We talk about older infrastructure (i.e. water service lines) a lot on this site because many of the water service lines running from the water treatment plant out to individual homes contain copper and lead elements that over time tend to dissolve into the water passing through them.

While the presence of dissolved copper in the water supply generally poses no health risks in the quantities normally seen in the public water supply, it can result result in unwanted and VERY difficult to remove staining on fixtures in the home. Additionally, owners of swimming pools and hot tubs get warned constantly of the dangers of not neutralizing or removing dissolved metals (like copper) prior to adding chemicals after filling up their pool or tub… else risk some serious stain problems that will cost a lot of money and elbow grease to remove!

The presence of lead in water, however, does pose a serious health risk according to pretty much every water quality expert and health agency. The USEPA requires public water systems to take action to immediately reduce levels of dissolved lead when they reach or exceed 15ppb (parts per billion).

OK, so why add phosphates to the water supply?

By maintaining a certain level of phosphates in the water supply, public water systems reduce the amount of copper and lead that can leech into the water. In layman’s terms, the phosphates ‘coat’ the metal surfaces and thus limit its exposure to the water passing through the lines.

I have well water, so I’m safe, right?

Actually, you may have larger concerns than just exposure to copper and lead. Public water supplies get monitored for a large assortment of various chemicals, compounds and water quality parameters on an ongoing basis whereas no one monitors the quality of the water coming from your well.

Getting back to the matter of copper and lead in well water, though, both metals occur naturally in the environment and may show up in well water without warning. Additionally, older homes may still contain copper plumbing that has lead laden solder holding its joints and unions together.

“Can any amount of copper in pool water color your hair and skin green? If so is there an antidote for this? Thanks—-Gary.”

The simple answer

Yes, the copper in pool water does play a part in the creation of a greenish tint in a person’s hair. We do not know about the greenish tint to skin, though.

The more complex answer

Slight concentrations of copper in pool water may play a part in the formation of a green tint in a person’s hair, yes, but most of the blame should get aimed at the pool water’s chlorine concentration.

The chlorine oxidizes copper (and other metals) which then become attached to various exposed proteins in human hair. Once attached, oxidized copper has the opportunity to impart its greenish color directly into the hair’s root.

Low copper concentrations in water lacking oxidizers like chlorine, or containing extremely low concentrations of chlorine or bromine, typically will not affect a person’s hair color — hence many of the ‘safe for hair’ claims made by alternate sanitizer systems that use biguanides or ionized minerals (with very, very low chlorine levels).

Source(s) of copper in pool water?

Typically a concentration of copper in pool water results from one of three sources:

1. Source water used to fill the pool — Copper occurs naturally in many well water sources and so it stands to reason that if you fill your pool with well water, you may want to test for minerals (like copper) before adding chlorine.

   Those of you using municipal (i.e. city water, hydrants — with help of fire department, of course!) water sources should also test for the presence of dissolved metals in the pool water before adding chlorine. Why? Because most municipalities use metal service lines to get water to your home and as water passes through those lines it sometimes picks up little bits of the metals it comes in contact with.

2. Chemicals used to kill/prevent algae — Most people refer to chemicals that help to prevent and/or kill algae as algaecides (also spelled algicides apparently)… a good number of the ones commonly sold online and in pool stores these days contain traces of copper that could cause a problem if used too frequently or if used in larger than suggested amounts.

   When used according to direction, most algaecides that contain copper will not impart enough copper in the water to cause a problem since ‘splash out’ (water splashed out of the pool during use) removes copper slowly and subsequent refilling of the pool with fresh water dilutes the copper levels.

3. Pool equipment — And finally, swimming pool and hot tub heaters will normally contain copper heating elements that will, over time, add trace amounts of copper to the water they heat. This process accelerates greatly when the pool or spa water pH balance gets low and the water becomes acidic. Water with a lower pH tends to have corrosive tendencies.

So now that you know what happens to make hair turn green, naturally, as Gary did, you will want to know ways to possibly prevent it from happening, right?

• Healthy, properly conditioned hair stands a better chance of resisting the coloring effects of oxidized metals. Some experts have suggested shampooing and conditioning one’s hair prior to going swimming.
   
• Most people already know that it makes a lot of sense to wash one’s body and hair thoroughly right after getting out of the pool. Doing so reduces the amount of time the pool water’s disinfectants — and other sometimes not-so-healthy components — have to affect skin and hair.
   
