Column Packing Corrosion

[AquaVitae]

I guess this is what i get for going to Wal-Mart......

I was doing a test run of my first reflux column i just built using water, i was mostly interested in testing the seals and making sure it actually worked well (which it did) but when i collected the water to taste it had a very strange almost chemical plastic taste to it even though it was clear as day. Alarmed i shut the still down and let it cool off. I had a suspicion the culprit was the column packing i had used, which was Copper Scrubbies which i had purchased at Wal-Mart and probably the only part of the still i had skimped on. Sure enough removing the bottom and pulled them out and found brown black gunk collected inside of them i ran them under water and found that pieces were flaking off left and right, wondering what the hell was going on i checked the pakaging and said COPPER COATED stainless steel scrubbies, but i wouldn't think that kind of thing would matter since its all electroplated anyway but here i am with my packing corroding on me inside the still, now i have two questions
1) did the corrosion occur as a result of me only using water to run the still?
2) And what suggestions does anyone have for replacing the packing? I was thinking about buying just stainless steel scruubies to replace it, but figure i'd make a post here to see if anyone wiser thatn i had a suggestion.