# In the House of Stinky Water **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314 "2008-06-01T00:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/1 "2008-06-01T00:36:39Z")
I am currently housesitting for some acquaintances while they are away on a cruise for a few days. So far things have been going reasonably well except for one problematic minor detail: **STINKY WATER.** These people’s house has the most eye-wateringly stinky water imaginable. It is beyond description. Turn on the tap, and **GOD DAMN!** The water instantly assaults the nose with its sulphrous, flatulent miasma. It’s not visibly rusty or cloudy in the slightest, just overwhelmingly laden with fumes of outgassing stink. You can practically see the waves of cartoon stinkiness wafting up like heat distortion over summer blacktop. How much stink can water contain before it doesn’t chemically qualify as water anymore? This house has hot and cold running stink. How the hell do these people even live in the same house with such stinky water? They themselves have no detectable stink that I have ever noticed. Maybe they have some extremely efficient system to purge themselves of the stink. Or perhaps the water just doesn’t stink when they are here? Is the house itself reacting to my alien presence? There’s no way that this fugly deed-restricted McMansion is old enough for the dark emotions of its inhabitants to have generated such a malign supernatural presence. Maybe it was built over a Native American burial ground? I hesitate to even suggest that any tribe was ever this stinky though. Or maybe it was a Native American bowel ground. Is it possible to desecrate a bowel ground? Before they left, the owners thoughtfully pointed out the guest towels so that I could make use of the shower if I so chose. My current plan is to rot in hell before I allow even a single molecule of their water to touch my body. There is no possible way that lack of showering could make me any more stinky than their water. Some things should just not possess a distinctive odor, and water is one of them. The stink is so bad, it’s hard to believe it isn’t intentional. I have started to wonder if I might be caught up in some sort of elaborate prank? Am I being filmed right now? The stink may be warping my perception of reality. In summary: **STINKY WATER.** ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/2 "2008-06-01T00:50:54Z")
Put on a biohazard suit, then take a sample of the water. Bring it to the paranormal phenomena division of your local university for analysis. Hopefully you can have the problem solved before your friends return. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/3 "2008-06-01T01:13:32Z")
I don’t have an answer to any of your questions, but just wanted to pop in to say that I loved your OP. It has all the ingredients of a great mystery and the potential for great story-telling for years to come. Great job! And don’t forget to fill us in on what happened when your friends get back. Unless, of course, this is some cruel joke of _yours_! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/4 "2008-06-01T01:28:02Z")
Are you outside the city limits? Sounds like the water might be coming from a well. There are systems for getting rid of the smell. Maybe they have one but it’s not working. How long will you be there, without showering or brushing your teeth? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/5 "2008-06-01T01:34:28Z")
**CairoCarol** : You think I want to _explore_ this? I am doing everything I can to _hide_ from it. **AuntiePam** : Funny you should mention that. It turns out that Diet Coke is a perfectly suitable medium for toothpaste. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/6 "2008-06-01T01:35:11Z")
Yep, you’ve got well water. Bring in your own bottled water for most uses. If you have to do laundry, they’ve probably got Rust-Out™. Personal hygene can be problematic. Showers/baths can leave you feeling dirtier than when you started. I’m curious, as is **AuntiePam** as to how long you’re house sitting. Keep us aprised. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/7 "2008-06-01T01:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] And don’t forget to fill us in on what happened when your friends get back. Unless, of course, this is some cruel joke of _yours_! [/QUOTE] See, this is really the crux of my dilemma: how do you even broach a subject like this? Them: “We’re back! How did the housesitting go?” Me: “Oh fine, mostly. Other than the undead reek of your plumbing. What’s up with that, anyway?” ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/8 "2008-06-01T02:22:35Z")
Do they have plants? You can water some of their plants with that unholy water, and if they die then you can use that as the lead-in. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/9 "2008-06-01T02:59:37Z")
It sounds like water with a lot of sulfur in it. We have a lot of well water in the area with that rotten egg smell. I don’t know how people live with it, but I’ve been told it’s perfectly safe, and the smell doesn’t transfer to everything it touches. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/10 "2008-06-01T03:34:51Z")