• ‘Damaged’ hair makes for an easy target. Split ends, dyed hair, bleached hair, and otherwise unhealthy hair makes an excellent receptor for unintended hair dyes like oxidized metals.
   
• Limiting the amount of time that one spends with soaked hair may also help. Rather than allowing the warm sun to dry your hair you may want to dry it as best you can with a towel when you get out of the pool.

In most cases a person probably ought not have too many problems with hair turning colors as long as the water they swim in contains a proper water quality balance and their hair does not have pre-existing conditions that would make it more susceptible to attack by oxidized metals.

One will not KNOW, however, if the water in a pool ‘too much of this or too little of that’ unless… they test the water.

The following products should make testing source water as well as actual pool water for dissolved metals a quick and painless process:

• Heavy Metals Check — Great way of determining if water contains any dissolved metals at all. Will not tell what metals it detects, if it detects any, but it will alert you to the presence of dissolved metals at concentrations as low as 10ppb (parts per billion). Perfect for testing source water.
   
• John’s Copper Test — Detects ONLY copper in a water sample. Low detection limit of 0.5ppm (parts per million) and an ideal, easy method for testing source water.
   
• Total Iron Visual Test — Fast, accurate method for determining total iron concentrations in a water sample.Low detection limit of 0.3ppm (parts per million).
   
• Pool Check Copper — Designed to test for dissolved copper levels down to 0.2ppm (parts per million) as well as a water sample’s pH and total alkalinity. Great tool to have in anyone’s pool maintenance kit who has a heater on their pool, uses algaecides that contain copper, or suspects their pool’s source water may contain copper.

Got more questions about dissolved metals in pool water or drinking water? Feel free to drop us a line using our online Contact Us Form.

At the suggestion of friends we changed our chlorine pool late last year to a ionizer pool that uses minerals to keep the water clear. I saw a copper test kit on the [ censored ] web site and got scared by the big warning that it contained hazardous chemicals. We are supposed to test the copper levels and don’t want to bring dangerous chemicals (we have small children) into our home. Do you know a better option?

Thank you for this question, Mya, and yes, we do know of an alternative to (what we refer to as) traditional wet chemistry test kits for copper that use potentially hazardous test reagents. We suggest you take a look at the Pool Check Copper 3-Way Test Strip which not only tests for dissolved copper, but also tests for pH and alkalinity at the same time.

How does the Copper 3-Way compare to the wet kit?

For starters, it requires no MSDS (which means no potentially harmful chemicals).

It also tests for, as we previously stated, pH and alkalinity — two very critical pool water parameters you will want to keep an eye on if using a mineralizer/ionizer on your pool. If the levels of either get too far out of line you may begin to see staining (caused by precipitating minerals) appearing your pool!

Another benefit deals with the fact that the Copper 3-Way detects as little as 0.2ppm dissolved copper while the wet chemistry test kit bottoms out at 0.5ppm.

And as for cost — a major concern for most people these days — the Copper 3-Way product has a fairly low cost of around $12 whereas the wet chemistry test kit mentioned by Mya had a cost of around $37.

Regardless of which water testing option you choose, it matters most that you have decided to actively test the quality of your pool water… and obviously everyone already KNOWS that we feel regular testing of water in our lives will help keep people safe from unexpected (and unwanted!) illness caused by bacteria, parasites, and other water contaminants.

Testing for copper in source (i.e well, tap or surface) water?

Copper occurs naturally in the environment and dissolves (to some extent… slowly) into water when the two come in contact with one another. Therefore one could easily expect to find traces of dissolved copper (Cu⁺¹ & Cu⁺²) in ground water, well water, and even city water (older water infrastructures still may contain copper piping).

If you wonder whether or not you can use the Pool Check Copper 3-Way to test for copper in water sources such as well water or tap water, technically you can, but we suspect that the manufacturer factored in warmer water when calibrating the color change reaction on the test pads with that corresponding color chart.

Do not fret, though, because SenSafe manufactures a product called John’s Copper for testing colder water samples like well water, surface water and tap water.

As an example, in the State of Georgia, local water departments must conduct lead in water and copper in water testing in a select number of customer homes every three years.

