Copepoda Worms In Drinking Water

In a previous treatise on worms in fish, I discussed a water organism named zooplankton. They belong to the plankton and copepoda family. They are a subclass of crustacea with seven orders, and six thousand species. Many are parasitic or symbiotic with other aquatic animals. They are the most abundant of all animals in the sea and constitute the main food for vast numbers of fishes, many invertebrates, and baleen whales. Copepoda are mostly planktonic throughout their lives, and many are truly planktonic. They constitute about seventy percent of the plankton, and at times their abundance may cause the sea water to appear pinkish. Their life span is between thirty and forty-five days. They are food for whitefish, cisco, very young pike, clams, and shrimp, etc. Copepoda are water animals that enter the New York City drinking water from the reservoir's lakes, but are killed during the water treatment process of disinfecting with chlorine before they enter the city. When dead they are regarded as food, and the department of health does not think it is then necessary to filter their dead bodies out of the water.

The NYC DEP 2005 annual water report states, "Until DEP begins to filter Croten (reservoir) water we are required to make the following statement. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms etc. The presence of Cryptosporidium- oocyst and Giardia-cysts does not indicate whether these organisms are dead or capable of causing diseases. New York City has begun design of an ultraviolet plant for the Catskill-Delaware (reservoir) system. When built, this plant will provide an additional barrier of micro-biological protection by inactivating potentially harmful organisms such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

The engineering standard in the U.S.A. and Canada is to remove all organisms from the drinking water even if they have been killed by the chlorine treatment. Therefore, as a general rule there are no organisms in the cities drinking water. New York City is an exception to the rule because due to its population the city government thought that it would save a considerable amount of the taxpayers money by minimizing the water purification process, therefore, they do not process dead organisms and they are allowed to enter the drinking water as protein. Furthermore, since a very large percentage of these copepoda are visible to the naked eye either in the stomachs of the fish that intake them, or on a glass slide, and many are also visible in the water, it is a fact that within the municipality of New York they must be in many glasses of water that are filled although not in all glasses, and perhaps not even in the majority of the glasses that are filled. However, halachikly if these copepoda are seen and cannot be removed, or are not seen but can be filtered out of the drinking water, one may not drink the glass of water unless the copepoda are completely removed. Copepoda cannot be felt by the skin senses of the tongue or fingers, therefore, if they are not seen by the naked eye they are considered a mixture that can be filtered to remove them and the water is forbidden until it is filtered.

These organisms are forbidden to be eaten when they are visible to the naked eye, and if they were born in a body of water whose water flows out, such as the Kineret in Israel whose water flows into the Jordan river. If they were born in a cistern whose water is stationary, and never left their place of birth, they are not forbidden. The same rule applies when they enter the cistern at an early stage when they are not visible to the naked eye, and grow in the cistern until they become visible, they are not forbidden when in the cistern. Nor are they forbidden because they are detestable things. Many of them, if eaten alive, are dangerous to one's health, which is an additional reason to prohibit them. If they are visible in water, then they must be removed from the water before drinking the water even if a filter is not available. If they cannot be removed, the glass of water is forbidden. Because of their transparency one must look very closely to see them. 

If they are not visible to the naked eye because they are too small to be seen, or because they are transparent in or out of water and must be dyed to be seen, then they are not forbidden. If they are visible to the naked eye out of water but not in water because of their transparency, then there is a mixture of a forbidden and not forbidden food. The rules that apply to this type of mixture are as follows. If there is reason to suspect that there is even only one dead body that is in its complete form and that did not decompose, the water is forbidden to be drunk until it is removed. A complete body, even if dead, is not nullified. If there is no reason to suspect that there is a whole body in the water because the bodies in the water should have decomposed by now, but there is reason to suspect that there are body parts in the water, then, if they are found in clear water that can be filtered, they must be filtered before drinking the water. If they were mixed with a liquid that does not allow filtering, or in water that was used to bake bread or the like, and they are no longer visible after baking, then one is permitted to eat the broth or bread because there is only a small percentage of copepoda in the waters and therefore they are nullified because the volume of the water is at least sixty times more than the total volume of the copepoda in the water. If there is no reason to suspect that there are any visible body parts in the water because they should all have been decomposed by now and melted in the water, then a filter cannot filter them out and they are nullified by the sixty to one rule mentioned before.

