Twenty-four percent of Napa residents don’t drink the city’s tap water. Most people indicated that it’s because of a chlorine smell or taste. The chlorine is in the water to make sure it stays safe to drink as it travels through pipes leading from the treatment plant to taps.
In the spring, the city improved water quality by starting to use ozone at its largest treatment plant in Jameson Canyon, Costello said. Water treated with ozone has better taste and odor. The improved quality is expected to lead more people drinking tap water. Consuming tap water reduces the need for plastic water bottles. Other cities that have gone to ozone, as can be seen in past posts, have found consumer satisfaction rise. In fact, in blind tastings, the tap water often beats the bottle water.
While ozone offers many benefits for water treatment such as improved disinfection, reduction of disinfection byproducts, and improved clarification, taste and odor improvements are one of the main reasons why drinking water facilities adopt ozone. In fact, most bottled water is ozonated prior to bottling.