Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2020NY251B

Sources and Speciation of Elevated Manganese in a Surface Water Supply Reservoir

Institute: New York
Year Established: 2020 Start Date: 2020-06-01 End Date: 2021-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $15,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $30,002

Principal Investigators:

Project Summary: Manganese (Mn) is a ubiquitous redox-active element that is a threat to human health when it is present in elevated concentrations in drinking water. Reduced forms of Mn also exert oxidant demand in water treatment processes, presenting a challenge for appropriate oxidant dosing by water utilities since the oxidation state and concentration of Mn is variable. This project is in partnership with the City of Ithaca Water Treatment Plant (IWTP) and seeks to determine the sources and speciation of elevated Mn in the Ithaca water supply reservoir, so as to build a process-based probabilistic model for Mn in the raw water intake that can be used by utility staff to guide oxidant dosing decisions. This project will build original and rich datasets of the Ithaca Reservoir’s water chemistry, including an analysis of dissolved Mn speciation to separate Mn(II) from soluble Mn(III) complexed with dissolved organic matter. Sediment incubations and a stable isotope mass balance method will be used to determine groundwater vs. surface water/sediments as sources of Mn in the reservoir. These datasets will be used in conjunction with data from routine monitoring performed by IWTP staff to develop an interactive “calculator†to be used by utility staff to guide oxidant dosing decisions.