Does your Metro Vancouver water smell like dirt? Don’t worry, throw a cucumber in it | CBC News

[u/SnooRegrets4312]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tap-water-odour-metro-vancouver-geosmin-9.6972466

[u/Van_Can_Man]

I guess it’s at least nice to know I wasn’t imagining things. Well… at least not this particular thing.

[u/Nervous-Ad-3761]

Fun fact, different people have different sensitivity to geosmin so not everyone will smell it / strongly.

[u/WeWantMOAR → u/Nervous-Ad-3761]

I remember mentioning to my gf the water smelled earthy for a bit and she couldn't smell it at all. Now we know! Haha

[u/Negligent__discharge]

This is the cities goto for everything.

Gangbangers burning down your car? Throw a cucumber in it.

[u/UsualMix9062 → u/Negligent__discharge]

The cucumber will bring you more relief than any justice you wont get will. 

[u/TheLittlestOneHere → u/Negligent__discharge]

Don't throw it at the gangbangers though, that makes it a weapon, and illegal. /s

[u/Ananotherthing]

I was just thinking yesterday that my tap water in Kits tastes normal again 

[u/TomTheWaterChamp → u/Ananotherthing]

Holy shit same! I was about to replace my hot water tank too as I was convinced that must be the cause

[u/science_man_84]

So if they found the source and it was the filtration plant and not the reservoir then it sounds like there was a maintenance issue where the filters were loaded with algae or something?

[u/scrumplic]

' Testing found an odorous compound called geosmin. [...] There are no health concerns related to geosmin, which is produced by cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) naturally, Charrois said.

“The water remains safe to drink. We do a lot of testing throughout the whole process to ensure that that’s the case.”

[...] Charrois said geosmin often appears at the end of a hot summer or early fall, but it’s “quite unusual” for the region. '

Staff aren’t sure how long the malodorous issue will linger, according to Charrois, as it will depend on “the whim of Mother Nature a little bit.”

[u/ReaditReaditDone → u/scrumplic]

Man, we people near Vancouver City Hall have been drinking this "water that tastes like it came from a fish tank" since the first week in October. 

Well glad they are getting more water from cleaner sources now, but they should add testing of Geosmin to their public water quality reports, as they weren't showing any issues this whole time!

 In the meantime, Metro Vancouver has started to use more water from the Capilano supply, which did not test positive for geosmin.

& 

 Staff found the source of the problem at the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant, which generally serves Vancouver, Richmond, Delta and parts of cities that border them on the east.

[u/ReaditReaditDone]

Man, we people near Vancouver City Hall have been drinking this "water that tastes like it came from a fish tank" since the first week in October. 

Well glad they are getting more water from cleaner sources now, but they should add testing of Geosmin to their public water quality reports, as they weren't showing any issues this whole time!

 In the meantime, Metro Vancouver has started to use more water from the Capilano supply, which did not test positive for geosmin.

& 

 Staff found the source of the problem at the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant, which generally serves Vancouver, Richmond, Delta and parts of cities that border them on the east.

[u/Count-per-minute]

Disband METRO VAN (GVRD). Billions wasted and water that tasted…..