God has given to us five senses, hearing, seeing, touching, smelling and tasting. Each one is important in their own way and the sense of taste makes our world a whole lot more interesting and exciting. No one will forget the loss of certain people’s sense of taste during COVID-19 and some people have not tasted the same way ever since. When you are lacking a sense of taste and smell. food just does not have the same value which might be beneficial to those who have a weight issue. However, to most of us the sense of smell invites us closer to checking out how food tastes and no meal or snack would be the same without the sense of taste. Does plain water have a taste? It depends on the person’s sense of taste and the water he or she is drinking.

In the olden days people used water to wash their clothes and dishes and drank it minimally. In contrast, today people fill their bodies with water sometimes way more than is needed. Bottled water is evaluated and tested not only for impurities but for its taste, which is just as important. Folks who want to limit their salt intake will check out the list of ingredients on the water bottle to make sure no salt is added. Spring water may have salt naturally infused by nature and club soda also has salt added for taste and sometimes even tap water can taste salty.

Tap water should not have a salty taste, it should actually be tasteless. However, the weather can have an effect on the taste of local water, and this does not necessarily mean that the water is dangerous to drink. New Jersey American Water provides about 2.9 million people with their water across the entire state of New Jersey.

The winter season has had more than its share of sleet and snow following a draught in the fall. When snowfall is imminent both the town and the private homeowner will get out their salt and spread it generously on their walkway and the town on their roads to avoid accidents. For the town, this means special salt spreaders will fill the roads with salt so that the snow will melt to avoid slippery roadways. Since the salt is being distributed plentifully and together with brine on the roads, residents of New Jersey have noticed that their tap water has a slightly salty taste. When the snow begins to melt the chemicals from the salt will mix with the waterways that are used as sources of tap water. Customers were assured by New Jersey American Water that the quality of the water is not compromised by the addition of salt to the drinking water.

We can understand how the salt gets into the drinking water, but what does the fall drought have to do with this issue? Since the drought caused the reservoir levels to plummet there is less water and the salt became more concentrated. As we mentioned previously, there are no health concerns with salty water except for those people who have to limit their salt consumption, and they must inquire from their doctors as to how to proceed. They may have to temporarily buy bottled water to deal with this water issue until the rainfall goes back to normal levels. For those folks concerned about the latest sodium chloride levels they can look up the latest stats on the New Jersey Salt Watch chlorine data map.

Another reason for salty tasting tap water could be a salt-based water softener. A salt-based softener uses sodium ions to soften your hard water. However, when your softener is working right there should be little or no salty taste so if you do have a salty taste contact your professional installer.

Here are a few of the reasons they may discuss with you: Improper rinse cycle, there may be a layer of salt that forms that blocks the tank, or settings might have to be adjusted.

Salty water is the most common taste in New Jersey for affected tap water, however there are other unnatural tasting waters. Metallic taste, bleach taste, rotten eggs, bitter taste and gasoline taste in local waters are a few examples of water contamination.

1 – Metallic taste: Picture this: It’s the wintertime and you have just put up a delicious homemade vegetable soup with only fresh veggies. This is not something you do too often, and you are really looking forward to serving it up to your family when they come in from the cold. Here they are. They are home and you do not have to fret as to what you are giving them for supper; it’s all ready.

You scoop up the bowls of hot soup with your ladle and even have bowls of croutons and grated cheese for a more sophisticated supper, what could possibly go wrong? “Ugh” says your youngest son who happens to be your least picky eater, “this soup tastes like metal”, he points out. The other children agree with him. Now it’s not that you didn’t taste the soup, you did, and you thought it tasted fine but they are claiming a metallic taste. Sometimes the metallic taste is so vague that not everyone will taste it and children’s taste buds are sharper than adults. You hand over the garlic salt and cayenne pepper and manage to get the kids to eat the soup. You wonder, what could possibly cause this metallic taste?

This problem could have to do with the pipes in your house and not necessarily any outside contaminants. Your pipes can be constructed from an array of metals such as copper, lead, iron and manganese. If you have an older home the pipes can be corroded from wear and tear. Or if you moved into a new home recently and the water tastes like metal your pipes might need replacing or you can invest in a carbon water filter or a reverse osmosis system.

2 – Bleach taste: Chlorine is actually a good thing since it kills bacteria in water systems just like in the backyard pool. This is not your fault and has nothing to do with your pipes or water softener. You should get in touch with the water supplier to reduce the amount of chlorine in the water system.

3 – Rotten Eggs Smell & Taste: Hydrogen sulfide is the reason for this sudden smell and taste of rotten eggs. This taste is more pronounced in hot water, and it could be that your water heater is corroded. You should not drink the water and temporarily switch to bottled water until you contact your local water supplier and the trouble gets resolved.

4 – Bitter taste: Sometimes it is difficult to describe in words what the bitter taste reminds you of. Some claim the taste is medicinal, similar to when you take an aspirin or tylenol that begins to melt in your mouth before swallowing. Normal amounts of zinc and copper are good for your health but when you can taste it, it could mean that the levels of alkaline intensity are too severe and can cause stomach issues, vomiting and nausea. For this problem, a reverse osmosis system would be effective by raising the pH level which will reduce the bitter taste of the tap water.

5 – Gasoline Taste: This taste could be a warning of dangerous leakage due to industrial emissions or from a fuel storage tank that is leaky. You cannot drink this water and switch to bottled water immediately. Check the news and call your water company to find out if there has been a local fuel spill. Water and health authorities should be contacting you directly but sometimes they leave recorded messages that could malfunction. If a fuel spill is the cause of the gasoline tasting water the underground plastic pipes need to be replaced with pipes that have preventative coating.

Final Words

No, pure water should not have a taste. It should not be sweet, nor salty, bitter or metal tasting. It also should not taste like the pool water you accidentally swallow while swimming. However, no water is one hundred percent pure, not even spring water. Fortunately, most contaminants can be tasted by alerting the homeowner of a potential problem with the tap water. Some metals cannot be tasted, and different regions have varied tasting tap water which is why some folks will only use bottled water.

As spring arrival comes closer some of the causes of ill tasting water will be solved. There will be no need for all that salt on the roads and walkways as the flowers and trees bloom. However other causes of bad tasting water will not be resolved so easily. Problems such as bleach, metallic and fuel tastes are conditions that must be addressed by higher governmental authorities. Make sure you get in touch with the right people and see to it that your family stays away from strange tasting water. No wonder many folks today will not touch their tap water for drinking and use bottled water exclusively.