Unexpected taste and odour (T&O) in drinking water is an emerging issue for the Australian water industry as it undermines customers’ trust in drinking water suppliers. Most water utilities monitor only cyanobacterial and microalgal populations, and measure only geosmin and MIB concentrations in source water, which is likely to overlook the full extent of biogenic T&O challenges in drinking water supply. Moreover, conventional coagulation/flocculation/filtration are often adopted for T&O removal, but T&O treatability is not well understood at operational scale. To ensure a better drinking water system from source to tap, the project intends to (1) identify key T&O producing algae in source water by historical data analysis and (2) determine the treatability of unknown T&O for the proactive management of drinking water.