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Standardization of methods for microplastic detection and characterization in public water supply: a scoping review
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This is a review protocol examining how scientists detect and measure microplastics in drinking water systems, from untreated to treated water. It plans to compare current research methods against new European standardization guidelines, assess quality control reporting, and produce a checklist for consistent reporting in future studies.
This scoping review maps the sampling, sample preparation, identification, quality control, and reporting procedures used to detect and characterize microplastics in raw, partially treated, and treated water in public water supply systems, and assesses their alignment with recent standardization documents, particularly Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441. Treated water is taken as the target matrix, and comparability across sampling points as the condition for assessing removal efficiency. The review follows the Arksey and O'Malley framework and JBI guidance and will be reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Searches were run in Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, and SciELO on 27 September 2026; this protocol was registered after the searches and before screening began. Expected outputs are a map of methodological practices, a descriptive characterization of quality assurance/quality control reporting based on Koelmans et al. (2019), and a minimum reporting checklist.
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