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Sources and Fate of Microplastics in Urban Areas: A Focus on Paris Megacity
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Using Paris as a case study, this chapter analyzes the various sources of microplastics in an urban catchment — including wastewater, stormwater runoff, and atmospheric deposition — and traces how they move through the city's water system. The study underscores that urban environments are major generators and conduits for microplastic pollution reaching freshwater and marine systems.
Since the beginning of the 2010s, the number of investigations on microplastics in freshwater increased dramatically. However, almost no study aims at investigating the various sources and fate of microplastics in a catchment. This chapter aims at analyzing the various sources and fate of microplastics for an urban catchment and its hydrosystem (sewage, runoff, etc.). It presents the results obtained during a 3-year study of the Paris Megacity. Such a study required the development of appropriate sampling strategies for each compartment. It was highlighted that fibers are highly concentrated in the studied area, and therefore a focus in this category of microplastics was carried out. The atmospheric fallout exhibited important levels of fibers. However, at the scale of the Parisian agglomeration, wastewater treatment plant disposals and combined sewer overflows represent the major sources (number of fibers introduced per year) among the studied ones.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.