“I was feeling dizzy all the time.”

Cynthia Guillemette is a world traveller – even Moscow's notoriously bad water couldn't make her sick.

But the Iqaluit resident says the stomach problems and headaches she's been getting since her move to Nunavut three months ago may be caused by large amounts of copper in the city's water supply.

If she drinks the water at work, "I'm buzzed for 10 minutes,"she said. "I was feeling dizzy all the time."

So Guillemette and a group of friends, who reported the same symptoms, chipped in to pay for laboratory tests on Iqaluit's tap water.

The result: 0.7 parts per million of copper. That's well below the federal standard of 1 part per million, but high enough to cause the light blue stain that's a common sight in Iqaluit bathtubs.

Guillmette said the chemist with SM Laboratories, the Quebec company that did the tests, told her copper levels could exceed that standard when the tap is turned on after being off for some time, or if water in a kettle is boiled more than once.

While copper is an essential mineral required by the body in small amounts, too much of it can cause stomach pains and nausea, according to the United States' Environmental Protection Agency. Long-term exposure to high amounts of copper may cause kidney and liver damage.

Isaac Sobol, Nunavut's chief medical officer of health, said Health and Social Services tests tap water only for bacterial "coliforms" such as the e.coli bacteria that killed seven people and sickened hundreds of others in Walkerton, Ontario in May, 2000.

It's been years since the Government of Nunavut has had to issue a boil water advisory, he said.

"We've actually got very pristine water sources," Sobol said.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada does perform tests for minerals in water sources, like Iqaluit's Lake Geraldine, before the water enters your tap.

Sobol said the most recent numbers available, from 2006, show all results to be within national standards.

Sobol said he's surprised to see media reports containing complaints about drinking water that have not been reported by the public health system.

Earlier this month a Baker Lake resident wrote to Nunatsiaq News to complain that overflowing sewage was entering that community's water supply.

"If people think they are ill from water they should be checked out by a health professional," Sobol said.