Village Water Taste / Smell
 

In the past, several friends have mentioned that they noticed an odor and taste to the potable water in The Villages. I've never noticed anything until the last month. I have noticed a peculiar smell near running water and particularly when coffee is brewing. Plus, the taste of coffee seems to match the smell. I had attributed this to either my aging or as a result of a head cold.

Neither my wife nor my son had noticed a difference. Yesterday, we tasted tap water verse bottled water and all selected the bottled water as better.

This morning, I brewed the coffee using bottled spring water and I didn't notice the odor and the coffee tasted much better to my wife and myself.

Partly in jest, I am wondering if this is part of getting old and cantankerous, or is this noticeable to others?

Village water always tasted and smelt of swimming pool to my wife and I.
We always drank bottled water.

We use a Brita water filter for our coffee maker and refill reusable drinking water bottles. We refuse to buy bottled water weekly. I have a sensitivity to chlorine odors from household water.

Get a whole house water filter. We installed Nova filter system. Immediately had water that did not smell or taste like chlorine. Great company right here in He Villages.

Water out of the tap is not pleasant. Most folks have some kind of water treatment system or filtration to make the water better. Even many restaurants have trouble brewing a good cup of coffee or tea.

I just asked Jacobs about this and was told that due to construction all sorts of stuff rising to the water table. They are aware of it and are making changes regularly to the chemicals they add to counteract the bacteria. He said they test all the time and while the water is safe to drink, it is an individual thing to drink it or use bottled. I use spring water

Warning to everyone here:
No matter which water you prefer, be sure to use a mouth rinse containing fluoride every day. The water in this area is /not/ fluoridated, and neither is bottled water of any kind.

Normally you'd get fluoride from the tap water in most communities.

If you wonder why so many people have bad teeth, bad breath, and why dentists are on every corner in every strip mall in the Villages - that's why. Old age doesn't cause tooth decay. But fluoride can help prevent it.

We had the Nova whole house filter installed the day be bought our house. Have never had an issue with water.

Do you have a source for that information? If you are referring to the filter in the refrigerator, then I agree that most people have one. But, if you are referring to something else, I don't agree that most people have a water treatment system. I don't have one, and I don't know very many people who do. Sometimes, I use refrigerator water to make coffee, but most of the time I forget. I cannot tell the difference between the filtered water and the tap water. The tap water tastes and smells just fine to me.

Bottle water princess here. Used to work for a purified water company many years ago and it spoiled me since. Don't get me started on restaurant water, most are yuck so I bring a small bottle of mine.

You can try Primo (Walmart) or Glacier (Publix). Both are the same company and I like them much better than tap. After initial 5 gallon purchase it's under $2 to refill at their stations. Save your cap to prevent spilling when transporting.

X-2----+ water softener......Worth the $$$$$

It's been decades since I had a decayed tooth and most of my life I drank well water. Proper brushing, flossing, and 6-month checkups are the key to healthy teeth. Dentists today are not on every corner to fix a cavity, they can't make a living with fixing decay and Xrays. They are there in a lot of cases to talk patients into expensive services they really don't need especially if they have good insurance.

The taste of the water appears to be very dependent on where you live in the villages and who the water supplier is. When we moved here several years ago we immediately noticed the high chlorine level and the hardness of the water. I have had Sears water softeners for several decades, so we had Sears water softener and whole house filter installed, and that was the end of the bottled water, saved a bundle. The units we have are approaching end of life, so I will be in the market for new and will be looking at a combo unit.

Only personal observation in my neighborhood and friends and family in TV. Walking around I see treatment systems, filter or water softener, in nearly every open garage I pass. If your tap water is good, then lucky you.

all of florida water is nasty to me, the chlorine is enough to make me gag. we have a pegasus whole house filter, & it makes me very happy :beer3:

As usual
 

the replies are all over the map. Tastes fine, tastes horrible. This filter system or another. Best to do your own research and make a decision. At best get opinions and then make the best call for you. One can go crazy since everyone has an opinion.

Try running at 3am, when many sprinklers are running….it is the most discussing smell, house after house.

Switched to running at 2am, less running of sprinklers, better air quality. Granted it not potted water, but still nothing good can come from something that smells that bad.

Pegasus Water is the best! We drink water straight out of the tap, no nasty Fl smell or taste. Creates great water for bathing, washing machine and washer dryer!! Worth the extra money, every penny!! Good luck.

Water Filtration Systems | #1 Water Filtration Company | FL Best thing we ever did was to call Adam at Pegasus Water here in the Villages. Good luck!

