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Factors affecting the leaching of micro and nanoplastics in the water distribution system
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Researchers studied how plastic water pipes in distribution systems leach micro- and nanoplastics into drinking water under varying conditions of pH, chlorine levels, and pipe material. They found that higher pH and the presence of free chlorine both contributed to increased particle release from the pipes. The findings raise concerns that everyday drinking water infrastructure may be an overlooked source of human microplastic exposure.
The role of the water distribution system (WDS) requires that it supply water of sufficient quality to households. Unregulated leaching of micro and nanoplastics from plastic pipes of the distribution system is therefore a cause for concern, particularly with the rise in research associating these plastic particles to adverse health impacts in living organisms. Within this study, four parameters (pH, free chlorine concentration, pipe material, and time) were varied in a pipe loop network to observe their effect on microplastic (MP) and nanoplastic (NP) leaching into the simulated distribution network. Results indicated an abundance of MPs/NPs in different shapes and sizes throughout the samples. Graphical trends illustrated that basic pH values contributed to a higher number of particles. Statistical analysis via analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed this observation and further showed interaction of chlorine dose and pH concentration (p-value = 0.000), and chlorine dose and pipe material (p-value = 0.038) was also significant to leaching. Numerically, polyethylene (PE) particles were the most abundant with a total of 15194 particles, followed by 12920 polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) particles and 12317 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) particles. It was also noticed that the number of particles decreased with time.© 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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