Microplastic Pollution in Ganga: Present Status and Future Need

Potential hazardous consequences of microplastic pollution have led to recent surge in research activities on microplastics occurrence in aquatic ecosystems and they are being found ubiquitously both in marine and riverine habitats.The problem is especially exacerbated in developing countries like India where major river systems like Ganga are facing heavy threat of microplastics pollution due to lack of proper solid waste disposal, wastewater treatment system and various anthropogenic activities along the riverbank.The Ganga River is documented with moderate to heavy microplastic contamination both in water and sediment and estimated to carry a large amount of plastic debris to ocean system.However, monitoring microplastics contamination in the Ganga River has just begun and future effort is required to assess toxic effect to native fauna.