The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 13, 2024, $1 million in research grant funding to Cornwell Research Group in Newport News, Virginia.
The funding will help to evaluate the effectiveness of common manganese treatment technologies. This will provide states, Tribes and small utilities with an improved ability to adopt and implement these treatment technologies in small drinking water systems.
Manganese, an essential element in the human diet, is naturally occurring in the environment and prevalent throughout the U.S. in groundwater and surface water.
However, according to the EPA, higher concentrations have been found to potentially lead to negative neurological health impacts in vulnerable populations.
Small public water systems (serving 10,000 or fewer customers) frequently lack the resources and capacity to adopt and maintain manganese treatment systems.
Supporting the development of affordable, efficient, and user-friendly manganese treatment technologies will better enable small, rural and Tribal systems to address health concerns.
The research team at Cornwell Research Group will evaluate manganese treatment costs and performance of small water systems to determine the most appropriate treatment solutions for multiple site scenarios.
Recommendations will be made available to stakeholders through site visits, workshops, webinars and a website.
This work is expected to help small utilities implement and maintain manganese treatment for their drinking water.
