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Some of the tap water in Cobb County stinks | Here's why

Here's what's causing the smell, why you can't fix it and why that's OK.

Turning on the tap in Cobb County is turning off thousands of locals just trying to get a drink of water.

To put it simply, drinkable water coming from Lake Allatoona has a bit of a stinky problem right now. To put it less simply, we have the general of the Cobb-Marietta Water Authority, Glenn Page.

"Two-Methylisoborneol," Page said. "And geosmin. G-E-O-S-M-I-N."

They're both organic compounds - the products of decomposition - that increase as the lake level drops and the water temperature rises. And with it comes a "moldy, earthy, musty, dirty" smell.

"Not every year, but most years we get some level as the water temperature comes up," Page said. "Especially toward the end of the summer."

But he also said that they aren't necessarily bad - just unpleasant.

"It's a bad actor for our business because we have to apologize to our customers because we can't get in front of it," he said. "We can't do anything about that."

The water authority actually tries to sniff the problem out every year before people complain. They have people stationed along the lake who smell the water every day as part of their jobs.

That's not all they do - but it means they are trying to help.

Page said they don't have the technology to stop the stink. They sterilize the water and try to pull from other sources but the smell remains. As for what residents can do at their own faucet, the answer is pretty much the same.

"People will hear, 'Flush your water'," he said. "This is one time flushing is not going to help. You're just going to waste your water."

The only real option is to be patient, he said. But there could be good news on that front. Page said the temperatures should drop soon and the icky smell should go away - possibly in the next week. Until then, it's worth noting that the water is still safe to drink.

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