It is permitted to use water filters that use an absorbent spongy like material that absorb the chemical impurities since these impurities are not discernible either before or after filtering. In places where the health authorities do not filter out dead organisms from the drinking water and the copepoda are discernible, it is permitted to pour water into a glass although the copepoda may be filtered out of the water. The reason for this is that when filling one glass of water at a time, it is not definite that from that glass a copepoda was filtered out. Although he opened the faucet, and if left open, enough water will have passed through the filter to be sure that a copepoda was filtered out on the Sabbath, this is not prohibited since it is not necessary to filter the unwanted water and all the components of the water are then considered part of the water, and regarding the work of separating, the filtering of the water is not considered separating waste from non-waste although it is doing this physically.

Using this logic, we permit washing dishes with filtered water although with the duration of the running water copepoda will be filtered out. The reason is that one is permitted to wash dishes with tap water without a filter since it is highly unlikely that any copepoda will remain on the moist dishes after washing and especially after drying them with a towel. Therefore, the copepoda are considered part of the water and not an unwanted impurity.

However, if one is filtering discernible impurities that are always found in the drinking water due to the poor condition of the pipes or other reasons, it is forbidden to open the faucet on the Sabbath for drinking or for adding to food. If he has no objection to wash dishes with the non-filtered water, then he may use the filtered water for this purpose for the same reason as stated before. If the faucet was left open before the Sabbath, one may use the water for drinking and to add to food.

On December, 13, 2004 I discussed the subject of copepoda decomposition with Dr. Terry Dick at the department of Zoology of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Dr. Dick said that, as of yet, no comprehensive study has been done on the subject. However, his understanding of the matter is that decomposition of a body is caused by death and this is a general rule for bodies that die. Heat is a factor that helps speed the decomposition, and cold helps retard decomposition. Water turbulence caused by the water supply system's huge powerful water pumps, acts as an external force to expedite the break up the bodies of the copepoda, but it may not be a significant factor in the total decomposition time of these bodies. Total decomposition time of the copepoda when it melts in the water to the extent that it cannot be filtered, varies with the temperature of the water. A half hour of boiling cooking water should be sufficient, and an hour in an electric hot water urn used for making coffee and tea should melt them in the water. For those copepoda that are found in the reservoirs and cities water supply, the temperature of the lake water varies according to the outdoor temperature. During most of the year, when the mean temperature varies approximately from 150C or 600F to 220C or 700F, the total decomposition can take at least several days. In the winter, the mean temperature is approximately 00C or 320F, and the total decomposition can take at least several weeks. These estimates are for the vast majority of the copepoda. To be sure that all of them have totally decomposed one should double the time so that the waiting time of one half hour becomes one hour, and one hour becomes two hours, and two days becomes four days, and two weeks becomes a month. However, one may rely on the original estimates and assume that by then there are no complete bodies left, and use the double time to assume that by then there are no body parts left. Therefore, regarding a broth that was cooked for half an hour, or cake that was baked for forty five minutes, one need not discard the food, because we assume that there are no complete bodies left and the body parts that may be there are nullified if they cannot be either filtered or separated after cooking or baking. Pressure cookers speed up cooking but do not cook at significantly higher temperatures that would significantly expedite the decomposition process. If the pressure cooker completes the cooking in fifteen minutes, it would be necessary not to open the lid, and to leave it in the hot pot for at least another thirty minutes. Partial decomposition of the body were the body loses a part and is no longer considered complete begins a short time before. To be safe, give it a factor of twenty- five percent so that, one half hour is preceded by about eight minutes, one hour is preceded by fifteen minutes, two weeks is preceded by three and one half days, and two days is preceded by twelve hours.

Water from the hot water faucet has the same problem, because, even if no one used the hot water for one hour and the copepoda have disintegrated, but new water will enter the boiler when the hot water faucet is opened. If one closed the valve letting in cold water to the hot water boiler, how can we be sure that the valve is not leaking either on its own or because it was not closed properly. If one left on vacation and locked his house and returned after a month, we assume that all the copepoda in the pipes of the building have disintegrated. However, when he opens the faucet, new water enters with dead copepoda. Even if we assume that the first glass of water is old water from the pipes of his home without copepoda, how can we be sure that the faucets were not leaking either on their own or because they were not closed properly.

