Evaluation of a Taste and Odor Incident on the Ohio River

Abstract

This study describes a taste and odor event which occurred along the Ohio River during 1989 involving rinse water from a resin manufacturer that contained chemicals which reacted to form 2-ethyl-4-methyl-1,3-dioxolane (2EMD). The events under which the chemical was formed and transported from the resin manufacturing facility to the sewage treatment plan to the Ohio River are described. Taste and odors were detected in water supplies as far as 137 miles downstream from the point of discharge. Due to its hydrophilic nature, 2EMD was not sufficiently removed by the wastewater treatment plant using activated sludge treatment nor by drinking water treatment facilities downstream, even those which utilized granular activated carbon. 2EMD (consisting of cis:trans isomers, stable at a ratio of about 60:40) was the major component of the odor of the drinking water found in samples of the local water distribution system. An FPA panel described the synthesized cis/trans 60:40 isomer ratio of 2-ethyl-4-methyl-1,3-dioxolane as having a medicinal sweet or sickening sweet smell which matched the odor found in the samples from the impacted sites (resin manufacturer and drinking waters downstream).

An acute taste and odour episode solved by olfactory GC-MS

“…In every published case, these compounds were spilled by resin manufacturing industries (Preti et al, 1993;Noblet et al, 1999), in particular, saturated and unsaturated polyester resins. These resins are synthesised by polymerisation of glycols with terephtalic, isophtalic or adipic acid (Romero et al, 1998) in an acidic medium.…”

“…In particular, 2EMD is formed by the condensation of two propylene glycol molecules while 2EDD results from the condensation of neopentylglycol (NPG) with propylene glycol (PPG) (Romero et al, 1998). Noblet et al (1999) have attributed the formation of 2EMD to the reaction of propylene glycol with propanal which was present in the manufacture distillation columns while the formation of 2EDD was attributed to the reaction of neopentylglycol with propanal. Both Preti et al (1993) and Romero et al (1998) have synthesised the pure standards of 2EDD and 2EMD and related compounds using the latter method (reaction of neopentylglycol with aldehydes).…”

“…During the incident on the Ohio River (Noblet et al, 1999), 2EDD was present at the outlet of the drinking water plant but was not detected at customers' homes where the water showed a sweet-fruity odour. Three compounds were still detected at the customers' taps, 4-methyl-1,3-dioxolane and the cis-and trans-isomers of 2EMD.…”

Monitoring of Urban Black-Odor Water Based on Nemerow Index and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree Regression Using UAV-Borne Hyperspectral Imagery

“…The manual interpretation results are shown in the scatter plot (red). 9,13,14,37, and 38 belong to MBO, and all the others are SBO. This result is completely consistent with the results shown in the NCPI line chart (blue).…”

“…To date, the published articles on black polluted water have mainly focused on the biochemical mechanism of water and black odor [8], the related treatment [9][10][11], and the optical characteristics of black-odor water [12,13]. Urban black-odor water identification, water pollution assessment, and river pollution source monitoring still rely mainly on in situ campaigns that provide point measurements, with a long monitoring period but low monitoring frequency [14].…”