Tag Archives: whole house water filters

Bad smelling tap water is a common occurrence in many households, and the causes for tap water acquiring different tastes or smells are numerous – chemical disinfectants used in the water treatment process, presence of different types of contaminants or faulty water pipes that lead to the seepage of different substances into your water supply, and even build-up of bacteria. But what causes tap water to smell like bleach? And how can you deal with this issue?

If you notice that your tap water smells like bleach, it’s most probably caused by the presence of chlorine in your tap water. Chlorine, along with chloramine, are the most universally used chemicals for the disinfection of municipal water. While these substances are considered safe if present in water only in trace amounts, the same cannot be said about the effects of prolonged exposure to chlorine and chloramine. Therefore, while these chemicals are good at getting rid of certain pathogenic bacteria, they have some unwanted effects as well, including bad-smelling tap water.