0
Article Tier 2 Environmental Sources Sign in to save

Release of Microplastics by Terrestrial Sources into Freshwater Environments

2025

AI summary Read the abstract

This chapter examines how terrestrial sources—including stormwater runoff, agricultural activities, and wastewater treatment plants—release microplastics into freshwater systems. Identifying and controlling these land-based inputs is critical because rivers and lakes are not just reservoirs of plastic pollution but also sources of drinking water and irrigation for human populations.

Study Type Environmental

This chapter examines the significant role of various terrestrial sources in releasing microplastics (MPs) into freshwater systems. Key contributors include stormwater runoff, agricultural activities, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), each facilitating the...

More Papers Like This

Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Freshwater Environments: Sources, Fates and Toxicity

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers reviewed the sources, environmental fate, and toxicity of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems, finding that microplastics cause physical injury and histological damage to aquatic organisms and act as vectors amplifying the toxicity of co-occurring chemical pollutants.

Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Freshwater Ecosystems

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers reviewed the widespread presence of microplastics in freshwater environments — including remote lakes and rivers — finding that microfibers from textiles are the most commonly detected type. Since freshwater is a source of drinking water and food, its contamination with microplastics has direct implications for human health.

Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Freshwater Ecosystems

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers reviewed the evidence for microplastic contamination across freshwater environments, finding these particles in virtually all rivers and lakes studied — including remote wilderness areas. Microfibers from synthetic textiles are consistently the most common type found, suggesting laundry runoff is a major and underappreciated source.

Article Tier 2

Occurrence and Fate of Microplastics in Freshwater Resources

AI summary Read the abstract

Microplastics enter freshwater resources through both primary sources such as cosmetic microbeads and secondary fragmentation of larger plastic debris, accumulating throughout river systems, lakes, and groundwater. Their persistence and widespread distribution in freshwater raise direct concerns for human exposure via drinking water consumption.

Article Tier 2

Fate and Behavior of Microplastics in Freshwater Systems

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers reviewed how microplastics move, accumulate, and interact with ecosystems in freshwater environments like rivers and lakes, which serve as both major pathways and sinks for plastic pollution. Understanding this behavior is critical because freshwater sources supply drinking water for billions of people worldwide.

Research digests by email

When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.

Email me about

Share this paper