Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Hurley — The city of Hurley announced the results of its latest water testing shows manganese levels “well below EPA health advisory guidelines,” the city announced Friday.
The testing was completed by the city’s public works department and the Iron County Health Department, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Earlier this month, the Hurley K-12 School announced water samples taken Aug. 21 at the school also showed manganese levels were well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum health alert levels of 1,000 parts per million for adults and 300 parts per million for infants six months and younger.
The city began testing for manganese levels after the manganese levels in the city of Ironwood’s water delivery system were discovered to be approaching the EPA’s cautionary levels in early August.
Hurley buys its water from the city of Ironwood.
One of Ironwood’s six wells had showed a level of manganese above the benchmark for infants in August, although the manganese levels weren’t a problem once the water from the city’s six wells were mixed together. At the time, the well with high manganese levels was taken offline and additional testing was ordered.
Since August, Ironwood has worked with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to conduct additional water sampling. Test results from the multiple rounds of water sampling, during non-flushing events, have come in below the health advisory level according to a city of Ironwood news release from earlier this month.
Ironwood’s health advisory for manganese was lifted, according to Ironwood’s news release recapping the process, following the results of three rounds of testing by the Western U.P. Health Department.
Ironwood and the state are also reviewing the city’s flushing program to determine if changes need to be made, according to the recap, handouts are being developed to be sent out prior to the spring 2020 system flushing.
The city also solicited requests for proposals from engineering to explore iron and manganese removal options.
For more information about water quality, city Hurley residents can contact the health department at 715-561-2191 or the city’s public works department at 715-561-4715 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
