Biofouling is a significant issue in the maintenance of groundwater pumping systems, be they for water supplies or for remediation of groundwater contamination. Below are some examples of Fe and Mn bacteria isolated from production wells used for cooling water. The source water is from unconfined flow in a buried-valley glacial aquifer
[click on an image for full scale version]
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| Filamentous Fe oxidizer in production piping | Filamentous Fe oxidizer recovered from heat exchanger |
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| High magnification view of filaments from heat exchanger | Mn oxidizers growing on top of fe oxidizers |
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| Mn-rich scale in production well | High magnification view of Mn scale |
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| Well #1. Thin, Mn-rich coating | Well #2. Thick, Fe-rich coating |
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| Well #3. Intermediate thickness scale with Fe and Mn | Relationship between Fe content of produced water and Fe content of scale |