inhales pure chlorine
Edmonton smells like a public pool that has seen some things.
And with a flavour profile of YMCA locker room.
Every spring, Edmonton's water shifts from fresh mountain stream to grade six field trip to the pool and Travis drank too much Mountain Dew.
But why does March taste like we're swimming in chlorine? Let's dive in.
It's not actually chlorine
First, that smell? It's not actually chlorine.
Chlorine itself is basically scentless, but when it reacts with biological materials like sweat, oils, and yes, let's be honest, pee, that cleaning process creates byproduct chloramines.
That classic “pool” smell? That's chloramines.
Blame the spring melt
In Edmonton, as the snow melts and spring rains arrive, all that mold and decomposing plant material that's been covered all winter gets washed away. It runs off into our stormwater drains and it works its way to our treatment plants.
What you're noticing is the chlorine smell in our water, and it's due to the chlorine reacting with some of this organic material.
The amount of chlorine we add is pretty constant throughout the year, only slightly increasing in spring.
The chlorine levels are pretty much the same throughout the year but, as the chlorine reacts with some of that organic material in the water, it creates more of that chlorine smell.
What you're smelling is that existing chlorine interacting with all that lovely biology, creating chloramines.
When it stinks, you know it's working.
And yeah, it stinks. Ugh.
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