City: manganese could actually pose health risks
Nov. 4—PLATTSBURGH — After initially believing that manganese, one of the metals that was detected in the lab results of a discolored City of Plattsburgh water sample last month, didn't pose any health concerns to the public, city environmental manager Jonathan Ruff is now saying it can.
"There were some exceptions to the rule that I wasn't aware of," Ruff said. "The health department did confirm that there is this advisory for infants younger than six months if the (manganese) level is over 0.30 mg/L (milligrams per liter) and the water is being used to make baby formula for 10 days or more."
"I've never heard of that in 35 years."
IF USED IN FORMULA
The reasoning behind the health advisory is because infant formula already contains manganese, which is a naturally occurring essential nutrient necessary for maintaining good health.
Over a 10-day period, mixing formula with water that has an elevated amount of manganese in it, though, could lead to high levels of exposure, and increase the risk for adverse health effects in the infant demographic, an Environmental Health Perspectives study found.
"Anything we ingest, whether it's sugar or salt, carbohydrates or whatever, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing eventually," Ruff added.
In 2004, the U.S. EPA issued a Drinking Water Health Advisory for manganese (EPA-822-R-04-003) of 0.30 mg/L as a lifetime health advisory level (HAL) for the general population.
The maximum contaminant level (MCL) for manganese, determined by the New York State Department of Health, is also 0.30 mg/L.
The city's discolored water sample that they collected and sent out to the lab had revealed a manganese level of 0.35 mg/L.
HEALTH DEPT. ASSESSMENT
According to Federal and New York State Regulation of Drinking Water Contaminants, an MCL "represents a threshold which cannot be exceeded in drinking water provided by public drinking water systems. In instances where a public water system detects a contaminant in a concentration exceeding an MCL, action must be taken to reduce the concentration to a level below the MCL."
Ruff said he was told by the health department that occurrences of the elevated manganese levels were "episodic" in the city and that "there isn't anything in the data to indicate that levels were above the HAL for a long enough period to be of concern for this most sensitive population."
Ruff also noted that his department had purposely collected a water sample that exhibited severe discoloration to send out to the lab.
He believes most of the discolored water city residents saw did not have this degree of discoloration and so most likely did not have this elevated level of manganese in it.
But if it did, he said he doesn't think anyone was actively using it.
"That water was so discolored that it's highly unlikely anybody was using it, much less making formula with it," he said.
"We advised people against using discolored water even before we knew there was manganese in it."
Ruff had told the Press-Republican in August, not long after the discolored water first appeared in the city, that "common sense does tell you, if your water is brown, don't drink it or use it for cooking until it clears up, just to be on the safe side."
CURRENT LEVELS
Currently, the manganese levels in the city water are way below the enforceable MCL, he said.
"The water that we tested that has some slight discoloration had extremely low levels of manganese. We're going to strive to make sure there's none, now that we know manganese can be in the raw water," Ruff said.
"Our goal is going to be to make sure to take it all out, both for nuisance reasons and health reasons. and then if we get extremely discolored water in the future, which I hope we don't have, but if we do, and we're making public notifications, it's going to include caveats about infants less than six months in age and whatever else we, and the health department, feel the people should be made aware to make the best decisions they can."
HOW THEY CLEAN THE WATER
Iron was another metal found in the discolored water sample at 0.13 mg/L, but this sits below the allowable MCL of 0.30 mg/L.
Ruff said the steps they took to remove the iron were the same steps they took to remove the manganese.
"We oxidize them and add a chemical called sodium hypochlorite, which we also call 'hypo' or 'chlorine.' Iron oxidizes very easily and manganese can be much more difficult or take longer to oxidize," he said.
"In addition to that sodium hypochlorite, we also add another chemical called PCH ... that is a coagulate which is mostly designed to bind fine solids and dissolve organics together so that we can either settle them out or filter them out in our treatment process, but that coagulate combined with the sodium hypochlorite will also help remove iron and manganese," he continued.
"What we're seeing right now is that iron and manganese both appear to be completely oxidized and removed in our treatment process. That being said, we just ordered test equipment for manganese, in particular, so that we can test it as often as necessary to make sure it does get completely removed in our treatment process ... it's been a huge learning process."
Ruff said he and the city have tried to be as forthcoming about this situation as possible.
"There were some questions and concerns about 'is the city being forthright? Is the city being transparent?' We were trying to release all of the information we had when we had it. It took us a while to get lab results back, so I think that raised questions with some folks about 'well if the city is doing all this testing, why aren't we seeing the results?'"
"And the answer was we're doing this testing, but it's taking two or three weeks to get the results back. So I think that was frustrating for the public and it was hard for us, because we needed that data to make decisions and develop a better understanding ... We do want full disclosure and everybody to have all the information we have, even if it raises some questions and disappointment on the public's part."
Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com
Twitter: CarlySNewton
