HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP — When neighbors see Lori Marquez sniffing around, they don’t think much of it.
Marquez, a Pimona Drive resident, says her water “stinks” and she is determined to sniff out the problem.
“The water smells,” she said. “I mean, it stinks. To me, it smells like marijuana. I know that sounds weird, but when I turn on the water, when I get into the shower, I smell it.”
Larry Meaney, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Services, said workers have checked the water main and found no problems with the water system.
“We honestly don’t know what that smell could be,” Meaney said Wednesday. “It is very rare, but sometimes after a catastrophic event in the system, like a main break or after a boil alert, customers will maybe experience some discoloration or cloudiness in their water but never a foul smell.”
“(Water discoloration) is not attractive, but it happens,” he said.
Marquez said the smell lingers around her apartment complex, even outside.
“I lived in Pittsburgh three years ago, and the same thing happened,” she said. “They told me it was the levels of chlorine in the water.”
Marquez said while the water has an unpleasant smell, it tastes just fine.
Meaney said some water customers complain about a chlorine smell or taste in the water.
“But chlorine has a very distinct smell,” he said. “When a customer says they smell chlorine, they describe it as a ‘chlorine smell.’”
Meaney said people who use non-public water sources, like wells or cisterns, might smell sulfur in their water, but not so in a public water system.
Meaney said he has not received any other complaints about the smell and said it possibly is coming from the interior plumbing system in Marquez’s apartment complex.
“Maybe there is a dry trap in the building or some other plumbing issue,” he said. “But if she smells it outside, then that can’t be the case.”
The Ashtabula County Department of Health inspects and oversees plumbing issues and upholds the county’s interior plumbing code, Meaney said.
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