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Causes of coastal waters pollution with nutrients, chemicals and plastics worldwide
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Researchers developed a global model to quantify how rivers transport nutrients, chemicals, microplastics, and macroplastics from land sources to coastal waters across more than 10,000 sub-basins. They found that sewage is responsible for 40-95% of phosphorus and microplastics reaching the oceans, while agricultural runoff and mismanaged waste dominate nitrogen and macroplastic pollution. The study reveals that nearly 45% of global land area qualifies as a multi-pollutant hotspot, home to 89% of the world's population.
Worldwide, coastal waters contain pollutants such as nutrients, plastics, and chemicals. Rivers export those pollutants, but their sources are not well studied. Our study aims to quantify river exports of nutrients, chemicals, and plastics to coastal waters by source and sub-basin worldwide. We developed a new MARINA-Multi model for 10,226 sub-basins. The global modelled river export to seas is approximately 40,000 kton of nitrogen, 1,800 kton of phosphorous, 45 kton of microplastics, 490 kton of macroplastics, 400 ton of triclosan and 220 ton of diclofenac. Around three-quarters of these pollutants are transported to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Diffuse sources contribute by 95-100 % to nitrogen (agriculture) and macroplastics (mismanaged waste) in seas. Point sources (sewage) contribute by 40-95 % to phosphorus and microplastics in seas. Almost 45 % of global sub-basin areas are multi-pollutant hotspots hosting 89 % of the global population. Our findings could support strategies for reducing multiple pollutants in seas.
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Global multi-pollutant modelling: uncovering new perspectives for river exports of nutrients, plastics, and chemicals
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This thesis modeled river exports of nutrients, plastics, and chemicals to coastal waters worldwide using a new multi-pollutant model. Researchers found that diffuse sources contributed over 95% of nitrogen and macroplastic exports, while point sources accounted for about 40% of phosphorus and microplastic exports globally. The study projects that 56-78% of the global population will live near more polluted river basins by 2100, with low-income regions in Africa and South Asia facing the highest multi-pollutant exposure.
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This review examines how untreated sewage -- which carries microplastics along with nutrients, pathogens, and heavy metals -- pollutes coastal environments where nearly half the world's population lives. Over 80% of sewage enters the environment without treatment, threatening marine ecosystems and human health through contaminated seafood and waterborne diseases.
The MARINA-Plastic model: Global river export of macro- and microplastics from over 10,000 sub-basins to coastal seas
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Researchers developed the MARINA-Plastic model to estimate macro- and microplastic export from over 10,000 river sub-basins worldwide to coastal seas, finding that a small number of rivers in Asia and Africa account for the majority of global plastic inputs to the ocean. The spatially explicit model helps identify where plastic pollution reduction efforts will have the greatest impact.
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Researchers argue that tackling global water pollution requires modeling multiple contaminants — microplastics, nutrients, chemicals, and pathogens — simultaneously rather than studying each in isolation. They identify pollution hotspots across Europe, North America, and South Asia where rivers carry dangerous combinations of these pollutants, and call for models that can directly inform policy decisions.
Ten years of MARINA modeling: Multi-pollutant hotspots and their sources under global change
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A decade of MARINA water quality modeling identified multi-pollutant hotspots in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters under historical and projected future global change scenarios, highlighting nutrient pollution and microplastics as co-occurring stressors in heavily impacted watersheds.
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.