What does the Presence of Green Bath Water Mean? If your bath water is tinted green or blue or your plumbing fixtures have blue or green stains around it's an indication of excessive copper levels in your bath water. And this has to be tackled immediately as absorption of more than the required levels of copper in your body either through the skin, ingestion or inhalation can be quite harmful.
Green Bath Water
How Does Copper Get into Household Water?
Copper gets into household water largely due to corrosion of plumbing pipes made of copper. The corrosion activity causes copper to dissolve into water lending it its greenish/bluish tint. Corrosion can occur due to natural wear and tear of copper plumbing systems or it can also be hastened because of the water’s pH imbalance, greater concentration of organisms or other chemicals in it, more water turbulence or presence of sediment, sand or grit that scrapes against the pipes.
If you want to know whether your copper pipes are corroded then the best way to do it is to physically examine them. If they are brown or reddish in color then will be corroded. However, if you don’t have copper pipes and yet your bath water has the greenish or bluish tinge then it is better to ascertain the cause of the problem by contacting a plumber.
How to ascertain if Copper Quantities are more than the Required Levels?
The changed color of water gives a hint of excessive quantities of copper present in it. Excessive corrosion can cause pinhole leaks in the piping system indicating the presence of excess copper levels. However, the best way for ascertaining copper levels in water is to use a copper testing kit that provides you with accurate results within minutes. Copper levels of more than 1.3 mg per liter needs to be dealt with and this may also entail the installation of a updated pipes or plumbing fixtures. In any case a professional plumber will be the best person to guide you in this context.
Home-based Solutions for Handling Excessive Copper Quantities
Water that is left standing in the corroded plumbing pipes for long time periods contain higher copper quantities dissolved in it. One of the ways to tackle this is to allow the first surge of water to flow without using it. This should be done for at least 15 seconds. Each faucet will need to be flushed separately before using its water. This leads to reduced copper quantities in the following water flows.
Some other methods of water treatment include ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, ion exchange or distillation. However, these methods have to be used individually for each faucet
However, tackling the root cause of corrosion which could be any of the above mentioned reasons is necessary. Water Testing kits will enable you to conduct an effective water analysis. The health department in your local area will be able to help you in this regard.
Green/Blue Bath Water Summary
There are several reasons for presence of pollutants in waters meant for household use. Action has to be taken depending upon the type and cause of the pollutants.
