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Determination of microplastics in drinking water treatment plants and tap water in Kocaeli, Turkey
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Researchers tested drinking water in Turkey and found that treatment plants remove roughly 60-76% of microplastic particles, but even after treatment, and still in the water coming out of people's taps, thousands of tiny plastic particles remained per liter, most smaller than a grain of sand (1-20 micrometers). This matters because it shows that standard water treatment doesn't fully filter out microplastics, meaning people are likely drinking small amounts of plastic daily, though scientists are still studying what this means for long-term health.
Microplastic pollution in water samples from Kartepe Avluburun and Gebze Denizli drinking water treatment plants in Kocaeli, Turkey, was investigated for the first time. In Kartepe Avluburun, the particle abundance in raw, treated, and tap water samples ranged from 1579 to 5283 (mean: 3117) particles per liter, 637.5 to 2274 (mean: 1317) particles per liter, and 758.5 to 2485 (mean: 1476.6) particles per liter, respectively; whereas these results for Gebze Denizli were 786.5–3388 (mean: 1882), 397.5–2226 (mean: 1028), and 470–2821 (mean: 1256.8). Similar microplastics removal efficiency was determined in both treatment plants at all seasons except spring. In fall season, a peak removal efficiency of 76.3% was achieved. The prevalent polymer types of microplastics in the raw water were polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyamide. The most common microplastic sizes in the samples were between 1 and 20 μm (82%), the color was blue, and the shape was fragment type.
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