Aren’t you glad you don’t live in Flint!! You only think your water stinks! Steve Sipe is spot on in his water treating regimen. After forty-five + years of building public swimming pools, I’m still a believer in chlorine. Follow Steve’s plan and you won’t go wrong. Will Peggy’s method work? You bet, but it’s WAY overkill. If your water still stinks I’ll bet your water heater needs a good cleaning out. Drain, flush the crud out, repeat. Once the crud is gone, before installing a new anode, dump a gallon or two of vinegar into the tank and add some water...maybe a gallon or two. Let it sit for a few hours before flushing the W/H out again. You thought it was clean before the vinegar treatment, didn’t you. Flush it out good, install a new anode and refill the W/H. You are probably good for another 5-10 years. Regards, Randy Pickelmann Cool Change-Rockland, ME Sent from my iPhone-expect typos