Have any of our springfield residents noticed a change in the tap water within the last week?
My wife and I noticed towards the end of last week a change in the smell/taste of the tap. We noticed while doing large amounts of laundry that the water just had a smell to it...and the tap has just not had the same "taste."
Has anyone else noticed this or just us????
Thanks
Yes, it now has a sulfur smell as well.
Yes, I have noticed the difference. My wife had complained that our water tasted more "metally" lately. We have one of those pur water filters, and lately the water has tasted bad. I figured it was the filter, so i changed it, but it continues to taste like metal.
Well I'm glad I'm not going crazy...I just put a "trouble ticket" thing in with JEA, who knows if anything will become of that.
i just put one in online at jea as well. hopefully they can fix it. i was about to buy a new filter, but i guess no need now, since it seems to be a community thing.
I noticed it as well. And I noticed it downtown today also.
Now that you guys mention it, I'm thinking the same thing. I'm going to do my own digging (no pun intended) and see what I can come up with.
Deuce...we noticed it after they put all of the trees down our street! Don't know if there is a connection or not.
we noticed it too on Saturday it was really bad. Thought my filter had expired, so went and bought a new one. Still wasn't great, but definitely improved. Interesting to hear that its neighborhood wide. Keep us posted on what they find.
yes! I have the same problem. Thank God it isnt just me.
It's on W. 11th too.
Ditto for Silver St.
(secretly recorded conversation in a secret government agency)
"Damn it Wilson. I knew we were putting too much Fix It Now kool aid in the water - they can taste it"
"Sorry, Jackson, they shouldn't have been able to taste it. Must be something with the local water supply."
"Well, don't let it happen again. We've got a new client name "Oak" or something like that who wants to sell a big rail system down there."
(this brought to you as a public service) ;)
I thought I was just carazy! i dont live in Springfield, I love in O.P., and on and off for the past two years, I notice a change in the taste of my tap. No one else gets it, but sometimes its really chlorinated, then full of iron.... then It al the sudden tastes great....what gives? lol
We just noticed over on Walnut St. yesterday. Got in the shower and there was a very noticeable sulfur smell. Smells just like well water. I hope it's mostly okay to drink.
I called JEA yesterday. They are suppose to be sending someone out to investigate.
We opened a ticket on the website...they left a tag on our door saying the "flushed" the system and it was all clean and clear. Well the water smells terrible in our house still!
yeah. i still have the smell too.
There were at least 2 fire hydrants with caps off and water flowing into the streets this afternoon. Both had JEA tickets on them.
I'm guessing this was an attempt to purge the water system.
Oddly enough I haven't noticed the smell, but tonight they were flushing the system at 7th and Market too, so my area must be affected.
Sufur water tastes like fart (not that I know what a fart tastes like but the sulfur water smell gives me an idea).
Heights Unknown
I noticed my water smells especially when I am doing laundry. Both yesterday and today, my whites (two different loads) have come out with streaks of yellow. Could this be from the water? I live on 7th. The one load only had white socks and t-shirts, nothing to bleed yellow and they are all streaked with yellow!!! Ugh. Anyone else having trouble with discolored laundry?
They opened our hydrant and flushed the lines on the 1100-1300 blocks of Walnut last week after several of us opened tickets with JEA. The water still tastes tinny and smells terrible.
I saw a Fire hydrant being flushed at the corner of hubbard and 4th too. This morning I noticed a much heavier smell of chlorine in the shower as if some extra disinfecting was being done. I'm still digging on what the total situation is. When I have a complete picture, I'll post.
Thanks Deuce!
Sure is pretty widespread...
After days of neighbors and I constantly pestering JEA about the water quality problem in Springfield, JEA sent John Burnam, an environmental scientist with JEA, to flush the lines (again!) and tell us what to do.
In brief, he said that the water has a harmless bacteria (which is present in all water) that was flushed out of the 1st St. water facility. Normally, the bacteria passes through unnoticed. If the bacteria is present in high enough quantities, however, it can take up residence in your water heater. This sulfur bacteria produces hydrogen sulfide, which gives the water the horrible taste and smell that we've all been dealing with. Hydrogen sulfide can also bind with the chlorine in the water to leave suspended yellow particles in the water.
You can learn more about this at:
http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education2/78-hydrogen-sulfide.htm (http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education2/78-hydrogen-sulfide.htm) or
http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0319.html (http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0319.html)
Most importantly...how to remedy the problem:
(1) Turn your water heater up to 160 degrees (or hotter) and leave it for at least 8 hours. Longer would probably be better. This will kill the bacteria in your tank. Important: Do NOT use your hot water after you do this. Water at 160 degrees will cause severe burns in one second! Put notes on every faucet to remind yourself and others not to use the hot water.
