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Green Ice in My Freezer! Is Our Drinking Water Safe? A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Copper Contaminants in NYC Public Water Supply
Author(s) -
Patruno Anna,
Benitez Benedetta Sampoli
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.795.7
Subject(s) - copper , tap water , population , chemistry , water supply , environmental science , contamination , environmental chemistry , metallurgy , environmental engineering , environmental health , materials science , ecology , medicine , biology
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive and incurable form of dementia that slowly terminates memory and cognitive skills. Though no cause for the disease has been found, recent studies speculate that copper consumption through diet is implicated in the cognitive decline of the aging population and of those suffering from Alzheimer's disease. According to standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Lead and Copper Rule, if more than 10 percent of tap water samples exceed the copper action level of 1.3 mg/L or 1.3 ppm, additional steps must be taken to reduce that value through corrosion control and public awareness. Despite the EPA's claim that it is not possible to see copper in water supply, a batch of freezer‐made ice cubes presented a green tinge. It was hypothesized that this was due to an insoluble copper salt since a green solid precipitate was observed when the ice was dissolved. The purpose of this investigation is to determine which compounds were present in the “green ice” samples and to quantify their content. Through qualitative methods, the presence of a copper salt was confirmed. Further tests revealed the salt to be copper carbonate, or CuCO 3 . Through absorption spectroscopy, the amount of free copper in solution was quantified and found to exceed the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level Goal. Possible reasons for the presence of such high amounts of copper in the drinking water will be presented.