Posted by Hosale, a resident of the Menlo Park: Fair Oaks neighborhood, on Jan 20, 2008 at 7:43 pm

I noticed the same thing here in Fair Oaks. The water is all white and cloudy since we got back from X-mas Vacation on 3 January. This morning I took a drink and it was chlorinated/metallic to the max. I spit it out and let the water run for a while and the taste got back to normal. Something is definitely going on with the water supply. Watsup!

Posted by Diana B., a resident of the Portola Valley: Central Portola Valley neighborhood, on Jan 20, 2008 at 9:39 pm

We have noticed the same thing. Cloudy and not tasting well except for the filtered water.

is anyone looking into this? calling the water company?

Posted by Sirenetta, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Jan 20, 2008 at 10:08 pm

We've noticed the strong metalic taste, lower water pressure and a strong chlorine smell today.

Posted by Newsboy, a resident of another community, on Jan 20, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Here is the explanation from the SFPUC: Web Link

Posted by H2Owed, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Jan 21, 2008 at 8:34 am

Unfortunately, that link doesn't explain a thing. Given that the nasty taste began over the weekend, I doubt that anyone has been around to update the website, leaving us to wonder what they are doing to the water.

The cloudiness is strange but at least the water tastes fine. The water tastes so disgusting right now that my kids don't want to drink it or bathe in it. Meanwhile, the Cal Water people are probably elsewhere, enjoying their day off and drinking bottled water.

Posted by Virginia Parks, a resident of the Menlo Park: The Willows neighborhood, on Jan 22, 2008 at 11:27 am

The City of Menlo Park Municipal Water Department received a fax from SFPUC on Friday, 1/18/08 at 12:30 p.m. saying that they were starting up the Hetch Hetchy source and to "expect variable water quality including potential taste & odor for the next few hours." This change did not affect the safety of the drinking water. It can take 16-24 hours for water from the Sunol treatment plan to reach Menlo Park, so the affected water should have passed through by Saturday night.

Sincerely,

Virginia Parks, Assistant Engineer, (not a Menlo Park resident)

City of Menlo Park, 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025

(650) 330-6740

Posted by what's new?, a resident of another community, on Jan 22, 2008 at 12:03 pm

If the SFPUC had found thousands of rotting corpses fouling the water system, they would just dump in extra chlorine and put out a media message that the water is perfectly safe & meets all drinking water standards!

Posted by Richard Hine, managing editor of The Almanac, on Jan 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Richard Hine is a member (registered user) of Almanac Online

Here is an update on the water story: Web Link