We are in Tucson, Arizona is copper country. All tucson water is well even from the city. heater is new and was not run during the acid bath after the plaster was in its 3 day bath.
Your copper levels are in line with the Tucson Water system. Arizona May be the “Copper State” but copper contamination is not from mines or ground water. Most copper related drinking water contamination comes from old pipes and old water distribution lines.
Most of Tucson’s drinking water is actually from the CAP (Colorado River water) and it is processed at water treatment facilities before being injected back into the ground water system for “stabilization” (a fancy term for mixing different water types). The water is then drawn back up through wells and distributed to customers. Because Tucson pumps more water into the ground then it takes out, there is a net surplus of CAP water going into the ground and, therefore, drawn up by wells. You can see an analysis of Tucson’s water supply here -
https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/water/docs/2017_WQ_Report_Main_System.pdf
This is the Tucson Water Annual Water Quality report for 2017 -
https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/water/docs/2017_WQ_Report_Main_System.pdf
Copper is below any actionable level (90th percentile max value detected at 0.127ppm) and most readings are below any detectable limit (using standard lab techniques). As a fellow Tucsonan I can report that I have
never measured any copper in my pool. So, it’s really not an issue. When copper is found in pool water, it is almost always from pool owners or pool service companies using metal-based algaecides or combination trichlor tablets that have copper and zinc compounds in them (ex, Costco sells lots of 50lbs buckets of combination tabs at the start of every pool season).
If you are having trouble with your ORP system it is because they are troublesome in and of themselves. This site routinely recommends against the installation of automated chlorine injection systems based on ORP control as they are more trouble than they are worth. ORP is NOT a direct measure of FC level but an indication of the oxidizing power of the water itself. ORP can be thrown off by many other factors, most notably of which is organic fouling of the glass cell membrane and the depressed signal level caused by the presence of cyanuric acid (chlorine stabilizer). A simple, duty-cycle based SWG system or stenner pump liquid chlorine injector is more than adequate at maintaining FC levels. You can type the phrases “ORP” and “chem geek” into the search box (include both terms separately with quote marks) and read any number of threads and technical analysis of ORP systems. In short, they are not worth the cost.
