3 ms·

I've been all over the US and no where has it smelled or tasted remotely like chlorine. A quick Google says the high end is 4 ppm. If you think you can taste or

I've been all over the US and no where has it smelled or tasted remotely like chlorine. A quick Google says the high end is 4 ppm. If you think you can taste or smell that, you're lying to yourself.

lagniappe 2y ago
In my area the smell of chlorine and chloramine is thick on some days (usually after storms and floods). I'm a reefkeeper, I see it in my water tests too, on those days I don't use my RO DI filter because I don't want the extra stuff going in. You can smell it under a hot tap as a sickly sweet smell.
mlyle 2y ago
> If you think you can taste or smell that, you're lying to yourself. I most certainly can smell it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579463/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579463/ "Most individuals are able to taste or smell chlorine in drinking-water at concentrations well below 5 mg/l, and some at levels as low as 0.3 mg/l."
- dmurray 2y ago
  And you can taste/smell lots of things far below 4ppm - example: farts - so appealing to "this looks like a very small number so you must be lying to yourself" is nonsense here.
  - mlyle 2y ago
    Indeed, that's the whole point of smell: detecting interesting or harmful things at low concentrations.
    - SoftTalker 2y ago
      And smell and taste are intertwined senses, that together are highly attuned to detecting and avoiding toxins, and finding and enjoying nutritious substances.
mythhabit 2y ago
For many people that live where there is no chlorine in the water, it's immediately obvious when there is added chlorine to the tap water. I'm not sure I can taste it, can't remember I've actually tried, but I can absolutely smell it.
bux93 2y ago
I had coke that tasted like a swimming pool in Minnesota. I had no reason to suspect it would, so it's not something I was convincing myself of. It came from a machine that used tap water of course, rather than from a bottle or can.
ohmyiv 2y ago
In L.A. I can tell. I lived in Washington state for a couple of years and when I got back to L.A., I could clearly smell it. As for the taste, I don't know if it's chlorine I taste, but it does taste really different. I can also really tell the difference from most Bay area, specifically Hetch Hetchy water, and L.A. municipal. If think people can't tell the difference, you're lying to yourself.
throwbadubadu 2y ago
It is a matter of getting used to, childhood imprint. Most Europeans will smell and taste the chlorine immediately, even in a coke in a fast food chain in the US where they mix that tap water in, or even just in ice cubes. This conditioning works also the other way round. Read often that Americans usually find the tap water in Europe to be not "fresh", because of the missing chlorine. I don't think there is any self-lying involved. People notice it the first time going and trying, certainly not because they have been subconsciously indoctrinated. Personally strongly confirm!
- amluto 2y ago
  I suspect that the prominent “eww my food/drink smells like chlorine” problem isn’t the tap water. Most soft drink machines have filters that are quite effective at removing chlorine and chloramine. Restaurants (at least in the US) are, IMO quite sensibly, required to sanitize dishes between uses. This can be done using chlorine or similar chemicals in a “low temperature dishwasher” or using heat in a “high temperature dishwasher”. The former leaves a disgusting residue that can take quite a while to degrade by itself. Those freshly washed, still wet plastic cups next to the drink machine, in a restaurant with a low-temp dishwasher, will make anything you put in them taste like chlorine or, worse, nitrogen chlorides. But they won’t give you nasty foodborne infections. You can somewhat mitigate this by rinsing the cup before filling it. (There is also some evidence that rinse aid, which intentionally leaves a residue on cups and dishes, is quite bad for you.)
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    Commercial rinse aid
    - nanidin 2y ago
      Alcohol ethoxylates that were identified to cause epithelial inflammation and barrier damage[0] are listed as ingredients in consumer dish detergents[1] and rinse aids[2]. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/#:~:text=The%20alcohol%20ethoxylates%20present%20in,epithelial%20inflammation%20and%20barrier%20damage https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/#:~:text=The%20alco.... [1] https://smartlabel.pg.com/en-us/00037000982067.html https://smartlabel.pg.com/en-us/00037000982067.html [2] https://giantfoodstores.com/product/finish-jet-dry-3-in-1-rinse-aid-16-oz-btl/149967 https://giantfoodstores.com/product/finish-jet-dry-3-in-1-ri...
meristohm 2y ago
Chloramine, then, which is what Minneapolis uses, last I checked, and I could smell it relative to water that had boiled or sat out long enough. Our noses aren't as sensitive as a dog's, granted, but still a useful sense.

