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The East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) reported Thursday that there is no “public health risk” despite complaints of strange-smelling and bad-tasting water. 

The unusual smell and taste of local tap water were the result of seismic retrofit wo rk around the Claremont Tunnel, the agency reported. 

But while the California Department of Health has ruled EBMUD tap water “safe to drink,” EBMUD telephone operators were cautioning customers not to drink any water that “seems to be ‘funny,’” or “if th ey experience conditions of the taste or odor of their water being ‘off.’” 

Complaints about a possible contaminant that tasted like petroleum in EBMUD water began coming in to the company on Tuesday afternoon. 

An EBMUD spokesperson said the retrofit work on the tunnel, which brings water from east of the hills into Oakland and Berkeley, could go on “for a while.” She added, “It’s a long tunnel.” 

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