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Drinking water from plastic pipes: Is it harmful?

Date: November 9, 2011

Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Summary: Pipe-in-pipe systems are now commonly used to distribute water in many homes. The inner pipe
for drinking water is made of a plastic called cross-linked polyethylene. Are these pipes harmful
to health and do they affect the taste and odor of drinking water?

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FULL STORY

Pipe-in-pipe systems are now commonly used to distribute water in many Norwegian
homes. The inner pipe for drinking water is made of a plastic called cross-linked poly‐
ethylene (PEX). Are these pipes harmful to health and do they affect the taste and odour
of drinking water?

Previous international studies have shown that plastic pipes can release substances that give an unwanted
taste and odour to drinking water. It has also been suggested that some of these substances may be
carcinogenic.

The aim of the study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was to investigate whether leakage products
from these pipes are harmful to health and if they affect the taste and odour of drinking water. These leakage
products consist of residues of additives used during production to give plastic pipes their desired properties,
as well as any subsequent breakdown products.

The study showed:

There are no health risks associated with drinking water from PEX pipes
A few types of PEX-pipe may cause prolonged undesirable taste and odour if the water remains in pipes
over time
Although the taste and odour usually dissipate with use, water from two of the PEX types still had an un‐
pleasant smell and taste after a year
The level of volatile organic compounds that leaked from new PEX pipes was generally low
The level was further reduced with use
No correlation was found between production method and leaking products

Ten different types of PEX pipes available in the Norwegian market were tested for leaching products in a stan‐
dardised laboratory test. The water was in contact with the tubes for 72 hours.

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Three different manufacturing methods produce pipes known as PEX-a, PEX-b or PEX-c. These methods use
slightly different additives, but this study found no correlation between production method and leakage
products.

2.4-di-tert-butyl-phenol and methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) were two of the most commonly occurring sub‐
stances detected in the water in the experiments.

For three types of new pipe, MTBE was detected in higher concentrations than the U.S. government's recom‐
mended limits for taste and odour of drinking water (USEPA), but the values were reduced to below this limit af‐
ter the tubes had been in use for a while.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Vidar Lund, Mary Anderson-Glenna, Ingun Skjevrak, Inger-Lise Steffensen. Long-term study of migration of
volatile organic compounds from cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipes and effects on drinking water
quality. Journal of Water and Health, 2011; 9 (3): 483 DOI: 10.2166/wh.2011.165

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Norwegian Institute of Public Health. "Drinking water from plastic pipes: Is it harmful?." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 9 November 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111108132905.htm>.

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