💧 Borewell water in our building tastes metallic now

Our building has a shared borewell, plus the municipal supply that comes in the mornings. I've lived here for 6 years and never had a problem with the borewell water. For about 3 weeks now it tastes metallic, and a bit like sucking on an old coin. You notice it most when you fill a glass straight from the tap without running it first. I mentioned it to the watchman last week. He said 2 other families had complained as well. Nobody has done anything about it, they've only talked about it in the building group chat. We haven't got the water tested at any lab, which I know should have been step 1. Instead we've all been guessing, and a building group chat is very good at guessing. A neighbour who knows a bit about water systems said it could be a few different things. The groundwater level changing, digging somewhere nearby, a corroded pipe, or the borewell just getting old. Without a test none of that is more than a guess, and he didn't want to say more. I can't really blame him. He has his own flat and his own problems to worry about. For now most of us only drink and cook with the municipal water, and nobody has complained about it. The borewell water goes for washing clothes and mopping floors, which works but isn't really a plan. In summer the municipal supply sometimes skips a day, and then the borewell is all we have. Has anyone here been through this? What did the test show, and how long did it take?

Since it's for drinking, I'd push for a test sooner and not wait for more complaints to pile up. Even if it's a minor seasonal thing, ruling out something harmful is worth the small cost. A watchman's word and a group chat won't tell you what's in the water. Only a lab report will, and then nobody has to argue about it anymore.

My parents' borewell does something similar every year, just before the monsoon starts. The taste goes slightly off for a couple of weeks and then clears once the rains come properly. So check if yours started around the same time of year before you assume the worst. If it's still off after the first good rains, then I'd get a test done without waiting.

6 years is about when ours started too, around year 7, and the casing pipe needed replacing. The groundwater itself was fine, which surprised everyone in our building who had blamed the soil. I'd ask whoever drilled yours whether a casing check or a redrill is due at this age. They usually know roughly how long a borewell lasts in your area, so a phone call costs nothing.

We did the same thing, municipal for drinking and cooking, borewell for washing, for about 2 months. It worked fine until we sorted out the real problem with the borewell.

Check if there's any digging or construction near your building. That happened near my place last year. A new foundation 2 streets away was being dug, and our water went off in taste for weeks. It mostly settled after a few months once that work was done. Might not be your reason at all, but it's worth asking around before paying for anything.

Everyone grumbling in the building group but nobody making the call, I've seen that in my own society. Each person assumes someone else will pay for the test or spend the afternoon arranging it. Maybe you could take the lead and ask 4 or 5 neighbours to split the cost. Once there's a report in hand, the building committee can't wave it away so easily.

Your metallic taste sounds exactly like our building's borewell about 2 years ago. It started faint, then got stronger over a couple of weeks before anyone took it seriously. For us it turned out to be a corroded section of pipe, not the groundwater. That was almost a relief, because replacing a pipe is a lot easier than redrilling a whole borewell.