I will first discuss the various sources of water supply for cities and towns with application to the copepoda question.

Groundwater or water flowing underground is a major source of drinking water. Water is absorbed into the ground through rain and snow. Another source is called salt water intrusion, where sea water with its copepoda are absorbed into the ground through the earthen walls of the sea. This flow takes place in water bearing strata known as aquifers.

Springs occur at the base of sloping ground or in depressions where the surface elevation is below the artesian aquifer where the groundwater flows with pressure. A spring is a body of flowing water, and its groundwater source may contain copepoda. These copepoda are forbidden to eat because spring water flows out of the spring.

Wells are filled with groundwater, rain, and snow. If the water is removed from the well and does not flow out of the well by itself, then any copepoda born in the well, or that entered the well at an early stage before it was visible and grew in the well so that it is now visible, are not forbidden. However, since the groundwater is constantly flowing and bringing fresh copepoda into the well, we cannot distinguish between those born there and those not born there, therefore, all the copepoda in the well are forbidden. If there is a pipe in the well that is below the water level and the water flows out of the well continually by itself, then it is considered a flowing body of water and copepoda born in this well are forbidden. This is so even if the naturally flowing water flows into a water pump that pulls out more water from the well than the natural flow. The reason is that there still is a natural flow of water. If the pump is forcing the water upwards against the natural water flow, then it is still considered a closed well or cistern. If the well's water hole is opened and closed, then when it is closed, it is like a cistern, and when it is opened, it is like a spring. Therefore, any copepoda born in the well when the hole was closed and were not forbidden, become forbidden when the hole is opened, because it is considered as if they left the cistern and are now forbidden, and do not become permitted if they return to their cistern, or if the hole is thereafter closed.

Large cities require surface water for reservoirs, such as rivers and lakes. Huge pipes or aqueducts designed for natural gravity flow extend from deep water to bring the reservoir water into the water treatment processing center, and from there into the city's water mains. 

Reservoir systems have a backup water supply or a potential backup water supply to be used if the equipment is in need of repair, or if the demand becomes greater than the present supply. For towns and villages they may build a huge water cistern that is waterproofed against leakage. The tank may be filled with processed drinking water or with non-processed surface water. If it was filled with surface water containing live copepoda that reproduce, their life span is maximum six weeks. Therefore, all live copepoda found there after six weeks were born in the cistern and are not forbidden, but the dead copepoda may be from those who entered there and are forbidden. After eight weeks, all the forbidden dead copepoda have disintegrated and melted into the water and are nullified with sixty parts of water against the volume of forbidden copepoda that have disintegrated. If they filled the cistern with processed drinking water that was not filtered against dead organisms such as copepoda and plankton, then all the copepoda are dead. Some may have entered in a decomposing state, others may have been dead before the water processing, and others may have been freshly killed by the water processing. After two weeks, they will disintegrate and the water will be permitted. However, the standard practice is to mix the backup water with the reservoir water that contain forbidden copepoda. 

Large cities will build a dam or concrete partition in a large lake, to separate clean reservoir water from sewage disposal water. The backup water used is the polluted sewage disposal, water. When needed, they open a section of the dam's wall to allow the backup water to flow into a special water processing center for polluted water. They may use the existing processing center that has the ability to turn on additional water processors to process polluted water, which inadvertently removes the dead copepoda from the water. In any event, the standard practice is to mix the backup water with the reservoir water that contain forbidden copepoda.

I will now discuss the various water treatment process system. Not all processes are used. Each system is engineered according to the chemical contents of the water. Even during a full processing system that filters the water from dead organisms such as copepoda and plankton, the water is constantly flowing with force, although not as forcefully as it was when it entered. As stated before, New York City does not use a full water treatment system unless it is filtering the polluted backup water.

The first water treatment process disinfects the water from pathogenic bacteria, copepoda, and plankton. This is done through adding chlorine to the water. If the water contamination is greater than usual and all the chlorine is absorbed into the water, then more chlorine is needed. If there is excess chlorine in the water then the water must be dechlorinated. This balance is done in the post-chlorination process. Either chlorine is added if needed, or sulfur-dioxide, or ammonia is added to dechlorinate the excess chlorine.

