Hyphomicrobia—A Significant Factor in Manganese Problems

Abstract

This article discusses a study in Tasmania where deposits containing up to 50 per cent manganese occur in hydroelectric pipelines. It has been shown experimentally that microorganisms are essential to initiate these deposits, and that stalked, budding bacteria (Hyphomicrobium) are of far greater significance in this role than the usually‐implicated chlamydobacteria. A laboratory system was devised to reproduce field conditions. A relatively large volume of lake water was pumped through a system of glass tubes in which manganese deposition took place. With the use of metabolic inhibitors, it was shown that microorganisms are essential to initiate manganese deposition. Examination of pipeline deposits strongly suggests that the continuing process of accumulation is also microbiologic.