Corrosion of copper pipes may release high amounts of copper into the water, exceeding the maximum concentration of copper for drinking water standards. Typically, the events with the highest release of copper into drinking water are related to the presence of biofilms. This article reviews this phenomenon, focusing on copper ingestion and its health impacts, the physicochemical mechanisms and the microbial involvement on copper release, the techniques used to describe and understand this phenomenon, and the hydrodynamic effects. A conceptual model is proposed and the mathematical models are reviewed.
Keywords: MIC; biocorrosion; copper; corrosion; drinking water; premise plumbing.