First evidence of microplastics in surface water of urban waterbodies in Bhopal city, India- abundance and their characteristics

The present study focuses on the microplastics (MPs) abundance including identification and quantification in six major waterbodies of Bhopal city. Using the combined sampling method of bulk and volume reduced sampling the samples are collected from 19 different locations in winter, summer and monsoon weather for understanding the seasonal impact. MPs particles have been observed in the surface waters of all the water bodies of the Bhopal city across all seasons. The overall and average maximum MPs has been observed in Shahpura Lake near children's park and fishing area with overall abundance (SH2-1640 ± 162.69 particles/m³) and average abundance (SH2-1410 ± 162.69 particles/m³) during the monsoon of 2022. The least polluted waterbody is Kerwa dam having overall abundance of 510 ± 43.20 particles/m³ and average abundance of 570 ± 43.20 particles/m³ which was observed in summer of 2022. The identification by FTIR showed that the nylon and polypropylene are the most abundant types of polymers in all the locations. Statistical analysis shows that there is strong positive correlation in between the MPs abundance in different seasons. With all the above studies it can be concluded that MPs abundance in freshwater is increasing with the passage of time which is having adverse effect on the surrounding environment.