Abstract
Drinking water supply companies have traditionally focused their efforts on providing a product with health guarantees. However, the consumer does not evaluate the water by taking into account the regulations but rather in terms of its aesthetic properties. The water sector for human consumption is aware of this and is making a noteworthy effort to improve the odour and taste of water. It requires the introduction of emergent treatments, such as advanced oxidation or membrane technologies.Three projects about this topic are presented: first, the change achieved by blending traditional resources with desalinized seawater by reverse osmosis; second, the comparative behaviour of three different activated carbons; and third, the overall influence of the TDS (“Total Dissolved Solids”) on taste perception. A programme of tasting sessions has been performed with volunteers (untrained panel) and a professional panel (according to Flavour Profile Method described in Standard Methods for Water and Wastewater, from American Water Works Association).
Two types of experiments have been performed: ranking and scoring tests as affective techniques and triangle difference test as discriminative tool.
The present work clearly shows the usefulness of sensory
analysis for the water utilities to evaluate the improvement on the organoleptic quality of the water obtained by advanced
treatment methods.