The second water treatment process is coagulation-flocculation- sedimentation-filtration. This process is used to cleanse the water of debris that fell into the water and was too small to be screened out before the water entered the processing system. Iron or aluminum salts are added to the water to form insoluble hydroxide coagulated masses called floc. If needed, other coagulants may be added, such as lime, soda ash, caustic soda, powdered limestone, bentonite or silica. This is a dual process of coagulation and flocculation. Afterward, the coagulated mass is now heavy enough to settle in the basins of the processing system, a process called sedimentation. Whatever is left is caught on the surface of filters, a process called filtration. This filtration process may or may not filter out dead copepoda, depending on the design. However, filtration is not the only method to clear the water from organisms. Another method is, to store the treated water in huge sedimentation tanks for a short period of time. Since the waters are now stationary, this allows for the smaller lighter particles such as the dead organisms to fall to the bottom of the tank. Thereafter, the waters above are pumped out and the contaminated waters at the bottom of the tank are discarded.

The third water treatment process is the adjustment of the acid level in the water. One of the acidity problems is caused by naturally occurring humic and fulvic acids combining with the chlorine that is added to the water, and with bromine in the water, to form a harmful substance called trihalomethane. The preferred treatment is to add (GAC) granulated-active-carbon to the water. Some systems add food grade phosphoric acid to the water for the purpose of creating a protective film on the inside of the water supply pipes. This protective film reduces the release of harmful metals from the metallic pipes into the water, such as lead.

The fourth water treatment process is fluoridation, or adding fluoride to the water for the benefit of one's teeth. This is a controversial process. New York City fluoridates its water.

The fifth water treatment process is to soften the water when the water contains calcium and magnesium salts that create hard-water. These salts cause difficulties with washing, waste soap, and cause stains in household laundries. They also cause scales in pots that cook this hard-water. The treatment process is to treat the water with lime and soda ash, and then let it flow into a porous positively charged ion exchanger that substitutes sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium salts in the water.

The sixth water treatment process is aeration, and is used when it is decided to lower the levels of carbon-dioxide, or hydrogen- sulfide, or other gases or vapors that add taste to the water. Aeration is generally done by forcing air through the water.

I will now discuss the New York City five boroughs, reservoir system. The city has three sources of drinking water. The largest is the Catskill-Delaware watershed system located in the counties of Catskill and Delaware. Its water source is six large lakes located in these counties. This system provides the city with ninety percent of its drinking water. It supplies all of Brooklyn and Staten Is., almost all of Queens, part of Manhattan, and part of Bronx. The second source is the Croton watershed system located in the counties of Putnam and Westchester. Its source is thirteen smaller lakes located in these counties. It provides the city with nine percent of its drinking water, and supplies part of the Bronx, part of upper Manhattan. It sometimes supplies part of lower Manhattan when needed as a backup supply. The third source is the deep-wells system in Queens. Its source is a series of forty five huge deep wells that are fed from the flow of underground water, rain, and snow. It provides the city with one percent of its drinking water, and it supplies the area surrounding these wells in Queens. The city may use the sections of the lakes in the Catskill- Delaware counties, that are used for sewage disposal, as an emergency backup system. These waters when needed must be specially treated because they are polluted. After filtering, these waters are channeled into the aqueducts and are mixed with the reservoirs waters.

The Catskill-Delaware and the Croton watersheds systems kill the organisms including copepoda and plankton, but they do not filter out their dead bodies. The deep-wells of Queens may contain copepoda that is brought in with the underground water flow. The backup water system filters out dead copepoda bodies, but this water is then mixed with the Catskill-Delaware waters that contain dead copepoda.

 The Croton watershed system will add a filtering system that will filter out dead copepoda and plankton. This is scheduled by the year 2008. However, as stated before, this will only affect its supply area of part of the Bronx and part of upper Manhattan. When these waters are used as a backup for part of lower Manhattan they are mixed with the Catskill-Delaware waters.

The water flow from the Catskill-Delaware watershed system to parts of the city may vary from one hour to upper Bronx to thirty-six hours to the end of Staten Is. To Queens it takes from eighteen to twenty hours. To Brooklyn it takes from twelve to fourteen hours. To Staten Is. it takes from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. As stated before, the time it takes for freshly killed copepoda to completely decompose in lake water in the summer is about two days. Therefore, when the water reaches all points in the city they will contain some complete bodies and many decomposed partial bodies.

Health authorities recommend filtering tap water from the chemicals put into them, especially from chlorine.

