Manganese is a naturally occurring mineral in rock and soil, and it dissolves into groundwater as it moves through the aquifer. Hanson's Crystal Spring wells draw from an aquifer MassDEP rates as highly vulnerable to surface influence, which also means the wells pick up more of the natural mineral content of the ground around them. It's a mineral issue, not a contamination event.
Every water utility publishes an annual Consumer Confidence Report listing every contaminant it tested for, the detected range, and the legal limit. Watch for the difference between a primary standard (MCL, health-based and enforceable) and a secondary standard (SMCL, aesthetic and non-enforceable) — Hanson's manganese story is entirely in the secondary category.
If your home is on a private well rather than town water, none of the municipal testing above applies to you directly. Massachusetts DEP recommends private well owners test independently, since well water isn't subject to Safe Drinking Water Act monitoring requirements — and mineral content can vary well to well even within the same town.
Meeting EPA legal limits isn't the same as being free of every aesthetic or trace concern. Secondary standards like the one for manganese exist because minerals at high enough levels stain fixtures and laundry, affect taste, and — above the levels Hanson has recently recorded — carry a short-term health consideration EPA flags specifically for infant formula preparation. Households with young children often choose to filter regardless of a utility's compliance status.
In general terms, a few filtration approaches address what actually shows up in Hanson's testing data:
The standard household approach for manganese and hardness minerals. A whole-house ion exchange or water softening system removes manganese and iron before they reach fixtures, reducing staining and taste issues.
Effective against chlorine taste and odor, many disinfection byproducts, and some PFAS compounds, depending on the specific carbon media and contact time. Common in pitcher filters, faucet-mount units, and whole-house systems.
The most thorough option for PFAS, nitrates, sodium, and a broad range of dissolved minerals. Typically installed under a kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water specifically.
Not sure where to start? A free household water test is the easiest way to figure out whether filtration makes sense for your specific home, and if so, which approach fits.