The Polk County Water Authority will be sending out letters this week to homeowners it wants to participate in its water-testing program, according to an authority official.

Authority Manager Jack Damron said the effort is to get back into compliance with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

Polk County is required to submit water samples from inside homes of randomly selected properties every three years. The testing is to monitor lead and copper, according to Damron.

The county missed the last testing period. However, Damron said no fine was issued.

“Our position is the state never sent us the bottles to use,” Damron said, referring to the specific sampling bottles needed.

Damron, who has been in his position for about two months, said the issue is one of testing compliance and not of water pollution.

“If we believed there was a more serious issue with water itself, we would have sent out a different notice,” he said. ( source )

As always we applaud any government agency’s efforts to ensure citizens have safe, clean drinking water. In this case, though, we give only half a clap.

Why only half a clap? Simple: The excuse of ‘the state never sent us the bottles to use’ does not hold much water. Pardon the pun.

Officials in Polk County KNEW testing needed to get done and KNEW, we imagine, the phone number of the State Agency responsible for distributing the required test vessels for the lead and copper testing. For them to say they should absorb no blame for the testing not getting done rubs us the wrong way.

Thankfully (for them) none of us live in Polk County, Georgia… and thankfully the average person has easy access to copper in water test kits and lead in water test kits.

T_RadioMan in Clifton Park, NY asked…

Why do I always get staining in my sinks? Is my well water polluted? Is it dangerous?

Slow down, killer. Slow down. One question about the quality of your water at a time, OK? 😉

Staining… of fixtures often happens when water contains dissolved metals. Have you tested your water for metals?

• Iron in Water — may leave brown, yellow and/or orange stains in sinks and on fixtures
• Manganese in Water — may leave dark brown, black or deep purple stains in sinks and on fixtures

• Copper in Water — may leave blue, green or dark stains in sinks and on fixtures

Polluted… drinking water may not ever show any signs of contamination. Only testing the water will tell you if your water contains dangerous contaminants and if you know nothing about the quality of the water, it definitely makes sense to opt for a thorough water quality analysis conducted by a qualified laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories or a local laboratory w/ similar qualifications.

National Testing Laboratories offers three levels of certified drinking water testing and their customers get test results within two weeks.

• WaterTest Basic tests for 27 water quality parameters
• WaterCheck test for 83 water quality parameters

• WaterCheck w/ Pesticides tests for 97 water quality parameters

Dangerous… water also may not show any obvious signs of it malignant nature so having testing performed by a qualified laboratory to find out if the water contains harmful contaminants or a dangerously low/high pH makes sense if you know nothing about the water and have ‘problems’ with it such as skin irritation, staining of fixtures, foul odor, nasty taste, or unexplainable recurring gastrointestinal troubles.

To conclude, T_RadioMan, you really won’t ever know the cause of your water woes until you get that water of yours checked out by a certified water testing laboratory.

A few residents have experienced lead in their drinking water in recent weeks, prompting discussion of Belleville’s aging infrastructure and a warning to people about how to protect their health.

Township Manager Victor Canning said that “a couple of samples” of tap water tested positive for lead, and by law the township had to send notices to those residents. He said there is a bigger picture problem.

“This is something that has to be addressed in areas with older infrastructure,” Canning said.

For now, he has this advice: “People should let the water run for a couple of minutes to remove any lead or copper issues.”

The substances come from old underground water pipes that need replacing, an expensive proposition, he said.

“We are trying to address this, spending a couple of hundred thousand [dollars], but we’re talking millions and millions to fix it all,” Canning said. ( source )

As stated in the article, tearing up and replacing older copper water lines joined together with solder that contains lead costs a pretty penny and a lot of towns like Belleville simply cannot come up with the money. Therefore residents in these towns owe it to themselves to test their drinking water for dangerous heavy metals such as copper and lead on a regular basis.

Unless filtered or otherwise purified, most water contains at the very least SOME dissolved minerals and those levels will depend on where the water came from and/or passed through on its way to your pool. As an example, most well water contains dissolved minerals so that means if you fill your pool/spa with well water, your pool/spa water will contain dissolved minerals, too.

You can test for dissolved metals in well water with Water Metals Check, an easy-to-use test for metals in water with a low detection level of 10 ppb (parts per billion).

