Copper is a metal found in natural deposits as ores containing other elements.
It is widely used in household plumbing materials. Copper may occur in drinking water either by contamination of the source water used by the water system, or by corrosion of copper plumbing. Corrosion of plumbing is by far the greatest cause for concern. Copper is rarely found in source water, but copper mining and smelting operations and municipal incineration may be sources of contamination. From 1987 to 1993, according to the Toxics Release Inventory copper compound releases to land and water totaled nearly 450 million lbs., of which nearly all was to land.