Chlorine is added to most public water supplies to keep them safe as they travel through the system, so a faint chlorine taste or smell is not unusual. A strong pool-like smell is different. It may point to a higher level of disinfectant at your tap, a problem in the water heater, or something else in the water entirely. A few simple checks at home can narrow it down before you buy any treatment.
Compare the cold and hot taps
Run the cold tap for a minute, then smell and taste the water. Then do the same with the hot tap. If the smell appears only at the hot tap, the source is more likely the water heater or the hot water lines inside the house than the supply coming into the home. If both taps have the smell, the source is more likely the supply or the plumbing that serves the whole house.
Run the standing water test
Fill a clean glass from the cold tap and leave it uncovered on a counter for several hours. Taste and smell it again. Free chlorine tends to dissipate from standing water, so a noticeable drop in the taste or smell suggests chlorine is the likely cause. If the taste or smell barely changes, the disinfectant may be a type that does not dissipate as easily, or the odor may come from something other than chlorine. Ask your water utility which disinfectant it uses and whether it changes disinfectant at any point in its treatment process.
Ask whether the change is new
Note when you first noticed the smell and whether it is steady or comes and goes. A sudden change may be connected to work on the public system, a change in treatment, or a change in the water source. Ask your utility whether any work is planned or was recently completed in your area, and read its annual water quality report for the disinfectant information it publishes. Keep your own notes so you can compare what you observe with what the utility reports.
Rule out other causes
An earthy or musty smell is not the same as chlorine. Algae or organic material in the source water can produce those odors, and they often come and go with the seasons. A metallic taste, a sulfur smell, or a smell that appears only in one fixture may point to something else entirely, such as a problem in the plumbing or the water heater. If the smell is strongest at one fixture, check that fixture and the lines feeding it before you assume the whole supply is at fault.
If chlorine is the cause, decide what you need
If the standing test and the cold and hot comparison point to chlorine, a treatment decision may be reasonable, but it does not have to be a whole-house system. A point-of-use filter at the kitchen tap may address taste and smell for drinking and cooking. Before you buy one, ask what the filter is designed to reduce, whether the product states which contaminants it addresses, and how often the cartridge must be replaced. Ask any provider how they will confirm that the chosen unit actually reduced the chlorine at the tap you use.
If anyone in the home has health questions about the water, talk to a doctor or your utility before you change how the water is used.