Islanders with private wells reminded to get drinking water tested for manganese

Officials on P.E.I. are reminding Islanders with wells to get their drinking water tested regularly including for manganese.

The element is naturally occurring in the environment, and is typically found in swampy areas.

Some studies have shown an association between high levels of manganese in drinking water and neurological effects in children, said Ryan Neale, manager of environmental health with the Chief Public Health Office.

Based on that, in 2019, Health Canada set a new maximum acceptable concentrationof manganese in drinking water of0.12 milligrams per litre, said Neale.

Of 12,000 water samples from private wells on the Islandthat were tested over the past five years, 2.45per cent showed levels of manganese above thatfederal guideline of 0.12 milligrams per litre, said the province.

Of those samples that exceeded the maximum allowable concentration:

• The average concentrationwas 1.54 mg/l.
  
• The maximum concentration of any sample from a household well was 6.87 mg/l.
  
• 99 per centof samples were below 0.565 mg/l.
  
• 95 per centof samples were below 0.02 mg/l.

"Drinking water that has manganese at levels slightly above the maximum acceptable concentration, if you're drinking that for a short period of time, it's unlikely to have any health impacts," said Neale.

"The guidance was developed based on the impact on the most vulnerable population, which is children and infants. But it is there to protect the health of all Canadians,"he said.

Neale said he doesn't remember getting any report of health impacts of people drinking water with high levels of manganese.

He said there's no need to panic, but if someone has been drinking water with high levels of manganese and they're concerned about their health, they should contact their health-care provider.

Found predominantly in swampy areas

Ninety-five per cent of drinking water samples would be below the Health Canada guidelines, or very close to it, said George Somers, manager of the provincial Department of Environment's drinking water section.

And where high levels are found is site specific, he said.

"In cases where you've got swampy terrains, you've got a lot of organic material decomposing, using up all the oxygen," said Somers.

"So you have these low oxygen conditions. And under those conditions, manganese is fairly soluble. And so you get it in the water. So it's not so much west or east or anything like that in terms of the province," he said.

While there are outliers of high readings the highest one in the past five years was 6.87 milligrams per litre people usually can see manganese before they test for it.

If you want to see the levels of manganese and other parameters such as arsenic and uranium, you can find that here.

It's free to get drinking water tested

"Fairly large portion of samples would not show any manganese at all. But for those that do, you quite often will see black stains on fixtures or stains on laundry ... you can also get sort of an astringent taste with water with too much manganese in it," he said.

Somers recommends people test when they first drill a well, and then do a chemistry test which includes manganese every two to five years. Bacterial testing should be done more often.

Testing for bacteria and chemistry is free on P.E.I.through the Department of Environment.