Green hot water?!

[Remove dots from userid to rep]

My parents recently bought a home in an area that has a "neighborhood water supply", whatever that means. Suddenly, their hot water has started having a green tinge; the neighbors say they've all had this problem off and on, and it's due to excess acidity in the water. The fellow who nominally runs the water supply says things like "I don't know anything about water" and is generally not interested in the problem. That's perhaps not surprising: the neighbors say this goes back over two decades! Anyway, the conventional wisdom is that the problem is due to the acidity leaching copper from the pipes, and that the solution (!) is not to drink the water.

We'd like to understand this better. I was thinking that since it's just the hot water, could it be aggravated by a depleted hot-water tank anode?

My parents have tried contacting folks like the local EPA office, and haven't gotten very far. Any suggestions for how to approach analyzing the problem and solving it would be appreciated! I'm remote, so I can't do much for them other than make suggestions, alas.

Thanks, ...phsiii

[William Deans]

Greetings,

Purchase a mail-in water testing kit and mail in some of the green water. If it comes back unsafe local authorities will be much more willing to help.

Hope this helps, William

[toller]

Obviously the first thing to do is to find out what a neighborhood water supply is, and who is legally responsible for it. Do they pay anything for the water? To who?

My hot water stinks, but at least it is clear.

[effi]

"Corrosion of copper-containing alloys in pipe fittings may introduce measurable amounts of copper into the water causing blue or green stains..."

"copper corrosion" or "blue water syndrome"

"There are some telltale signs of copper in water (a metallic taste and/or blue-green deposits on faucets and sinks)..."

have the water tested in a lab for known contaminants/pollutants

[Pop]

I respectfully submit that the first thing to do is have the water tested at a reliable testing lab; which are found easily in the yellow pages. Kids, dogs, cats & who knows is drinking that water, and health & safety depts would be seriously interested, but I don't see EPA caring much. THEN address liability. The tests are cheap until someone gets sick, which is possible, or people get upset about wearing green nurse's uniforms, etc., in which case it becomes litigious.

Pop