Elke Blodgett on thu 12 oct 00
Comments by Monona re manganese in water, etc....
>
> Speaking of manganese, I have a question.
> Our local water is pretty high in manganese. Is this dangerous? I drink RO
> water--does the reverse osmosis process remove manganese--or does it
matter?
> As far as I can tell, there aren't any standards. At least not around here.
> Cindy Strnad
> Earthen Vessels Pottery
> RR 1, Box 51
> Custer, SD 57730
> USA
> earthenv@gwtc.net
> http://www.earthenvesselssd.com
In the March 2, 1998, Federal Register (63 FR 10273-87) the US EPA put
manganese on the Contaminant Candidate List. Chemicals on this list are
supposed to be evaluated by surveying all existing data in order to set a
water standard. But about at this same time Ethyl Corporation sued the US
EPA and the Canadian governments who were trying to ban manganese from
gasoline. The manganese water standard evaluation did not get scheduled as
planned and I think it is because it was too hot a political issue.
However, if you read the opinion of EPA in both the inclusion of Mn in the
Candidate List and in their concern about MN-laden road dust, you would see
that EPA clearly believes that low levels of manganese are of concern.
It is a shame that rational evaluation of the toxicity of a chemical cannot
proceed because of such issues. But that's the way the world is. I
personally think Mn is an issue of concern in both drinking water and road
dust. I especially think the studies that industry uses to promote their
contention that there is very little manganese exposure from internal
combustion engines are highly flawed. The problem will be seen when
manganese levels build up in roadside areas in ways similar to the way lead
increased in roadside soil and dust in heavily traveled areas with time.
Monona Rossol
ACTS
181 Thompson St., # 23
NYC NY 10012-2586 212/777-0062
ACTSNYC@cs.com
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