Full Description

Recent data indicates that the leading cause of consumer dissatisfaction with tap water quality is a chlorinous taste and odor. This may be contributing to the rise in purchasing of home filtration devices and bottled water. This poses an important question: to what extent are chlorinous flavors a problem with public perception of tap water aesthetics and safety? Answering this question will enable water utilities to assess customer decisions and water treatment options. This question formed the basis of this study. On-site taste tests (objective) and consumer surveys (subjective) were conducted with the same consumers in seven target markets to measure consumer sensitivity to chlorine and chloramine in drinking water. By conducting the test in various locations, the effect of different water qualities on sensitivity (consumer detection) limits could be assessed. These results were compared to survey results (conducted by telephone) from approximately 200 randomly sampled consumers in each market. A comparison of subjective survey and objective taste test results indicate that whether or not an average consumer can detect the chlorine in his/her tap water does not have a significant effect on whether or not the consumer perceives his/her water to be "healthy" or "safe" or even aesthetically pleasing. In other words, the chlorinous flavor of the tap water does not correlate with consumer perception of water quality. Includes 8 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2002 Number of Pages: 20 File Size: 1 file , 520 KB