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Choice of copper pollutant test for streams

2003

Some Adopt-a-Stream volunteers in our area have become interested in metal pollutants in the local streams.
There are chemical tests of several types available from the commercial suppliers. The tests consider various salts of copper.

Which test or tests would you recommend?
Note that at present no heavy industry is present in the essentially rural county, with much residential development to be expected. Possibly the increasing automobile traffic may want us to look at hydrocarbons.

Possibly there are copper compounds associated with these. One person seemed to be referring to test kits offered by the LaMotte Corporation, but there may be other sources. A county water testing laboratory could do the testing if it were not feasible to do it in the field--at the stream or pond site.

JOHN GRAHAM-
Adopt-a-Stream volunteer activities - EVANS, GEORGIA, U.S.A.

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In addition to LaMotte, a company called Hach offers similar tests. You probably need a colorimeter or spectrophotometer, available from the same firms, as well as the reagents because the color changes you would see from very low concentrations of copper are probably not dramatic enough to see or quantify by eye. Remember that the tests themselves introduce toxic contaminants, so you need to bring all your test materials and tested water back to the lab for proper treatment and disposal.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003