Peer Reviewed
Humans as Sensors to Evaluate Drinking Water
Taste and Odor: A Review
G A RY A. BURLINGA M E , RIC H A RD L . D O TY, A N D AN D R EA M. D I ET R I C H
https://doi.org/10.5942/jawwa.2017.109.0118
The extensive growth of sensory analysis techniques
in the food and beverage industries starting in the 1940s
led to an international explosion of research on the taste
and odor of drinking water. Despite the number of tra-
ditional approaches to the sensory evaluation of drink-
ing water in use today, there is a need for ongoing
improvements. In general, careful attention must be
given to guard against the many factors that can influ-
ence sensory evaluation results. This article describes the
challenges of performing human sensory analyses of
water and presents data from nonwater organoleptic
studies in improving procedures for using humans to
assess water quality.
Many variables must be considered when using
humans to perform sensory testing, including interfer-
ence from the testing environment; the health, gender,
age, and mood of the assessors; sensory fatigue; and
assesors’ attempts to please the examiner. Although
adaptation to odors can occur at times, repeated expo-
sure to an odorant can increase sensitivity. Moreover,
continued exposure to one odorant can influence sensi-
tivity to another odorant, a phenomenon known as
“cross-adaptation.” In addition, an aversion to an odor
can heighten a person’s sensitivity to that odor.
Important findings from taste and odor studies include
the following: women, on average, identify odors better
than men; a substantial genetic influence exists on the
ability to identify odors; a major loss of smell function
occurs in later life; smoking behavior adversely influ-
ences olfactory function; the ability to smell is compro-
mised in many urban residents of highly polluted cities;
and smell dysfunction is a common feature of a number
of rhinological and neurological diseases, most notably
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Other lessons learned from
taste studies are that women are more sensitive than
men to a number of tastants; repeated experience with
testing lowers taste thresholds; bodily processes can
influence some taste thresholds in a selective manner;
and, as with olfaction, taste dysfunction is present in
some diseases.
A multitude of errors can enter into the design and
administration of chemosensory tests that can affect their
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2017 © American Water Works Association
Expanded Summary
validity and reliability. These are expectation error; error
of habituation; stimulus error; logical error; halo effect;
and confounders from the order of sample presentation
including contrast effects, group effects, errors of central
tendency, and pattern effects. Study design techniques are
critical for reducing these biases; such techniques include
randomizing or counterbalancing the order of sample
presentation, maintaining a constant environment across
testing sessions, and carefully interpreting and statistically
evaluating the resultant sensory test data. However, even
when well-established procedures for selecting assessors,
and designing and administering the test are used, and
statistical analyses are in place, careful review is still
needed to guard against the myriad influences from fac-
tors that can increase variability and affect human sen-
sory measurements.
Humans are unique as sensory assessors; they provide
data that cannot be obtained by laboratory instrumenta-
tion. There is untapped potential in using semitrained
employees to monitor the aesthetic quality of drinking
water. In addition, water suppliers can make better use
of customer complaints and social media data related to
the sensory properties of drinking water. Considering
the potential capabilities of human sensory studies to
provide valuable information on the aesthetic quality of
water, and the reality that human sensory testing cannot
be fully replaced by nonhuman approaches, the drinking
water industry needs to continue building upon its expe-
rience and resources for sensory analyses. In the food
and beverage industries, there are courses for training
in the use of sensory tests and consumer studies that
cover the many factors addressed in this article. A valu-
able partnership between the drinking water community
and the sensory testing resources of the food and bever-
age industry, as well as academia, could be valuable in
enhancing and providing ongoing services for addressing
the taste and odor quality of public drinking water.
Corresponding author: Gary A. Burlingame is director,
Bureau of Laboratory Services, Philadelphia Water
Department, 1500 E. Hunting Park Ave., Philadelphia,
PA 19124 USA; gary.burlingame@phila.gov.