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Re: Copper in acidic Vancouver water?
I called the GVRD to get the low down on the Vancouver water.
We have about .5 mg/L of calcium carbonate hardness which if
I understand the conversion is about 0.25 KH. In the mains the
water should be between pH of 5.9 & 6.1 depending upon how
much chlorine is left. They add Cl at 1 ppm but it dissipates
quite a lot before it reaches most of the municipalities. They
plan to increase the hardness and pH of the water significantly
in 1998 as well as adding Cl booster stations so a word to the
wise; continue monitoring! They said there should be negligible
Cu in the water in the mains however with acidic water, it can
pick up quite a bit especially if the water is sitting in the
pipes for any length of time. If you're in a house and you
run the water for a couple minutes, you should be getting mains
water. In an apartment building it could take a lot longer.
Using water from the hot water can be significantly worse.
The other thing is if there is new plumbing in the building,
you can get a -significant- increase in Cu since old pipes tend
to accumulate a coating with age.
Guess what, our apartment building has a brand new hot water
boiler and I think some of the plumbing is new. :-0
I'll use cold water and run it during the peak demand hours
when everybody should be washing dishes. Guess I'll give
up on mixing the water to tank temperature at the tap.
Maybe I can figure out a holding container where I can harden
it up and use carbon filtration.
Steve