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Occurrence of Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Aquatic and Agroecosystem: A Case Study
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Researchers investigated microplastic and heavy metal co-contamination in Pakistani farmland, collecting wastewater, soil, and vegetable samples from four sites in Faisalabad irrigated with raw effluents. They found average soil microplastic abundance of 2790.75 items/kg and identified chromium as the dominant metal with the highest transfer factor, establishing baseline contamination benchmarks for this agroecosystem.
A case study was conducted to evaluate the microplastics and heavy metals distribution in Pakistani farmland. Wastewater, soil, and vegetable samples were collected from four locations that received raw effluents for irrigation in the Faisalabad district. The average MPs abundances found in soil was 2790.75 items/kg, FSD-S has higher MPs (3865 items/kg) which is almost 34.62% from the total. However, the highest metal pollution (3.666 mg/kg) was recorded in the FSD-E zone, Cr showed the highest transfer factor about 34.24% in FSD-N in comparison with other sites. This research establishes a benchmark for estimating the environmental harm posed by microplastics and heavy metals in this rapidly emerging field of study.
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Spatial insights into microplastics and heavy metals levels, and risks in wastewater irrigated surface soils of Okara, Pakistan: Microplastics sizes impacts on heavy metals distribution using structure equation model
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Researchers mapped microplastic and heavy metal contamination in wastewater-irrigated farm soils in Okara, Pakistan, finding 1,850 to 5,300 microplastic particles per kilogram of soil. Statistical modeling showed that microplastic levels significantly influenced how heavy metals were distributed in the soil. While current health risks were estimated to be low, the study highlights that using wastewater for irrigation introduces both microplastics and heavy metals into agricultural soil, where they could eventually affect food safety.
Interactive effects of microplastics, heavy metals, and soil microecology under different irrigation water sources
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Researchers found that using a mix of river water and treated wastewater to irrigate crops led to the highest levels of tiny plastic particles (microplastics) in soil, along with increased amounts of heavy metals like lead and chromium. These microplastics appear to help these harmful metals stick around in the soil rather than being naturally filtered out. This matters because these pollutants could potentially make their way into the food we eat, though more research is needed to understand the health risks.
Microplastic abundance and heavy metal contamination in agricultural soil with the wastewater treatment plants effluent; Tehran, Iran
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Agricultural soils in Tehran irrigated with treated wastewater contained 29–270 MP items/kg, dominated by polystyrene and polypropylene from plastic mulches, alongside elevated lead, cadmium, and copper concentrations—with MPs themselves carrying adsorbed heavy metals detected by microplastic-AES analysis. The co-occurrence of microplastics and heavy metals in food-producing soils illustrates how plastic pollution acts as a secondary vector for toxic metal contamination, compounding risks to crop safety and human dietary exposure.
Quantification and characterization of microplastics (MPs) pollution in peri-uburban agricultural lands of Lahore, Pakistan
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Microplastics were quantified and characterized in peri-urban agricultural soil samples from Lahore, Pakistan, collected from four sites, finding widespread MP contamination linked to irrigation with wastewater and proximity to urban plastic use.
Assessing the impacts of land use and land cover on occurrence, spatial distribution of microplastics and heavy metals in an agricultural watershed, Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh, India
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Researchers mapped the occurrence and spatial distribution of microplastics and heavy metals in agricultural runoff from a watershed in Andhra Pradesh, India. They found an average of 41.7 microplastic items per liter, dominated by polypropylene and polyethylene fibers, with heavy metal concentrations of cadmium, arsenic, chromium, and lead posing varying levels of health risk. The study highlights that land use patterns significantly influence both microplastic and heavy metal contamination in agricultural water systems.
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