Hi Cassboyle - the smell you get from water is probably 'chlorine' - all you have to do is let the water 'sit' for about half an hour, the chlorine will evaporate naturally and the smell will disappear. I boil all water from the tap now and keep it in the fridge - a couple of years ago we had to 'dig up' and replace a couple of water pipes in some flats we were managing - these were 'drinking water pipes' - after I saw the inside of the pipes - I concluded that I would boil my tap water from that moment on! At the moment you sense of smell is hightened - I noticed this when I went to my art group - I use acrylics (water base paints) but some of the ladies still use oils and I had to stop going until my chemo finished because the fumes gave me a thumping headache. Good luck with the water! x Josie