Testing at N.W.T. schools has found elevated levels of copper in drinking water from some fixtures.

According to results released last week by the territorial government, water from some fixtures at Weledeh Catholic School and École St. Patrick High School in Yellowknife exceeded Health Canada’s guidelines for copper in drinking water.

Since last year, the territory has been testing school water for lead and has found many fixtures exceeded Health Canada guidelines. That’s prompted some fixtures to be put out of service or replaced.

However, copper was not prevalent in test results until recently, territorial officials say. 

Health Canada guidelines set a maximum acceptable concentration for copper in drinking water at 2,000 µg/L.

At École St. Patrick High School, nine water sources exceeded Health Canada’s guideline for copper during “Tier 1” tests. Those samples are collected after fixtures have sat unused for eight hours.

One of those fixtures, a water fountain, saw copper concentration jump to 6,110 µg/L after it had been flushed for five minutes.

Samples were also collected after fixtures were flushed and left sitting for half an hour, conditions meant to replicate typical daytime use. That “Tier 2” testing found two fixtures above the maximum acceptable concentration for copper. 

At Weledeh Catholic School, six drinking water foundations had elevated copper levels, ranging from  2,450 µg/L to 6,880 µg/L during Tier 1 tests. One fountain remained above the maximum acceptable concentration for copper during Tier 2 testing.

Test results from Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Edzo last week also found elevated levels of copper in several water sources during Tier 1 testing, with one testing above 3,500 µg/L even after flushing.

Testing at Elizabeth Mackenzie Elementary School in Behchokǫ̀ and the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre in Yellowknife also identified coppers levels just above 2,000 µg/L, but only during Tier 1 testing.

Last year, the N.W.T. government undertook a territory-wide water testing program at schools, after elevated lead levels were found in drinking water at several facilities.

Celeste MacKay, assistant deputy minister for the Department of Infrastructure, said elevated copper levels had just begun to show up recently during that testing.

“We were surprised because we were targeting lead as part of this program. But again, it gives us an opportunity to fix the problem if we’ve identified it,” said MacKay.

“It has always been part of the testing, it is part of the guidelines that we’re following from Health Canada.”

According to Health Canada, small amounts of copper are needed to be healthy but too much copper in drinking water can be harmful. It says copper typically makes its way into drinking water from plumbing parts.

Yolanda Hedberg, an associate professor of chemistry at Western University and Canada Research Chair in Corrosion Science, says copper is much less toxic compared to lead, but there are still risks associated with higher levels of exposure.

“It could affect the gastrointestinal tract and cause unwellness, vomiting or some secondary effects like, you get more permeability in the intestine,” said Hedberg.

Hedberg says there are some secondary effects of copper that are still debated among researchers, including its potential connection to neurodegenerative diseases like ALS.

Stephanie Gora is assistant professor of civil engineering at York University and has researched lead and copper in drinking water in Nunavut.

She says monitoring copper in drinking water is a relatively new area. Health Canada’s guidelines revised its Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality in June 2019 to set the maximum acceptable concentration of 2,000 µg/L.

“This is something new and it’s something that a lot of other provinces are starting to look into. How do we monitor this? And what should we do about it when we find it?” Gora said.

Terri-Lynn Locke-Setter, assistant deputy minister with the N.W.T.’s education department, said the copper findings will not have a large impact on the overall testing initiative. She said that’s because mitigation measures, such as flushing systems or installing filters, are the same for both copper and lead.

Locke-Setter said what will change is the territory’s website, to reflect testing results for copper. She says there are 14 schools left to test out of the 49 in the territory. 

Catholic school board switched to bottled water in the fall

Adam Murray, superintendent of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, says when the territorial government offered last fall to provide bottled water to schools, he decided it was worth it to ensure students and staff felt safe.

Before the territory began its testing program last year, Murray says there weren’t any apparent problems with their school water.

“I was actually quite shocked about it, to be honest. I mean, I’ve been in education for over 20 years and in Alberta, where I come from, northern Alberta, no one ever talked about touching the water there,” said Murray.

Alberta’s government announced in January that it was planning to test the drinking water in all provincially-owned buildings for lead and copper. Mandatory or annual testing there for public and Catholic schools is not in place, with testing largely remaining in the hands of school boards.