ODESSA, Texas — Water is an essential part of everyday life, but if it has a weird smell, people might think twice before using it.
However, both Midland and Odessa work year-round to ensure safe and clean water.
There is a possibility that Odessans may be experiencing a bleach like smell in their water, but Director of Utilities Kevin Niles said there is a reason behind it.
"We have a raw water that comes in from the Colorado River Municipal Water District (CRWD), that water goes through a filtration process at the treatment plant," Niles said. "As it goes through the treatment process, that then goes through disinfection which would be the chloramine."
Odessa changes their disinfection process from chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, to just chlorine in the summer months. On July 1, they went back to using chloramine, explaining the residual smell.
The lingering smell may be present, but it is not permanent, nor is it harmful.
"As far as the water is concerned, it's completely safe," Niles said. "It's completely safe to drink. You can use it for all your cooking needs. Everything is completely fine when it comes to the water itself."
The City of Odessa prides itself on safe reliable water.
"We actually go and test multiple sites throughout the city for the chlorine and chlorine residuals to make sure that we are not violating any TCEQ requirements when it comes to that," Niles said.
If the water is clean, why the smell? Niles said it is usually because it's been sitting in the pipes for a long period of time.
"It usually will be in the early mornings when they go to take a shower or clean their dishes or things like that," Niles said. "That's usually when they'll probably have that type of smell."
The fix is just as easy as the diagnosis.
"Go ahead and just run your system, you know, for a little bit of time again, once that runs through the pipes and it's not sitting stagnant that that smell will dissipate fairly quickly," said Niles.
If any problems were to arise, the city will use their communication system to alert the public.
The same can be said for Midlanders.
The City of Midland has not received any smell complaints since mid-July, but if they were to arise, residents can use the new SeeClickFix app and report a problem.
No matter the city, safe water is always worth it.