Definitely notice water smell. I don't mind showering with it so I just treat my drinking water with a ZERO water filter. Works great.

In Bradford, we have high chlorine content. I had a Hague water-softner put in and the water is great! Nice and soft. It uses very little salt. Will not have to add salt for at least a year.

Yes, getting older and a head cold will effect your taste buds. Filtered Water bought retail will probably always taste better than what you get from the tap, especially in Florida.

We invest in good quality water filters for the fridge vs a expensive whole house filter system. Not sure why I need to filter every drop of of water coming into the house.

Help save the planet for future generations, don’t buy single use plastic water bottles.

The water is horrible here. You need a water softener and a whole house filters at ion system from Nova.

Our GE refrigerator has a filter. We replace it about twice a year when the little replace-the-filter light comes on. Takes care of all our potable water needs.

You are right about the smell of irrigation water, but you certainly can't compare it to potable water. Completely different sources. Potable water comes from the subterranean aquifer, and is treated. Irrigation water comes straight out of the retention ponds, and is not treated in any way. Pull one of your sprinkler heads sometime, and look at the filter attached to it. That said, even the treated potable water needs help. We use the Nova filter system, and are very happy with it.

In Michigan they have GREAT water but we still put in a reverse osmosis system to remove the chlorine and any other chemicals it has turned us into water snobs. The day we closed on our home in The Villages we had a Nova System installed will be trying if our for the first time when we come down in December if necessary we will install a RO system in our new house too in Michigan or RO system has a 6 filter system and a good sized holding tank I drink lots of water and we have never run the tank out, best purchase we ever made when we remodeled our kitchen 😊

Primo 5 gallon jugs with an office chiller…if you drink a lot of water….

We got a good whole house filtration system and love it. My wife would not drink the water. Now there is no bad taste and a plus is the the dishes and showers don't get the residue from water spots drying.

We waited a bit before having a Nova whole house filter installed just last week. Night & day difference in both smell & taste. Took them less than an hour for install & they are local too.

When I lived in citrus Grove there was a strong smell of bleach in the water.

We’re in our third home since 2005 . Tall Trees, Osceola Hills and now Citrus Grove.

No problem with any smell or funny taste of the tap water . The Mrs does use drinking water from the filter in the fridge and I will drink tap water or fridge water and find no difference with either .

<FOR US> No whole house system of any kind is needed.

Install a Nova whole house water filter.

The water you drink here in the Villages depends on where you live. Up north, excellent water, historic side, City of Lady Lake water, Fruitland Park Villages, Fruitland Park City Water, Wildwood part of the Villages, City of Wildwood water, Leesburg portion of the Villages uses City of Leesburg water. Each municipality treats there water to government standards, but the water itself comes from various sources and places where mineral content is different, therefore the water tastes different. All are chlorinated most have added fluoride. You get a mailed water quality statement every year listing everything in your areas water which is required by the federal government, read it and you'll know exactly what you're drinking.

Invest in a water softener and carbon filter. They are worth the money. Water softener extends the life of your dishwasher, washing machine and refrigerator ice and drinking water dispenser. Carbon filter eliminates the taste and smell of your water from the faucet.

I have owned a house in The Villages since 2004. One in Belvedere and one in Pennecamp. In both houses the water changes from ok to too much chlorine or sulfur. The sulfur is hard to drink. Sometimes i can smell sulfur outside when the sprinklers come on.

I live in Tierra del Sol South. Delicious water out of the tap, untreated. I think there are variations from place to place here.

I have a whole house filter that I replace every few months. It's a carbon filter and takes the chlorine smell out of the water. I also have a refrigerator filter and the combination gives me pleasant drinking water. Not as good as the deep well water I had up North, but better than the taste of city water. If you want to see how bad the water is, check out what you filter looks like when it is removed from the whole house filtration system. Mine was covered with a thick layer of BROWN that coated my hand when it was handled. It was almost oily. Terrible water here and hard to believe it is not processed better before being distributed to our homes.

Drinking water from the kitchen tap taste like Clorine a bleach taste. I agree drinking water is terrible!

thx for your reply, you are correct. i noticed the water quality became worse when the construction near 301 went into full swing, & those hard rains before Ian came. 1 day i turned on the tap & could swear i smelled sewage. i'd looked into several brands for a few months, & it was between Pegasus or Culligan. the deciding factor was Peg has a location right here in wildwood, but Culligan's closest location i could tell was in Ocala.

after awhile it was making my hair & skin very dry & dull. it makes a big difference if that sort of thing bothers you