How to Remove Copper from Drinking Water — Simple Step-by-Step

Your body needs a tiny amount of copper to function, but too much of it in your drinking water is a real problem. If you also have concerns about lead in your water, similar filtration methods can help.

The irony is that while copper deficiency causes health issues, most people are dealing with the opposite problem. Copper accumulation in drinking water, usually from corroding pipes, has become a widespread concern.

Studies have shown that if the amount of copper in your drinking water is more than 1.3 parts per million, then it’s toxic for your health. Using a water filter in your apartment is one way to address this. Copper toxicity can result in liver, kidney, or gastrointestinal distress, which if neglected can cause serious damage to health.

In this article, we show 10 steps and methods on how to remove copper from drinking water and make it devoid of copper traces, such that the copper limit stays within a certain threshold, to prevent health complications. For a dedicated solution, check out our guide on the best copper water filter options.

Step 1: Direct Neutralization Of Drinking Water

A neutral water level of pH 7.0 is preferable to avoid any complications due to excessive acidity or basicity of overall water quality. Most of the time, well water or direct supply water ends up providing water with a pH level of 6.0, which is on the acidic side.

This ends up corroding the interiors of the plumbing system, which introduces copper to the water supply and serves as a potential risk to the overall supply. Examples where this phenomenon can be observed include tubs, sinks, and toilets, which end up having blue or green stains due to the deposition of copper on their surfaces.

One of the ways to avoid this is by re-neutralizing the water back to 7.0 pH to keep it from corroding the copper pipes. This can be done by installing acid neutralizer tanks at the level where the water enters your household. A whole house water filtration system can be paired with this approach.

The next step is to size the tank to the household and attach it along with an automatic backwashing head. Fill it with garnet and gravel based media overlaid by a calcite media.

This introduces a backwash pressure that can prevent the entry of copper into drinking water. The calcite can neutralize the acid and change the water pH level back to neutral, which is 7.0, thus stopping the pipes from shedding copper.

This method is more focused on water supply infrastructures that have the requirement to supply more than 5 households. A single unit is attached at the inflow to serve the purpose while providing clean copper-free water to every household.

Step 2: Flushing The Water System

Another method that can be applied if the copper in your water comes from the plumbing facilities is to run the cold water on single-piece faucets for at least 15 seconds before using it.

This step has been recommended to keep the copper contaminants in check. Performing the flushing process 10 to 15 seconds before cooking or drinking is mainly adopted when someone doesn’t have a water treatment system.

The same water can be used for household purposes like laundry, cleaning, and in the dishwasher. However, you must avoid using the hot flushed water for cooking, as heated water contains a higher proportion of copper.

The flushing process has its limits. It works only when the water has been pre-treated by the municipality or the water company, which removes much of the copper content from the water.

If the copper contamination is beyond a certain level or at an boost level, then the first step should be to keep it in check and reduce it below EPA limits. If the EPA limits are within the desired range and the water is still not devoid of copper, then it’s due to copper plumbing and the pH level of water would mostly be under 6.5.

To eliminate copper from this pattern, an acid neutralizer is best to balance out the pH and provide the household with neutral drinking water. Learn how to install a whole house water filter for complete protection.

Step 3: Using Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis is a method of purifying drinking water by using a special type of filtration technique. This technique uses a semi-permeable membrane with pores that are sized to pass pure water while rejecting larger molecules such as dissolved salts, ions, and other impurities like bacteria.

This works by forcing the water through the membrane so that the copper ions are blocked. Freshwater appears from the other side of the membrane deposits.

Even though it’s a very cost-effective process, these systems could initially produce only a small amount of water, measuring up to a few gallons of treated water per day. However, there have been recent improvements in membrane technology and elements that can produce 100 or more gallons of water per day.

In homes, reverse osmosis systems are usually small systems called point-of-use systems, located near the kitchen sink. Pressure plays a major role in such processes, as it’s necessary to overcome the natural direction of the flow.

This usually requires pure water to diffuse into the mineral-containing water, demanding the correct amount of pressure depending on the mineral content of raw water.

This process is mainly for reducing copper contamination levels, but its applications are impractical and costly unless it’s already in use for treatment of brackish water. A more practical alternative is a countertop reverse osmosis filter.

Step 4: Distillation Systems To Prevent Copper Contamination

This method of preventing copper contamination makes use of a distillation process to remove dissolved solids in water. These systems are handy enough to be placed on a kitchen counter.

The process involves the volatilization of water to separate it from all dissolved or suspended materials, which may or may not be volatilized. Most of the time, the water is heated under pressure to improve its thermal efficiency, recovering some of the heat in the process.

The outcome of this step produces water with very low dissolved solids, which can be corrosive to the distribution system. Ultimately, it’s necessary to increase the hardness of the water, which can be accomplished by blending the finished water with the raw water.

This is followed by pretreatment of the feedwater, which might be necessary to remove suspended solids and calcium to prevent scaling. Even though these systems are limited to producing small amounts of water per day, additional costs are incurred from boiling the water electrically, making the total cost higher than that of reverse osmosis systems.

Distillation is a relatively expensive and impractical solution for the removal of specific contaminants from water. The cost of plant construction is about $1.2 million for a 1000 m3/day plant, and the operating cost for energy is high since there’s only partial heat recovery.

Despite these hurdles, this is one of the most common processes applied to remove copper from drinking water.

Step 5: Lime Soda Softening Method

Most of the methods mentioned above generally make use of either gravitational deposits or pressure deposition techniques. However, the lime-soda softening technique makes use of precipitation over time to get the best residual output.

This technique is effective for the removal of copper by the precipitation of copper hydroxide. This is later carried down with the calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide precipitates to produce the final residual output.

