Occurrence, Fate, and Treatment of Micro/Nano Plastics in Drinking Water Sources

Plastics have become ubiquitous and essential raw material in various industries since their invention in the 1930s. Plastic waste in the environment can be classified into five categories: nanoplastics (NP), microplastics (MP), mesoplastics, macroplastics, and megaplastics. Micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) have become a threat to the environment in recent years and interest in the environmental occurrence, fate and elimination of MNPs has shifted towards surface waters. MNPs have been detected in water resources around the world, including tap water, streams, rivers, and lakes. Scientific literature indicates that MNPs destroy water quality, affect source water quality and pose potential adverse impacts on human health directly and indirectly. MNPs are subjected to various mechanical, chemical, and biological weathering processes (such as UV radiation, oxidants, wave actions, and biofilm formation) in aquatic environment. And weathered MNPs may show different physicochemical properties from the original ones. Several techniques and processes such as coagulation, sedimentation, magnetic extraction; sand filtration, membrane filtration and adsorption, have been attempted to remove MNPs from drinking water with total removal efficiency ranging from <10 to 100%. This chapter is aimed to provide review about current knowledge of occurrence, fate and transport, and removal of MNPs in drinking water sources.