open issue - Plumbing Engineer

Designer’s Guide
Continued from page 26
copper pipe because of the time it
takes for the leaks to occur, combined
with variations in water
velocity and water chemistry. It is
claimed that chloramines themselves
do not cause corrosion,
except in combination with aluminum,
but sources such as Citizens
Concerned About Chloramines
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(CCAC) in San Francisco, as well as
the EPA, make claims that chloramines
will cause pinhole leaks
purely by the nitrification they create,
which lowers pH and causes
pinhole leaks. Nitrification itself
carries a host of other problems,
such as loss of disinfectant residual
and myriad health effects.
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Another complicating factor in
this debate is that many of the problematic
leaks, at least here in So
Cal, are the aforementioned slab
leaks. While above-grade pinhole
leaks can be sampled and studied,
slab leaks are typically abandoned
below grade and piping rerouted. As
such, the leak source cannot be
studied. A slab leak might be caused
by a pinhole leak, or it might be
caused by a cracked fitting or puncture
from a rock due to building settlement.
There is no practical way of
knowing the cause.
In my opinion, as well as that of
the CCAC’s, water utilities should
be banned from using chloramines
until more accurate studies can be
Water utilities should be
banned from using
chloramines until more
accurate studies can be
performed to determine a
safe method for their use.
performed to determine a safe
method for their use. Until such
time, a combination of filtration and
traditional chlorine would better
safeguard our health and copper
piping. It would seem in the interest
of the Copper Development
Association (CDA) to lobby for this
change. Perhaps they already are,
but if this does not occur, the water
utilities are pushing the industry
toward increased use of plastics. I
personally wish my home were
piped in plastic rather than copper.
If so, I wouldn’t have to turn my
water off every time I leave the
house for a day or more, due to lack
of confidence in the copper piping.
What angers me the most is attitudes
such as that of Bob
Gumerman, general manager of the
MNWD, in response to the Shapell
Industries’ $5 million claim. “If the
water was to blame [for the pinhole
leaks], the problem would be more
widespread.” Well, Bob, get your
head out of the sand, because the
problem is so widespread that it is
driving change in our industry and
Page 28/Plumbing Engineer April 2012