Why Your Lake Forest Tap Water Smells Like Chlorine (and How to Fix It)

You pour a glass of water in your Lake Forest kitchen and catch a whiff of a swimming pool. That chlorine smell is common, it usually is not a sign your water is unsafe, and it is one of the easier water complaints to solve.

Here is where the smell comes from, whether it is anything to worry about, and how to get rid of it for good.

Why does Lake Forest tap water smell like chlorine?

Your tap water smells like chlorine because your utility adds a chlorine-based disinfectant to kill germs as the water travels to your home. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that both the source water and the miles of pipe between the treatment plant and your tap can harbor germs, so utilities add a low level of chlorine or chloramine to keep the water safe the whole way.

In Lake Forest, that water is imported and treated before it ever reaches the neighborhood. The El Toro Water District monitors more than 170 miles of pipeline across its system, and the disinfectant residual in the water is what protects it over that distance. The CDC also notes that some utilities switch between chlorine and chloramine at different times of year, which is why the smell can be stronger some weeks than others.

Is chlorine in drinking water safe?

Yes, the low levels of chlorine or chloramine in tap water are considered safe to drink. The CDC states that levels up to 4 milligrams per liter are unlikely to make people sick while still killing harmful germs.

The smell is an aesthetic issue, not a health warning. The EPA classifies taste and odor under its secondary drinking water standards, which are guidelines for the qualities that make water unpleasant rather than unsafe. In other words, the chlorine odor is a nuisance you are allowed to dislike and remove, not a sign that something is wrong with the water.

How do you get rid of the chlorine taste and smell?

The most reliable way to remove chlorine taste and odor is to filter the water through activated carbon. The EPA notes that granular activated carbon removes most of the contaminants responsible for odors and off-tastes, which is exactly what a carbon filter is built to do. A few options, from simplest to most complete:

• Chill or let it sit: keeping water in an open pitcher in the fridge lets some chlorine escape and mutes the taste. The CDC notes this does not remove chloramine.
• Carbon pitcher or faucet filter: activated carbon captures chlorine at a single tap with no installation.
• Under-sink carbon filter: more capacity and better flow at the kitchen, out of sight.
• Whole-house carbon filtration: removes the chlorine taste and odor at every tap, including the shower and laundry.

One caveat: if your water is carrying chloramine rather than plain chlorine, letting it sit will not clear the smell, and you will want carbon media rated to handle chloramine. A quick water test confirms which disinfectant you are dealing with.

Should you filter chlorine at one tap or the whole house?

That depends on where the smell bothers you. If it is only the water you drink and cook with, an under-sink carbon filtration system handles the kitchen cleanly. If you also notice it as chlorine-heavy steam in the shower or on fresh laundry, a whole-house water filtration system treats every fixture at once, which a single under-sink unit cannot do. Both rely on the same activated-carbon principle; the difference is how much of the house they cover.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my water smell more like chlorine some days than others?

Utilities sometimes switch between chlorine and chloramine or adjust dosing through the year, so the intensity varies. The CDC notes that some systems alternate disinfectants for operational reasons.

Will boiling remove the chlorine smell?

Boiling can drive off some chlorine, but it is impractical for everyday use and does not remove chloramine. A carbon filter is the simpler long-term fix.

Is a whole-house filter worth it just for chlorine?

If the smell bothers you in the shower and laundry as well as at the tap, whole-house carbon treats every fixture at once, which a single under-sink unit cannot match.