(2) Eight (or more) hours later, pour several tablespoons of bleach down every sink, shower, etc. in your house. Leave for several minutes and then flush out with water. This will kill all of the bacteria growing in your traps.
I don't know if you will have to drain/use all of the water in your water heater to get rid of all of your previously contaminated water, but I plan on taking a long shower tomorrow morning to drain it...just to be on the safe side.
If you do all of this and your problem persists..call John 665-4502 to let him know. He is very friendly and will let you know what to do.
Hope this helps!
Rather than showering with it, I'd attach a hose to the drain at the bottom of the water heater, shut off the incoming water valve to it, and then drain the contents outside. ;)
^^^
That's all well and good, but several residents confirmed that they have tankless water heaters and still have the smell. Does that mean the bacteria has taken up residence in their piping? That makes me a little skeptical of the city's explanation.
One more thing, for ya to think about hoop. My neighbor has had a big problem with it, but we have only smelled it one time, about a week or so ago.
I will admit, however, that we have a gas hotwater heater, and I keep it pretty hot. I LOVES me some hot water. So that may be making the diff.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2581540190_cbbf7097cb.jpg)
Looks like a good spot for a water well don't cha' think?
As a City Councilman in Oklahoma, our problem was getting water without OIL in it, this is when I discovered that "Sweet Crude" is damn near refined gasoline when it comes out of the ground. We were ALWAYS in violation for nitrates and there wasn't a damn thing we could do short of a pipeline to the Ozarks. Our utilities department would flush the lines with a super chlorinated water concentration. Of course when that happened everyone noticed the bad smell and taste. Perhaps something like this is going on.
Also as a long time cracker, remember that when consolidation came this city had about 2 dozen different utilities companies serving it. One side of the street was on ABC and the other was XYZ... It was a nightmare to link everything into a unified system, and I suspect large portions of the old lines are still in use. Thus if it's in the lines, one would have to know who put them there and how, making sure they didn't get a great deal on surplus lead pipe from an old Roman Empire yard sale.
As for sulfur, it won't hurt you, in fact many claim it is healthy and superior to regular tap water. A slightly sulfur content is going to be in most Florida spring water anyway. Again, where are the City wells? Our little Oklahoma town had to pipe it from a shared well field in a rare sandy valley about 15 miles Northeast and across the Cimarron River. The river is EXTREME SALT WATER, due to flowing through salt plains in Kansas and northern Oklahoma. The area toward Flemming Island even some of Ortega Hills, Collins Road etc... was once all sulfur water. Green Cove Spring(s) is a huge Sulfur Spring attached to the municipal pool, Magnolia Spring is also Sulfur (if memory serves me). So is the old NAS Switzerland artesian well in St. Johns County.
As the water table in the wells falls, which they have for the last 40 years in Florida, we are getting more and more salt and/or sulfur intrusion. Entire well fields in the area of Oviedo, NE of Orlando are all saltwater today.
So hang onto your hats boys and girls, this might be one for the detectives, perhaps another of our source wells has gone sour? Someday we'll be drinking the Okefenokee... but I think oil tastes better.
OCKLAWAHA
PS: Charles, do you really think that cool aid was for the rail guy? Hum? Just moved to St. Johns County! HEE HEE!
Quote from: downtownparks on August 06, 2009, 09:12:18 PM
...I keep it pretty hot. I LOVES me some hot water. So that may be making the diff.
We've talked to some others in the neighborhood who claim that they also keep their tank set to a high temp and did not have much of a problem. I guess a higher temp inhibits the bacterial growth to some extent. We keep the temp fairly low at our house, so I guess that's why our problem was worse.
Hooplady...you've got me on the tankless water heater issue. Your friends may want to give John Burnam a call.
Ock, little water/electric distribution understanding here, so maybe you can help me understand it better...
You posted:
Quotewhere are the City wells?
Isn't that what the JEA Waterworks site at 1st & Main is? Inside the "lab" building, there is a massive water pump that I thought was drawing water up from the aquifer for distribution to Springfield, Downtown, and possibly other parts of Jax. If that is what it is doing, how is this different from a City well? Do you have any idea just how large an area the water coming up from that pump at 1st & Main reaches?
I was going to post an explanation today but looks like JaxByDefault beat me to it. He got a faster response than I could internally. There was another neighborhood having the same problem that was mentioned in the news. Kind of glad they didn't mention Sfield. We don't need anything that could detract from our improving rep. I can see it now, come to Sfield if you want water that tastes like fart (see posts on previous pages). Also, the main st. plant was put back into service recently.