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WATER INDUSTRY NEWS
Study: Manganese in well water affects children’s IQ
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Monday, September 20, 2010

MONTREAL — A study recently completed by a team of Canadian researchers indicated that high concentrations of manganese in drinking water may have an adverse effect on children’s intellectual abilities, according to a press release.

The results of the study, which are published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showed that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures, the release stated.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Université du Québec à Montréal, the Université de Montréal and the École Polytechnique de Montréal, examined 362 Quebec children, between the ages of 6 and 13, living in homes supplied with water from individual or public wells.

For each child, the researchers measured the concentration of manganese in tap water from their home, as well as iron, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, magnesium and calcium.

Each child was assessed with a battery of tests assessing cognition, motor skills and behavior, according to the release.

“We found significant deficits in the intelligence quotient (IQ) of children exposed to higher concentration of manganese in drinking water,” explained lead author Maryse Bouchard. “Yet, manganese concentrations were well below current guidelines.”

The average IQ of children whose tap water was in the upper 20 percent of manganese concentration was 6 points below children whose water contained little or no manganese.

The authors stated that the amount of manganese present in food showed no relationship to the children’s IQ.

Some of the municipalities where the study was conducted have already installed filtration systems to remove manganese from the water, the release stated.

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