Edmonton - Water "off"

[Jordon]

Hey guys, I noticed this myself the past few days. I guess I am "sensitive" to these smells... I googled it and it seems it's normal for this time of year with runoff.

I assume they have increased Chlorine/Chloramines in the water supply, so keep that in mind for your next water change for those who are using Tap and aren't using RO/DI.

Originally Posted by Global News - April 4, 2013 12:25 pm

EDMONTON – If you’ve noticed an odd smell or an off taste to your tap water in the past couple days, you’re not alone. But you don’t have to worry.

EPCOR says there is no health risk, and the change is simply the company responding to spring run-off, which is a temporary condition caused by vegetation, sediment and other material being washed into the river by melting ice and snow.

Tim le Riche, media specialist for EPCR, says it always happens around this time of year. He assures the public that the water is regularly tested and safe to drink.

Hopefully when I do my water change, this will be over with. They estimate a few days.

“This is purely an aesthetics issue, an odour issue, a taste issue. For some people , they don’t even notice it..but we do know that there’s a lot of people out there who do seem to be sensitive to the odour and taste of the water.”

He adds that he expects the odour issues to dissipate over the next few days. Until then he has the following advice:

“Simply fill up a jug of water, put in some sliced lemon or some sliced lime, put it in the fridge overnight and in most cases that’ll help resolve the issue.”

SOURCE

[The Codfather]

TDS coming off the river is in excess of 4000.
Spring run off, eh, what you going to do......

[Jordon]

Ya nothing new. I thought it was a bit early for that though. But i guess weather is starting to improve, so have to take the good with the bad!

Wow 4000! This makes me 100% Happy with my RO/DI purchase

[The Codfather]

It still leaves the plant at a very low TDS.
Water comes in almost a slurry......

[Proteus]

Not early. If you go to Drayton Valley there's no snow. Better go buy new filters

[Jordon]

Ya, the only crappy thing is the filter resins will exhaust more quickly than usual. But our water here is overall very good. My source TDS was testing in the 130-160 range (taken readings last month), but i'm sure the added Chlorine/Chloramines will up that a bit.

Luckily it's a new unit that only made about 30 gallons total so far, so there's a lot of life left in these guys

Good advice though.

[paddyob]

I don't think chlorine or chloramine is an issue. Anyone using a good declorinator, as tap water users should be, should be dealing with it as part of tank life.

[Jordon]

Out of curiosity I tested the water for ammonia, and on my API test kit it came back as between 0.25 and 0.50 ppm

With that being said, I bought some more bottles water to drink.

[11purewater]

Is the city digging up water lines near by?

[Jordon]

Not in my area, but who knows. They are saying it's runoff season, but I have lived here all my life, and to be honest the water smells very bad. I don't even want to wash my hands in it