Taste and Odor Research Tools for Water Utilities

WATER utility operators treating surface waters are often plagued with tastes and odors. Expectations are that these conditions will become worse. Although the total amount of available water remains relatively constant, populations and industries which contribute tasteand odor-bearing pollutants to water are on the increase. The upsurge in production of the newer synthetic organic chemicals focuses attention on possible water quality damage from the use of these materials or from the waste products resulting from their manufacture. Table 1 shows how production of some of these materials has increased over the past several years. A population increase of about 50,000,000 is expected in the next 25 years and industrial production, now at record heights, is expected to double in the same period. It is known that most tastes and odors in water come from organic materials, but even this information leaves a vast area to explore. The organic contaminants of water, besides causing taste and odor, may interfere with coagulation, damage ion exchangers, and create chlorine and carbon demand. In the stream they may have adverse effects on aquatic forms that support higher aquatic life, cause off-flavors in fish flesh, or have direct toxic effects on fish. Excessive production of algae or other aquatic plants may be caused by man-produced materials such as phosphates and nitrogen. Such organisms may also cause taste and odor and filtration difficulties