A unique know-how in identifying taste and odours of drinking water
The Tastes and Odours Service provides operators with unequalled know-how in identifying agents responsible for taste and odour problems of drinking water, in treatment solutions to alleviate the situation but also in training and technical communication actions, including to municipalities and consumers.
Water production and distribution units are sometimes subject to occasional problems of foul tastes and odours. An unusual water taste can be an indicator of a variation in the water quality supplied. From the raw water intake to the consumer’s tap through the internal networks in private individuals’ home, the origins of taste and water problems are multiple and related to substances present as traces (infinitesimal quantities). The complexity of their analysis is compounded by the control of water treatment processes, which change or remove tastes and odours.
The Tastes and Odours Service is a multidisciplinary service, shared by the Analytical Expertise and Drinking water divisions of the CIRSEE. It allows the operator to remedy taste and odour problems, thanks to a double analysis and treatment expertise build upon several hundreds of cases throughout the world. It distinguishes itself by :
- Specific methodologies for location and characterization of tastes and odours (Profile of Flavours).
- Advanced technologies for the analysis of traces, such as olfactory detection following a chromatographic separation (GC-Sniff/MS).
- A diagnosis of agents involved and often the one at the root of the phenomena, thanks to predictive models.
- Proposals for optimizing and modifying treatments, treatability tests in the laboratory or on pilot.
The service delivers also preventive means, through professional training (Taste Observatory, complaints management tool) or technical communication actions (Open House Days) and curative means, through a stand-by service (24H/24).
A Dedicated website :
Lyonnaise des Eaux France and its subsidiaries in the Paris region have established the www.goutdeleau.com website which is devoted exclusively to the taste of water. You can also register as a water taster at the site.
Scientific Publications :
Analytical Chemistry, Journal of AWWA, Water Quality International, Water Science and Technology, Water Supply
Book :
Identification and treatment of tastes and odors in drinking water ; Advance in taste and odors and control, AWWARF – Lyonnaise des Eaux
Download The tastes and odours service leaflet.
