For several days now, residents from different parts of Madrid have been sharing a common experience on social media: the water from their taps has a strong chlorine smell, and they have even noticed changes in its taste.
One of the affected residents stated in a post on X—formerly Twitter—shared by El Economista that “It usually happens around this time every year. I was told once that it was due to cleaning procedures, that it wasn’t harmful to health. But it tastes disgusting.”
That explanation was confirmed on Monday, June 8, by both SAMUR-Civil Protection and Canal de Isabel II in a statement detailing the causes of these changes in Madrid’s tap water.
In the statement—which they published on their website—they note that “Following a procedure carried out at one of our water treatment plants, users in some municipalities may have noticed a change in the smell and taste of the water from their taps.”
That said, they assure that despite these changes, the water remains safe to drink and suitable for consumption. However, “work is being carried out on the distribution network to eliminate the unusual taste and smell, which will gradually disappear,”they note, although no specific date has been given.
Work that usually goes unnoticed
In the statement published by Canal de Isabel II, they also explain that this type of maintenance, cleaning, and improvement work at drinking water treatment plants is carried out periodically and that, normally, it goes unnoticed by users.
However, on occasions such as this one, these maintenance tasks can affect the taste or smell of the supplied water.
