Taste and smell issues affecting water supply

25 September 2024 12:00

NI Water’s number one priority is the quality and safety of drinking water.

NI Water is aware that some of our customers who are supplied from Water Treatment Works sourcing water from Lough Neagh are experiencing taste and smell issues with their water supply.

This is related to increased algae levels in Lough Neagh which can produce naturally occurring organic compounds that may cause an unpleasant taste and smell even after going through our robust treatment process. These organic compounds are not harmful to health and the drinking water is safe to use as normal.

The water supply is rigorously tested in our laboratories where we can confirm that it is safe to drink.  Storing tap water in the fridge before use may improve the taste and smell.

 

Alison McMullan, Drinking Water Regulation Manager at NI Water, comments:

“Our staff have been carrying out a number of tasks, including additional operational activities at our water treatment works, flushing out the pipes in our network and continued and increased water quality sampling in key areas.    Water quality sampling is an important process as it enables us monitor water quality and therefore to provide reassurance to our customers, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Health Authorities, that the water remains safe to drink. 

“These actions have gone some way to alleviating the situation, however, they cannot fully address and resolve the problem; this can only be done as the weather changes and the algae bloom disappears. 

“The weather can have an impact on the formation of algae blooms and the potential for taste and odour related compounds to form. With the change in weather this week to cooler temperatures it is expected that the algae will start to naturally disperse within the Lough. We are confident that as the algae reduces in the Lough the situation will resolve and water taste and smell will return to normal for affected customers.”

You can contact us via webpage:  https://www.niwater.com/contact-us/ or on our Social Media channels which are available, 8am-11pm, 7 days a week.

Please see here our link to the postcode search: https://www.niwater.com/current-service-updates/

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact press.office@niwater.com

Notes to Editors:

• Drinking water supplied from the water treatment works which use Lough Neagh as their raw water sources, are designed with the potential for algae to be present and robust multibarrier treatment processes are in place to manage this effectively.
• The compounds that are causing the taste and odour issues are called MIB and Geosmin. Geosmin and MIB are not algae but can be produced by algae under certain conditions.  These are naturally occurring compounds that we know are not harmful to health. Geosmins and MIBs are also commonly found in soil and beetroot.
• Storing water in a jug in the fridge it will help reduce the taste and odour of the water.
• On a daily basis, we monitor our raw water intakes from all sources, at our treatment works and at customer taps to ensure that drinking water supplied meets strict quality standards. NI Water has a robust testing and sampling system which sees over 120,000 samples lifted and analysed each year. Sampling and analysis are carried out 365 days per year. Samples are taken from customer homes, reservoirs and treatment plants.
• We increase the frequency of algae monitoring over the summer months when the risk for algae in the raw water would generally be higher.