Nitrification in premise plumbing: role of phosphate, pH and pipe corrosion

Nitrification in PVC premise plumbing is a weak function of pH over the range 6.5--8.5 and is insensitive to phosphate concentrations 5--1000 ppb. Lead pipe enhanced nitrification relative to PVC, consistent with expectations that nitrifiers could benefit from ammonia recycled from nitrate via lead corrosion. Relatively new copper pipe (< 1.5-years-old) did not allow nitrifiers to establish, but nitrifiers gradually colonized over a period of months in brass pipes when copper concentrations were reduced by pH adjustment or orthophosphate. Nitrifiers were inhibited by trace copper, but not by lead levels up to 8000 ppb. In some systems using chloramines, brass in plastic plumbing systems might be more susceptible to lead/copper leaching, and accelerated dezincification, due to lower pH values resulting from nitrification.