Water Smells Like Rotten Eggs in North Lauderdale

Aeration: the City's odor step

Biscayne Aquifer groundwater can carry hydrogen sulfide, the gas behind the rotten-egg smell. The City's 2025 Water Quality Report says it uses aeration, traditional lime softening and other chemicals to remove odor, minerals and particles before filtering the water and disinfecting it with chloramines. Aeration lets dissolved gases escape. That treatment is the reason a sulfur smell in cold City water would be unusual.

Check hot vs. cold

1. Fill a glass with cold water, step away from the sink, and smell it.
2. Repeat with hot water only.
3. Try a second sink.

• Hot only: water heater.
• Hot and cold everywhere: supply, usually a well.
• One sink, glass is fine: the drain.

The water heater

Tank heaters have a sacrificial anode rod, often magnesium, that protects the tank. In warm, still water with some sulfate and bacteria, it can help form hydrogen sulfide. The smell is worse after the heater sits unused, such as after vacation or in a rarely used bathroom. A licensed plumber can flush the tank, swap the anode for a different alloy, or fit a powered anode. Removing the anode can void the warranty. A whole-house filter will not fix this.

Sprinklers and wells

Some North Lauderdale properties irrigate from shallow wells, which skip the City's aeration step entirely. That is why a sulfur smell can appear only when the sprinklers run, often with orange staining. For a well that supplies the house, the Florida Department of Health's well water fact sheet on odor and staining explains common causes. Treatment options:

• Aeration at the well, the same idea the City uses.
• Oxidizing filtration for sulfide with iron.
• Carbon for light odors only.

See aeration vs. filtration.

Chlorine weeks smell different

During the City's yearly free chlorine maintenance (September 19 to October 18 in 2024), the water may smell more like a pool. That is chlorine, not sulfur, and it ends with the maintenance period.

Who fixes what

• Heater: a licensed plumber.
• Well: a well system configured from a test; Living Water installs well water systems.
• Cold City water smells at every tap: call Public Works & Utilities at (954) 724-7070.

For a free test that tells you which one, call, text or WhatsApp (305) 793-5974.

Updated 2026-10-17 · Living Waters · Jorge Canela, Water Quality Specialist