Relationship between intensity, concentration, and temperature for drinking water odorants.

Odor analyses experiments indicated that, for the concentrations and temperatures tested, odor intensity was a function of both aqueous concentration and water temperature for water containing 1-butanol, free available chlorine, geosmin, n-hexanal, 2-methylisoborneol, and trans-2, cis-6 nonadienal. At weak odorant concentrations (approximately 4 on the flavor profile rating scale) the perceived odor intensity of these six chemicals was greater when the temperature was 45 degrees C than was 25 degrees C. Both of these temperatures are commonly encountered by consumers when they use tap water. Odor response to water containing isobutanal was affected by concentration but not water temperature. Experiments also revealed that reduction in aqueous concentration did not consistently reduce odor intensity; for some aqueous concentrations and chemicals an increase in odor intensity occurred at lower concentrations.