OCCURRENCE OF MANGANESE IN WATER. 



By C. C. Young, University of Kansas. Lawrence. 



TN THE work of the Kansas Water Survey the presence of raan- 



ganese was indicated in several waters that had been submitted 

 for examination. Owing to the small amount of data relating to 

 manganese-containing waters in this country it is thought well 

 worth while to follow up the hint thus given. This article is in the 

 main a statement of results obtained before making a complete sur- 

 vey of the ground-water supplies of the state in regard to manga- 

 nese. 



The presence of manganese in ground waters is due to the same 

 causes that effect the solution of iron so commonly found in waters 

 from river valleys. Manganese usually exists in these valley soils 

 in the form of oxides or basic carbonate, and as surface water per- 

 colates through the soil containing unoxidized organic matter it is 

 deprived of its free oxygen. When the free oxygen is used up 

 from the water, the soluble organic matter attacks the oxides of 

 iron and manganese and reduces them to a ferrous and manganous 

 condition, when solution is then effected by the carbonic acid 

 naturally present in the water. 



Whenever the amount of iron and manganese so dissolved ex- 

 ceeds 0.5 to one part per million, the taste and value of the waiter 

 for domestic purposes is impaired. At Hutchinson, Kan., in 1904, 

 the service pipes of the water company were completely stopped 

 up by an earthy brown deposit which, according to Dr. E. H. S. 

 Bailey,^ contained 45.2 per cent Mn304. The water causing this 

 deposit contained only one part per million of manganese. Often 

 deposits are caused by the presence of Orenothrix. 



Waters containing these soluble salts are clear when drawn, but 

 become very turbid on standing, due to the absorption of oxygen 

 from the air and conversion of manganese into the hydroxides, 

 which, on standing, will settle out as rusty precipitate. It has been 

 shown'-' at Berlin, Brunswick, Hanover and several other places 

 that the ferric hydroxide precipitates out faster than the manganic 



1. Jr. Amer. Chem. Soc. vol. XXVI. No. 6. 



2. Trans. Amer. Soc. Civil Engr., vol. LXIV, p. 173. 



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