Any bio-chemists on here?

[Globalti]

I'm pushing myself quite hard at the moment to get fit and lose weight for a cycling event in March, eating a lot less and exercising quite hard twice a week. In the last month our tap water has smelled of chlorine more than usual, which is probably just a seasonal variation in the amount the supplier is adding. However in the last two days the water has smelled of BO, a "stewey" underarm odour. Nobody else in the house can smell it (both my wife and I work in the perfume industry so have well-practiced noses). I Googled "tap water smells of BO" and interestingly, the first hit was from a body building website. I have checked with United Utilities and they say they the last test was on 4 February when the level of chlorine was "0.41 mg/litre total chlorine residue", which sounds tiny to me.

I know that pregnant or menstruating women can experience changes in their perception of odours and I know that chemical changes in the body can produce a fatty greasy taste in the mouth of people who are dieting (have had this before when cutting out carbs) so I'm wondering if my own body is undergoing chemical changes, which are causing me to percieve the cholrine smell as a BO smell. Could the nose perceive chlorine as butyric acid or isovaleric acid, for example?

United Utilities were quite interested when I phoned and are coming to sample our tap water next week.

 

[Svendo]

With you pushing hard at the moment, are you sure it's not just your sweaty pits opening up when you lift a glass to your mouth to drink?

BTW can chemotherapy also give you the everything smells intensly sensation. When my sister was being treated we couldn't have coffee in her house.

 

[Globalti]

Sweaty pits? No, it's a definite odour from the headspace above a glass of water. Since the sweaty stewey smell has replaced the smell of chlorine I'm interested in the idea that my perception may have changed.

 

[Arsen Gere]

Might sound daft but cycling gloves can cause your hands to smell like this from the bacteria that builds up in them. Smell your hands without the glass of water. What does a bath/shower smell like ?

 

[Globalti]

Er... I can smell the odour at any time, not just after a ride! I usually shower after a ride anyway!

Try Googling "tap water smells of BO" and you'll be surprised at what you see.

 

[mcshroom]

It's usually an algal growth somewhere in the treatment system that causes the taste/odour, but will be harmless medically. The United Utilities policy for this should be to flush out the local main and/or to check your fittings.

Let them run the water through the labs and you'll get an idea of the total makeup of your water which can be quite interesting (make sure they give you a full report on the sample). The chlorine level sounds pretty normal to me having spent a good few years as a Thames Water lab monkey (although I did more work in waste waters than potables).

 

[Fab Foodie]

Biochemist reporting for duty.
Not my area of expertise, though I've stayed in many a hotel where the water certainly has a bit of a musty twang to it and assumed it was something grubby in the pipework.
Needless to say, the minibar supplies my in-room drinking water.