This process is mainly used for the softening of water while making use of two major ingredients: calcium hydroxide alongside soda ash. Over time, these give rise to calcium oxide and sodium carbonate.

Nowadays, this process is combined with newer membrane processes to provide greater efficiency, reduce waste streams, and deliver water with substantially reduced hardness and TDS. A water softener can also address hardness issues.

Lime-soda ash sludges may be treated with lagoons, vacuum filtration, centrifugation, pressure filtration, recalcination, or land application to provide for more space in the purification process.

In the end, the lime softening method has been around for a long time and is considered to be an efficient and classical method of achieving drinking water devoid of copper.

Step 6: Electrodialysis

This process of removing copper from drinking water involves the removal of salts by selective ionic membranes and a DC current to assist the transport of ions across the membranes.

A depletion of ions occurs on one side of the membrane. If the current passes for a long time, there will be a concentration on the other side of the membrane as well.

This is a very efficient method, as any level of desalting can be achieved by increasing the time of residence or by increasing the current density of the overall process itself.

For very efficient operation, good water treatment is required. This should include oxidation of iron and soluble organics, carbon block filtration, and coagulation of colloidal particles to achieve the desired result.

The overall cost of this procedure mainly depends on the level of contamination that needs to be reduced. It’s in general more costly than the reverse osmosis process.

The outcome of this step produces water with very low dissolved solids, which can be corrosive to the distribution system. Thus, it’s necessary to increase the hardness of the water, which can be accomplished by appropriate blending of the finished water and the raw water.

A modern solution for ongoing problems due to water contamination can be solved with this process. It’s a reliable end product methodology for the purification step.

Step 7: Ion Exchange Filters

Ion exchange filters work by removing ions of copper while adsorbing them onto mineral particles or resins. This usually takes place in filter cartridges that may be part of point-of-use systems or point-of-entry systems that treat all water entering the house.

One issue with this technique is that the filters must be changed periodically to maintain effectiveness over time. Understanding water filter cartridge types will help with replacements. The particles either occur naturally or synthetically, and in practice the synthetically produced particles tend to be more commonly used since they can be tailored for specific applications.

For the removal of copper, a resin is generally used which is polystyrene-based. Since copper is a heavy metal, it can only be removed from water via the process of selective ion exchange.

A chelating agent with a high affinity for copper is chosen and mixed with iminodiacetate group introductions.

The resin is distributed in two places, which are placed in series, and the water is allowed to pass through the same resin twice. This helps in increasing the certainty that the maximum portion of copper gets removed from the water.

The removal efficiency by using this technique is 95 percent for copper up to a level of 20 mg/L, by using the ion exchange softener along with induced calcium and magnesium hardness.

The ions that are rejected are washed away from the resin using a brine solution. Regeneration of the resin with brine is possible when the resin becomes saturated with the elements being removed.

Since ion exchange softening removes all the hardness, it’s necessary to blend the finished water with untreated water or to treat the finished water to prevent corrosion of the distribution system.

Step 8: Activated Carbon Technique

Activated Carbon is a major method through which carbon removal and reduction from drinking water can be done, including removal of additional contaminants. Learn how to clean a carbon water filter to maintain its effectiveness. It’s used in many facilities from landfills to industrial wastewater and remains one of the world’s most powerful adsorbents.

The usage of carbon to remove contaminants can be done in various ways. One such method is to use single treatment for discharge flow, to get a direct result but with lesser efficiency for cleanliness.

Another way is to make use of a multi-filtration strategy, which leads to over 80% removal rate as identified by the European Union under the Dangerous Substance Discharges Directive of 1976.

The major contaminants that can be removed using activated charcoal include pesticides, adsorbable organic halogens, and non-biodegradable organic compounds. A heavy metal water filter is especially designed for metals like copper.

One thing to bear in mind is that activated carbon systems don’t remove free copper from water. Rather, they bind to organic substances in water, and if those substances contain copper, then an activated carbon system will remove them.

There are many other factors such as particle size, flow rate, and pH that determine the performance of this technique. The largest mesh size available for activated carbon is 20 by 50 mesh, providing better copper removal efficiency with greater pressure drop requirements.

The lower the rate of flow, the more time there’s for absorption of contaminants, and the better the contaminant removal overall. A lower pH will result in most organics being more readily absorbed, with the efficiency reducing as pH rises.

Step 9: Rapid Boiling Technique

If E. coli is suspected in the water supply and a filtration process isn’t available, the water can be boiled for a minimum of one minute to remove the E. coli before using the water for anything.

Discard any food that has previously been used or touched by the contaminated water. Wash surfaces well with an antibacterial household cleaner.

The body appears to be able to maintain the necessary balance for copper and other metals despite wide variations in intake. This is the case except in certain diseases such as Wilson’s disease, in which excessive levels of copper accumulate.

As a do-it-yourselfer with moderate plumbing skills, you can install a fix to remove copper yourself. An under sink water filter is one accessible DIY option. Alternatively, you can opt for professional help in terms of more advanced treatment systems.

Step 10: Combination Ion Technique

This technique can be thought of as a combination of traditional boiling and the usage of ion exchange filters. Together, they produce a water sample devoid of any copper particles.

The outcome of this step produces water with very low dissolved solids, which can be corrosive to the distribution system. Hence, it’s necessary to increase the hardness of the water, which can be accomplished by appropriate blending of the finished water and the raw water.

Since ion exchange softening removes all the hardness, it’s necessary to blend the finished water with untreated water or to treat the finished water to prevent corrosion of the distribution system.

Nowadays, this process is combined with newer membrane processes to provide greater efficiency, reduce waste streams, and deliver a stream of substantially reduced hardness and TDS. A sediment filter can serve as a useful pre-treatment step.

This process is mainly for reducing copper contamination levels, however, it can be expensive.