If you live in Halifax, you may have noticed a musty or earthy smell or taste to your water.

Halifax Water says the earthy flavour is from a natural compound called geosmin, which appears at Pockwock Lake at at Pockwock Lake.

Spokersperson Brittany Smith says people can smell even the smallest amount.

“It can be unpleasant, but it’s not harmful, and the water remains safe to drink,” said Smith.

She says heat can make the odor more noticeable, and if you chill water in your fridge, it can help with the taste, she said.

She says they do not know how long it could last.

Halifax Water tests Pockwock Lake regularly, and they report monthly on the amount of geosmin in the water.

The most recent test from Oct. 10, shows there were 10 nanograms per litre of water. The typical threshold for people to notice the geosmin is 15 ng/L, but people who are particularly sensitive to it can notice it at 5 ng/L.

When asked whether the geosmin could be related to Nova Scotia’s drought or the weather, she said there is no correlation. There was a large presence of geosmin in 2023, and it was also a fairly rainy year, with historic flooding in the summer, for instance.

However, because of the drought, Halifax Water is running water across the MacDonald Bridge to Dartmouth, so some people might notice in central or downtown Dartmouth that their water has the earthy or musty flavour to it.

It is possible to treat the water to remove the taste, but Smith says any potential upgrades to water treatment for geosmin would take a long-term plan, requiring approvals and a lot of work.