“It’s impossible to drink for the second day already” — this is how a resident of Hlinkova street in the Košice – Sever city district reacted on social media. In recent days, the tap water in this area of Košice started to taste different, and people did not immediately understand what happened.
The first to notice the change was a resident of Hlinkova ulica (street), who found the water noticeably more mineralized. She asked neighbors on social media — and it turned out that dozens of people had similar complaints, writes the local publication. Reports came from Park mládeže, Tolstého, Tomášikova, and Odborárska streets. Some felt a metallic or mineral taste, others described the water as “spoiled”: one resident said that even chilled water from the cooler tasted as if it had been standing all day after one sip.
Waterworks connected a different source
The mystery was solved by Východoslovenská vodárenská spoločnosť (VVS) — the East Slovak water supply company that provides water to the region. According to their explanation, on Friday, August 7, within Košice – Sever, the method of distributing drinking water was changed — one of several sources supplying this location was connected.
Water from another source may differ slightly in properties from what households have been used to for years. The company emphasized that the change does not mean a deterioration in water quality or safety and apologized for the inconvenience. By the way, not everyone noticed the difference — even among neighbors on the same street, some did not notice any change.
Why water tastes different in various parts of Košice
Košice and its surroundings receive water from Košický skupinový vodovod (group water pipeline). The city gets water from at least two sources, which mix in the distribution network. The Bukovec reservoir, built between 1968 and 1976, supplies the western part of the city, while the underground source Drienovec provides very high-quality water to Košice and several nearby villages. By the way, water from Drienovec is much softer than Bratislava’s.
Because of this mixing, the taste of water in different parts of the city may slightly differ — and change instantly when the operator switches sources. VVS controls water quality in its own laboratories, and the regional public health authority additionally checks it. Current analysis results can be viewed on the VVS water quality page.
There is little water in the region, and pipes are old
The taste story is a small issue compared to bigger water supply problems in Eastern Slovakia. VVS serves almost one million residents and manages a network about 6,667 km long, but according to 2025 data, the company had the highest water losses in networks among controlled operators — 53.83%. That means more than half of the water does not reach consumers, while the average water loss in pipelines in Slovakia in 2024 was about 26%, writes Startitup.
Drought adds tension. In August 2026, VVS, due to reduced productivity of local sources, urged residents of three villages in the Michalovce district — Staré, Oreské, and Zbudza — to save water. Experts have been warning for several years: Košice depend on one dominant source, and after 2030, the city faces a drinking water shortage due to longer dry periods.
So if the water in your Košice tap suddenly tastes different — most likely, the waterworks just switched the source, and no contamination occurred. If doubts remain, suspicious quality should be reported to the waterworks — VVS has a service for reporting violations.