Earlier we mentioned that some algaecides contain small amounts of copper in them which serves as an algistat, or algae growth inhibitor. Under the right conditions copper introduced by copper based algaecides will remain suspended (in solution) and you will not know they exist unless you test for them with a copper in water test kit.

Metal fixtures (such as ladders) and swimming pool heaters in and around the pool get continuous exposure to sometimes very harsh conditions such as high or low pH and/or extremely high chlorine (or other oxidizer) levels which cause corrosion of the metal surfaces and allow metal ions to enter the water. These ions can create interesting color patterns in water and difficult to remove stains when they fall out of solution and land on the bottom of the pool or other surface.

Many times, though, copper discoloration and staining comes from the heat exchanger in a pool heater. As water passes over its multi-tubed, copper finned heat exchanger at a rate faster than the exchanger can handle or in a corrosive form due to high/low pH levels and/or unusually high oxidizer levels, ions of copper come off metal surfaces and enter the water.

Another (obvious) problem presents itself when copper heat exchangers start to erode away: Their walls get thinner and thinner and eventually holes develop. Replacing heat exchangers can cost a LOT of money.

So therefore, if copper stains and high pool/spa heater repair bills don’t strike your fancy, keep a close watch on the pH, sanitizer levels and from time-to-time copper levels to make sure nothing has started to eat away at your heat exchanger.

And finally, some sanitizer systems, such as the Pool Frog Mineral Purifier System, actually USE ionized copper as part of their chemical system as well as ionized copper. Copper ions serve as an algistat and silver ions serve as a bactericide.

Manufacturers of mineral-based sanitizer systems strongly suggest testing pool water regularly for critical water parameters such as pH, alkalinity, sanitizer level, etc. so that the minerals do not ‘drop out of solution’ and cause staining.

Test strips such as Pool Check Copper 3 in 1 make routine pool testing quick, simple and safe.

Boiling water generates steam — and steam does NOT carry away metals with it. To remove metals from drinking water you must either filter the water using a reverse osmosis system or properly distill the water.

Need to test for metals in your water?

• Test Kit for Mercury in Water
• Test Kit for Copper in Water
• Test Kit for Chromium (Hexavalent) in Water
• Test Kit for Iron in Water
• Test Kit for Manganese in Water
• Test Kit for Heavy Metals in Water
• Lead in Water Test Kit
• Water Safe Lead in Water Test Kit

In unbalanced water, copper may ‘drop out of solution’ and cause staining of a pool’s submerged fixtures and pretty much all of its non-metal surfaces (i.e. vinyl liner, fiberglass bottom, concrete/gunite bottom, etc.). Typically a severe drop in alkalinity and/or pH can result in copper staining with the right amount of free dissolved copper present.

In the case where the pool in question has a heater tests for copper in pool water yielding positive results may mean the pool water has become corrosive and has started to eat away at the copper in the heating element(s) in their heater.

A second source of copper, and also a good reason to test for copper in pool water every once in a while, has to do with the pool owner’s choice of algaecides. Some of the algaecides on the market contain trace amounts of copper due to copper’s ability to effectively fend off an outbreak of algae in water whose chlorine or other oxidizer level has dropped. Long-term use, or most often improper overuse, of copper-based algaecides can lead to an excessive buildup of copper in the water. A severe change in alkalinity and pH, possibly as a result of a rainstorm or the addition of ‘new’ water to the pool, may cause that copper to ‘come out of solution’ and cause staining on the surfaces mentioned earlier.

Does Copper in Pool Water Always Mean Trouble?

Absolutely not! In fact, some pools rely on copper as their primary algistat and use very low levels of oxidizers such as chlorine to destroy any organics that do attempt to make the water their new home.

How Can Pool Owners Test for Copper in Pool Water?

Pool owners can test for the presence of free dissolved copper in their pool water using traditional wet kits, by taking a sample of their pool water into their local pool store for analysis, or by using a test strip such as the Pool Check^TM Copper test strip which detects free dissolved copper levels as low as 0.2ppm and as high as 2.0ppm in under a minute.

The Pool Check^TM Copper test strip also tests for pH and Alkalinity at the same time it tests for free dissolved copper residual. This product tests for pH and Alkalinity because they changes in those two pool water parameters can cause free dissolved copper to come out of solution, settle on surfaces, and stain whatever it lands on — sometimes permanently!