Lab tests reveal what's inside Houston tap water

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's been a couple weeks since we started getting our viewers complaining about the smell and taste of Houston's tap water.

The Houston Public Works attributed it to a naturally occurring compound in upstream surface water. But with so many complaints and concerns, we decided to dig deeper.

Longtime Houston resident Jerry Young was concerned when he noticed a change in his tap water.

"Twenty-seven years, I've never tasted the water being like that," Young said.

Young says it was something he wasn't willing to drink.

"It was something you'd want to spit out," he said.

Same thing for father-of-two Mathew Landry.

"It smelled like dirt. That's the best way I could describe it," he said.

Landry says even though his family drinks and cooks with bottled water, they still use tap water for laundry and bathing.

"It's kind of nasty when you take a shower and you smell like you went swimming in the lake," Landry said.

Many folks we spoke to asked the same question. Is it safe? So we collected multiple samples of tap water and sent it off to a private lab. The lab tells us they ran numerous tests on the samples we sent for bacteria, sulfide, even E. coli.

Days later, the results were in and the lab says everything was OK, with the exception of Landry's samples which came back with slightly elevated sulfide levels -- something the lab says could be attributed to old plumbing in a home.

Young is happy with the results as well.

"Either way, it's gone and it tastes much better. And I'm pretty happy with the lab that says it's OK," he said.

The City of Houston says it received over 500 complaints about the taste and smell of its water. If you're having a problem with your water, call 3-1-1 to report.