The role of water stagnation (~60 hours) in a 2-story commercial office building on building water quality was studied (January to February 2020) for three weekends. Chemical and biological parameters including pH, total chlorine, metals concentrations, Legionella spp. and total cell count were analyzed to understand the differences in water quality at the building entry point, and at eleven fixtures within the building’s copper plumbing. Consistently, the total chlorine concentration decreased over the weekend (p < 0.05), was greatest at the building entry point (maximum 0.8 mg/L), and was lowest within the plumbing (maximum 0.28 mg/L). As expected, total cell count levels were much greater on Monday compared to Friday (p < 0.05) at every sampling point. Legionella spp. was found to be highest at the fixture with no use recorded during sampling. Throughout the building, copper and lead levels increased over the weekend (p < 0.05). Copper exceedances above the federal health-based drinking water limit (1.3 mg/L) were localized to four fixtures, branched from the same riser, that shared a pattern of variable use. Flushing was conducted at one location with consistent copper exceedances but 54 minutes were required to reach the public water supply. Flushing was not a viable copper remediation method as it would need to be repeated every 19 hours or require discarding more than 50 gallons before use. No prior water testing was conducted in the buildings’ life. The results suggest that water quality varies significantly over the week. This has implications for water testing plans and interpretation of data collected from buildings.

The study goal was to better understand the risks of elevated copper levels at US schools and childcare centers. Copper health effects, chemistry, occurrence, and remediation actions were reviewed. Of the more than 98,000 schools and 500,000 childcare centers, only 0.2% had copper water testing data in the federal Safe Drinking Water Information System database. Of the facilities designated public water systems, about 13% had reported an exceedance. Schools that were not designated a public water system (PWS) also had exceedances. Few studies document levels in schools and childcare centers. Widely different sampling and remedial actions were reported. Flushing contaminated water was the most evaluated remedial action but was unreliable because copper quickly rebounded when flushing stopped. Building water treatment systems have been used, but some were not capable of making the water safe. The health risk was difficult to determine due to the limited occurrence data and lack of best management practice studies. A national drinking water testing campaign and field studies are recommended.