LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Polytechnic University is taking on a research project, working with the city of Winter Haven, to solve a smelly issue that has plagued Central Florida for decades: stinky tap water.

“They are doing an analysis using the samples from the plant,” said Dr. Jun Kim, who is the assistant professor of environmental engineering at Florida Polytechnic University. Kim is leading a research team of four undergraduate research assistants who are tasked with getting to the bottom of a stinky problem.

“What we heard so far is that during short periods of time at higher temperatures with higher moisture, it’s basically aggravating the condition so that some of the limited area will still get a rotten egg smell from their tap water,” he said.

Kim says the rotten egg smell in the tap water has been an issue for all of Central Florida since the 1970s, and while the water is safe to drink and meets all EPA regulations, the smell can be pretty bad at times due to hydrogen sulfide. This team is working on a better treatment process to eliminate it.

“We are developing a better process, so if this is going well, then we can provide a better solution so we can also go with a pilot testing next year, and a better solution for water soon,” he said.

Right now, they’re collecting samples from the city’s water treatment plants weekly and collecting data. Kim says they’ll likely launch a pilot test with Winter Haven for a new treatment process next year. 

Florida Polytechnic is working with the director of Winter Haven’s water department on the project, who says while the city’s water supply is well below levels of concern and is constantly monitored to ensure its safety, any reduction in disinfection byproducts by Florida Poly’s team will help the city improve the quality of water even beyond what is required.