By: Karen Sherry Brackett

Karen Sherry Brackett
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 00:11:28 +0000

Shocking to read that for over a year Columbus, Ohio residents have on occasion put up with a musty, mildew, fishy odor in their water which their city authorities said is "the result of a algal bloom in Hoover Reservoir and is non-toxic." Oh, really? Algae blooms are easily remedied with chlorine bleach. So, if a smell persists after water has been treated with the bare minimum of treatments to kill E. Coli and there is a musty, mildew and fishy odor that persists then you are not dealing with an algae bloom. A pungent smell with an alcoholic kick to it would best describe MCHM and if it had gone through a water departments chlorine treatment it would have converted to release chloromethane, hydrochloric acid and another compound which would smell like goat sweat. A fishy smell is a key marker for the presence of EDTA or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Therefore, either the water department in Columbus is improperly treating the water and exposing citizens to biological hazards or it is completely unaware of the chemical toxins it is distributing. Either way, this needs investigation. For enough mildew to be present in water for it to actually affect the smell then everything else including E. Coli will be in the water as well.