I've been all over the US and no where has it smelled or tasted remotely like chlorine. A quick Google says the high end is 4 ppm. If you think you can taste or smell that, you're lying to yourself.

lagniappe 2y ago

In my area the smell of chlorine and chloramine is thick on some days (usually after storms and floods). I'm a reefkeeper, I see it in my water tests too, on those days I don't use my RO DI filter because I don't want the extra stuff going in. You can smell it under a hot tap as a sickly sweet smell.

mlyle 2y ago

> If you think you can taste or smell that, you're lying to yourself. I most certainly can smell it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579463/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579463/ "Most individuals are able to taste or smell chlorine in drinking-water at concentrations well below 5 mg/l, and some at levels as low as 0.3 mg/l."

dmurray 2y ago
And you can taste/smell lots of things far below 4ppm - example: farts - so appealing to "this looks like a very small number so you must be lying to yourself" is nonsense here.
- mlyle 2y ago
  Indeed, that's the whole point of smell: detecting interesting or harmful things at low concentrations.
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    And smell and taste are intertwined senses, that together are highly attuned to detecting and avoiding toxins, and finding and enjoying nutritious substances.

mythhabit 2y ago

For many people that live where there is no chlorine in the water, it's immediately obvious when there is added chlorine to the tap water. I'm not sure I can taste it, can't remember I've actually tried, but I can absolutely smell it.

bux93 2y ago

I had coke that tasted like a swimming pool in Minnesota. I had no reason to suspect it would, so it's not something I was convincing myself of. It came from a machine that used tap water of course, rather than from a bottle or can.

ohmyiv 2y ago

In L.A. I can tell. I lived in Washington state for a couple of years and when I got back to L.A., I could clearly smell it. As for the taste, I don't know if it's chlorine I taste, but it does taste really different. I can also really tell the difference from most Bay area, specifically Hetch Hetchy water, and L.A. municipal. If think people can't tell the difference, you're lying to yourself.

throwbadubadu 2y ago

It is a matter of getting used to, childhood imprint. Most Europeans will smell and taste the chlorine immediately, even in a coke in a fast food chain in the US where they mix that tap water in, or even just in ice cubes. This conditioning works also the other way round. Read often that Americans usually find the tap water in Europe to be not "fresh", because of the missing chlorine. I don't think there is any self-lying involved. People notice it the first time going and trying, certainly not because they have been subconsciously indoctrinated. Personally strongly confirm!

amluto 2y ago
I suspect that the prominent “eww my food/drink smells like chlorine” problem isn’t the tap water. Most soft drink machines have filters that are quite effective at removing chlorine and chloramine. Restaurants (at least in the US) are, IMO quite sensibly, required to sanitize dishes between uses. This can be done using chlorine or similar chemicals in a “low temperature dishwasher” or using heat in a “high temperature dishwasher”. The former leaves a disgusting residue that can take quite a while to degrade by itself. Those freshly washed, still wet plastic cups next to the drink machine, in a restaurant with a low-temp dishwasher, will make anything you put in them taste like chlorine or, worse, nitrogen chlorides. But they won’t give you nasty foodborne infections. You can somewhat mitigate this by rinsing the cup before filling it. (There is also some evidence that rinse aid, which intentionally leaves a residue on cups and dishes, is quite bad for you.)
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Commercial rinse aid
  - nanidin 2y ago
    Alcohol ethoxylates that were identified to cause epithelial inflammation and barrier damage[0] are listed as ingredients in consumer dish detergents[1] and rinse aids[2]. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/#:~:text=The%20alcohol%20ethoxylates%20present%20in,epithelial%20inflammation%20and%20barrier%20damage https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/#:~:text=The%20alco.... [1] https://smartlabel.pg.com/en-us/00037000982067.html https://smartlabel.pg.com/en-us/00037000982067.html [2] https://giantfoodstores.com/product/finish-jet-dry-3-in-1-rinse-aid-16-oz-btl/149967 https://giantfoodstores.com/product/finish-jet-dry-3-in-1-ri...

meristohm 2y ago

Chloramine, then, which is what Minneapolis uses, last I checked, and I could smell it relative to water that had boiled or sat out long enough. Our noses aren't as sensitive as a dog's, granted, but still a useful sense.