Status of Water in South Africa

by Rabbi Rabbi Yitzchak Lewenstein

In response to your request, this is a summary of my extensive inquiries about the water situation in Johannesburg specifically, and for the entire South Africa in general.

I had three meetings with water experts over the past few weeks.

A.   With a frum Jew who was until lately a water engineer in the Johannesburg Municipality. He gave me general knowledge of the situation but was lacking some of the specifics. He referred me to my second meeting.

B.   With Mrs. Reggie Phillips. Microbiologist and chief scientist at the water testing laboratories of the Johannesburg municipality. She gave me all the specifics about the water in Johannesburg, but for the entire picture of the water purification etc. she referred me to my third meeting.

C.   With Mr. Karl Lubout. Microbiologist and chief scientist at the Rand Water company. He supplied me with the most practical information for this letter. 

Both meetings, with Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Lubout, were about 2.5 hours each and very informative. I interviewed them in length and requested explanations and proofs for all the important points, to make sure the information is actually reliable. Both meetings are taped (until the recorder ran out of time), and if necessary I can send copies of the recordings through to you.

 The summary is as follows: Most of the water for Gauteng province area, and some other areas around (some way into North-West Province and into Mpumalanga [Eastern Transvaal] Province) is supplied from the Rand Water company. They supply drinking water to some 12 million people, and about 60% of the water in the country.

 This company rigidly filtrates all their water with sand filters down to 4.5 Micron, which is 445 times smaller than a 2 mm copepod. All water goes into special covered reservoirs after filtration, for second water quality testing to see if anything passed through. Their laboratory is one of the three most sophisticated in the country, and 150 scientists work there on a permanent basis. If anything passes through, (they have caught on occasion some bacteria getting through, but never anything big like copepods) they immediately reverse the water back to a new filtration. Only after the water has passed dozens of laboratory tests for all organisms and bacteria and come out perfectly clean will they allow it to continue into the water system.

 Johannesburg municipality gets this water pumped into their 86 reservoirs and 13 water towers spread all around town. These are all closed hermetically, with air vents covered with special microfilters. All reservoirs have a water check approximately every 8 days, which goes to the Johannesburg water laboratories where the tests are repeated. Any problem found will cause a reservoir to be closed and drained immediately.

With all this information it is clear that there is absolutely no halachic problems with the drinking water in Johannesburg or any of the outlying areas.

 Where do problems exist in Johannesburg? On the odd occasion there may be a problem in an apartment building flat (most residents in Johannesburg live in houses). Some of the older flat buildings have water tanks on the roof, which if left open, mosquitoes and other flying insects lay their eggs inside which become larvae, and can possibly appear in the water. Obviously a well maintained building should not have this problem.

What about water outside of the Rand Water company’s area?

 There are 10 water companies in South Africa, which all supply high quality water, and which filtrate to the same standards as Rand Water. These companies supply most cities and towns in the country. Therefore, any metropolitan area, and all the surrounding townlets and hamlets are fine to drink from. The problem arises in the country as follows: Since South Africa is a very widespread settlement, with many farms and little townlets spread over thousands of kilometers, not all these places can be connected up to the water system of any of these 10 companies. Therefore any small towns in remote areas, also many resorts, and surely the farms, will produce their own water. They will obtain their water in one of two ways, either from an open water source, such as a nearby river, or from borehole (underground) water. Water from boreholes never contains copepods or plankton, but river water nearly always will. Since these townlets, resorts and farms do not always have the ability to filtrate like the big companies, one must query it, if the water is from boreholes it may be drunk, where from open water sources not. Another problem that can occur even where taken from boreholes is that, many times the water is pumped and stored in aboveground tanks, which when not maintained and left open will get larvae, just like in apartment buildings, so that must be checked as well.

What about surrounding African countries?

 All are suspect and no water can be treated as halchically pure unless extensive inquiries are made. Also for health reasons it would be advisable not to drink the water in these countries.

To sum everything written in short practical terms:

1.   All water in populated metropolitan areas and surrounding, is regarded as perfectly clean (except where apartment buildings with roof water tanks are not maintained properly).

2.   Remote areas, resorts and farms, if they use borehole water are safe (where maintained properly), if they use from open water sources is suspect.

3.   Other African countries should be treated as non clean until it is proved otherwise.

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