THE DETERMINATION OF COMPOUNDS CAUSING FISHY SWAMPY ODORS IN DRINKING-WATER SUPPLIES/

Two chemical isolation methods, closed-loop stripping analysis (CLSA) and simultaneous distillation/extraction (SDE) in combination with gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and two sensory methods, fla vor profile analysis (FPA) and sensory GC analysis, were used to deter mine the compounds responsible for the fishy/swampy odors in potable w ater. Samples were collected during four different fishy/swampy odor e pisodes and analyzed. It was determined that me compounds should be ex tracted by the SDE method. The SDE method extracts more polar compound s than the CLSA method. The main compounds identified were two unsatur ated aldehydes (trans,trans-2-4-heptadienal and trans,4-heptenal). A k etone (1-penten-3-one) was tentatively identified.