Iron & Manganese Removal for Irrigation

Symptoms:  Well water often contains significant amounts of iron, and when sprinkler heads spray out the water, the iron which is left behind when the water evaporates, leaves tremendous stains.  It may stain the grass, bushes, plants and all the vegetation.  That's certainly bad enough, but what is worse to some people is the stains that are left on the home, sidewalks, vehicles and the like. Remove Rust Stains on Irrigation Systems

Causes:  Iron or manganes which stains everytning it touches.

Health Concerns:  This is not a healh issue - only an astetic issues with stains on plans and buildings. 

Action Level: Any level over 0.3 mg/l (or ppm) of iron and causes stains and 0.05 mg/l of manganese which is where it form stains.

So, what do you do?  Well, the first thing you have to determine is what exactly is in the water.  Yes, there is iron, but what other contaminants are there that could "compete" with that iron or react with it.  We need to know the pH and other characteristics of that water.  You can't properly treat water unless you know EXACTLY what is in it, so a good water analysis is imperative.  Next, you need to determine how many gallons of water are used on a the heaviest water usage day.  They you have to figure out what the peak flow rate in gallons per minute (GPM) would be.  This would mean taking into consideration who many heads are on at one time, how many GPM each head uses and how many zones there are.  Only when we are armed with this information, can we determine what the best course of action will be.

To remove iron properly, it must be oxidized and filtered out.  This can only be accomplished with the use of a filter that uses some type of manganese dioxide or catalytic media which reacts with the iron.  Depending upon the water characteristics, an oxidizer may be required, such as oxygen, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide or ozone.  At US Water, we prefer Greensand Plus with a Chlorine Feed ahead of the system.