WEATHERSFIELD — A study is underway at the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District that aims to identify whether water treatment methods require adjustment to deter water line corrosion and red water.

Red water, or water with high levels of iron from old pipes, is an issue in parts of Youngstown, McDonald and Niles, according to MVSD chief engineer Ramesh Kashinkunti. It tends to be an issue in areas where water lines dead end and sediment accumulates, as is the case on certain streets in Niles that the city is in the process of addressing through construction of water line loops.

MVSD contracted with Wisconsin-based Process Research Solutions for $9,500 to examine data from Youngstown, Niles and McDonald that Kashinkunti said will help identify particular areas of concern and whether MVSD can adjust the way water is treated to minimize corrosion, sediment buildup and red water.

“What we are doing through Process Research Solutions to analyze historical data and the treatment changes we have made,” Kashinkunti said. “They will look at every water quality parameter.”

One particular aspect to analyze is whether the water is “stable” enough. John Nemet, MVSD water purification superintendent, said treated water must maintain a certain balance because if it falls outside of certain parameters, it can either cause sediment buildup in old iron pipes or it can cause existing sediment buildup to tear off.

“If (water) is unstable, it can peel off the deposited material,” Nemet said. “When it peels off, it might peel off things like iron or lead. It’s important to control the quality.”

Process Research Solutions will look at any data that member cities have, such as pipe sizes and diameters, types of piping materials and coating, areas with red water and flushing methods used to address it. The company also will examine historical MVSD treatment data.

“It comes down to analyzing the quality of the water that is produced here and how it behaves in the distribution system,” Kashinkunti said. “We want to analyze all the data and collectively look at is there any way to improve through water treatment change or maintenance activities.”

Water comes into MVSD with a hardness level of about 143 milligrams per liter and after treatment that number hovers around 98. This means treatment methods remove about 45 milligrams per liter of hardness making it “moderately soft,” Nemet said.

MVSD takes about 50,000 water samples annually at the plant, and about 1,000 samples annually in the cities where water is distributed. No lead corrosion has been found in the most recent round of sampling, Kashinkunti said.

The study should take about two months to complete.

jwysochanski@tribtoday.com