My well water is sulphurous and smells and tastes bad. When city water became available I jumped at it.But the woman who owned my house lived here until she died at 99, so I guess it’s healthy. In fact, my dogs and horses will choose to drink the well water over the city water or freshwater creek. StG ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/11 "2008-06-01T03:45:58Z")
When I grew up I would spend summers in Florida with my dad, and there were neighborhoods there where you had to roll up your car windows if you were driving around while people were watering their lawns. I once went to a day camp there where they served that shit to drink. I dare you to find something grosser to drink (that isn’t actually dangerous) than strawberry Kool-Aid made with rotten egg water. _gag_ ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/12 "2008-06-01T04:08:49Z")
We have well water that stinks like that; a water softener helps a bit, but we drink only filtered water, obviously. Fortunately, the smell isn’t that noticeable in the shower – it seems much worse out of the sink taps, for some reason. And I don’t find the smell sticks to you when showering, either; of course, I use lightly scented bath products just to make sure I smell human. The biggest problem with the water is the amount of iron in it – if a toilet is left uncleaned for 5 days, it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in _years_ just from the disgusting rust that precipitates out of the water. Fortunately, I’ve found a cleaner that works on it, but I had to go through about a dozen first. Yes, it is disgusting. But you learn to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/13 "2008-06-01T04:36:41Z")
OK, I have a slight concern that these “acquaintances” of yours are now on a cruise ship somewhere…stinking up all the water in all the oceans! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/14 "2008-06-01T08:26:00Z")
You know, I know a guy in Berkeley that lives in an apartment complex. I used to go nuts, wondering what that smell was in his house, until finally I realized that he suffers from the same affliction. In his case, it’s because the building used to be a fairly low-cost motel. For years and years. At least, I hope that’s all it is. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/15 "2008-06-01T09:59:05Z")
We have wonderful well water - tasty and non-stinky. But for years, we lived in Florida and had varying degrees of nasty water - some from wells, some from municipal systems. My daughter’s last place (she just graduated and moved) was on city water, but it was still sulfurous and nasty. Eastern Orlando, if you’re curious. My inlaws used to live in Jacksonville, and their city water was not only smelly, it had stuff floating in it. I hated when we visited them, since I drink water to the exclusion of just about everything else. Yeah, stinky water is the devil’s tinkle. _\_ ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/16 "2008-06-01T11:10:24Z")
Well water checking in here in Akron, OH… It’s never been stinky, ever. For awhile before we got our newest water softener it turned everything (including my dishwater blonde hair) orange, but it’s never smelled or tasted bad. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/17 "2008-06-01T12:07:05Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] It has all the ingredients of a great mystery… [/QUOTE] **Sulphur** - “…and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids…!” OP cool, seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/18 "2008-06-01T15:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] See, this is really the crux of my dilemma: how do you even broach a subject like this? [/QUOTE] Well, this is a different question. You could try some of these. Here’s one: “You know, I couldn’t find that egg that someone lost here since Easter.” or perhaps: Give them some of the stinkiest water you can find in the house to drink upon their return and tell them they look thirsty. If they drink it right down, you’ve solved that mystery. Of course, you still have the mystery of what happened to their sense of taste and smell, but that’s a different story. or maybe: Buy some sulphur from the store and leave it at the entrance of their house when they get home. If they don’t notice, there’s no point in asking about the water. . .there’s bigger problems there. I hope those helped. 😃 Good luck! > [@Count Blucher](#): > > Sulphur - “…and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids…!” Well, yes. . .but is it coming from the water or somewhere else?! And no, I will NOT pull your finger to find out. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/19 "2008-06-01T15:17:52Z")
Well our summer cottage had a well, and the area has a high sulphur content. You essentially run all the taps and pull off about a hundred or so gallons, and the stench goes away, and the sulphur level goes away. It is only when the well sits unused that the stench gets a chance to build up. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314/20 "2008-06-01T19:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=Always Brings Pie] Well water checking in here in Akron, OH… It’s never been stinky, ever. For awhile before we got our newest water softener it turned everything (including my dishwater blonde hair) orange, but it’s never smelled or tasted bad. [/QUOTE] Hi, ABP, I had a feeling you were sitting in my lap! I’m getting up now, though . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-house-of-stinky-water/451314.md?page=2)