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Impact of Drinking Water Treatment on Removal of Microplastics
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Microplastics were measured throughout six drinking water treatment facilities using Raman spectroscopy and found at concentrations ranging widely in source water, with treatment processes achieving substantial but incomplete removal.
The occurrence and removal of microplastics (MPs) was characterized throughout 6 drinking watertreatment facilities using a consistent sampling and analytical methodology. MPs were characterized by polymer, size (≥ 2 μm), and morphology using a novel two-phase Raman spectroscopy approach; all concentrations were corrected using procedural blanks. In untreated source waters, concentrations ranged from 3,242 ± 54 to 10,808 ± 98 MP/L, with PP and PE representing the most common polymers. Treatment facilities were observed to achieve removals of 98.9 to 100%. No clear trend was observed when comparing finished water concentrations (1.5 ± 0.1 to 153 ± 1 MP/L) to those in distribution systems (16.8 ± 0.5 to 136.8 ± 9.6 MP/L), both were dominated by particles < 20 μm (47 to 92%). Overall findings of this study provide insight into MP exposure via drinking water and may be used to inform future directions regarding the regulation of MPs.
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