Why the water suddenly stinks in Abington
Drought conditions have caused the "chemical-y" stench. Aqua Pennsylvania officials say it's safe to drink.
Residents of Abington Township in Montgomery County have been reporting for several days that their drinking water smelled of either chemical or plastic, but Aqua Pennsylvania said Thursday that the water is safe to drink.
The company traced the issue to the drought, which forced the water provider to use different sources of water.
“First and foremost, the water is safe to drink,” the company said in a statement emailed to The Inquirer. “The noticeable taste and smell, often reported as a stronger smell of chlorine, was traced to our Neshaminy Plant, which supplies water to portions of Montgomery and Bucks counties. We believe the drought conditions have led to changes with our source water that is impacting the taste and smell of the drinking water.”
The company said it expects the “issue will resolve over the next several days,” as rain helps with drought conditions and the company adjusts its treatment process.
Word of the smell had quickly spread around the 15.5-square-mile township earlier in the week.
Township Commissioner John Spiegelman posted Wednesday morning on Facebook about “the extra-chlorine-y/chemical-y taste and smell” after constituents contacted him about the issue.
Spiegelman then reached out to Aqua Pennsylvania, which supplies water to much of the township. He reported that Aqua told him that the Neshaminy water treatment plant takes a blend of water from different sources. Recently, 20 million gallons passed through the plant, but with a different mix than normal and pulled from different sources.
Because of the drought, he wrote, “some of that water has had higher concentrations of — and please forgive my unscientific terminology here — substances that make the water taste and smell bad.”
But he also noted that the water had been treated, chlorinated, and tested, even though some of the odor continued after the treatment process. He said some described the odor to be the equivalent of strong chlorine, plastic, or metal.
Spiegelman explained that Aqua began flooding the system with water from another source that is making its way through the system. He was told the process is already reducing the odor, which should be gone within a few days.