Iron and Manganese Removal from Groundwater by Filtration on Selected Masses

The main pollutants of groundwater are iron, manganese and hardness. Although they belong to the group of trace elements necessary for man, their presence in groundwater above a certain level eliminates it for use, mainly for aesthetic reasons. Water contaminated with these compounds has a lot of negative features i.e. discoloration and sludge, metallic taste, odor, turbidity, staining of laundry and sanitation. In addition, promotes the growth of microorganisms that make up the doughy, greasy deposits covering water pipes. According to Health Ministry Regulation about quality of water for human use and according to European Council Directive 98/83/EC iron concentration in water cannot exceed 0,2 mg Fe/l, and manganese 0,05 mg Mn/l. Requirements of the individual industries are even more severe. Often both the concentration of iron and manganese should be reduced up to 0.0 mg/l. It forces the need for effective methods of water treatment. The purpose of the research within this study was to use the selected filter beds for removal of iron and manganese from the water. There were selected four filter masses for experiments that differ in composition and properties. Conducted studies have shown that the tested compounds are difficult to effective elimination from the water. Single processes are not sufficient, what orders to apply multi-step filtration or other processes.