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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Groundwater in the age of plastic
ClearAn Overview of Microplastic Contamination in Groundwater: Sources, Transport Pathways, and Environmental Implications
This review examined microplastic contamination in groundwater systems, an area that has received less research attention compared to surface water. Researchers identified key sources and transport pathways for microplastics entering groundwater, including infiltration through soil and fractured rock, and highlighted the environmental implications for drinking water supplies.
Microplastics contamination of groundwater: Current evidence and future perspectives. A review
This review examines the current evidence on microplastic contamination of groundwater, which supplies drinking water to over 2 billion people worldwide. Researchers found that microplastics can reach groundwater through atmospheric deposition, surface water interaction, urban infrastructure, and agricultural soils, though detection remains challenging. The study proposes a new "Hydrogeoplastic Model" framework and calls for improved detection methods to better characterize microplastic fate in aquifer systems.
Understanding Microplastic Pollution in Groundwater: Pathways, Health Implications and Solutions
This review examines how microplastics infiltrate groundwater systems through pathways including landfills, agricultural runoff, water treatment facilities, and aging plastic pipes. Researchers found that once in groundwater, microplastics can persist for long periods and degrade water quality while interacting with other subsurface contaminants. The study highlights that groundwater microplastic contamination is an underappreciated threat to one of humanity's most important freshwater sources.
Urban and Groundwater Microplastic Contamination: Sources, Distribution, Impacts, and Remediation Technologies
This review addressed microplastic contamination in urban environments and groundwater systems, covering source pathways from roads and stormwater runoff, distribution through urban catchments, and potential impacts on drinking water aquifers. It highlighted groundwater as an understudied but critical exposure pathway.
Global distribution, drivers, and potential hazards of microplastics in groundwater: A review
This review maps the global distribution of microplastics in groundwater and finds that contamination is widespread, with fiber-shaped particles and polyethylene being the most common types detected. The study highlights that climate change and local geology play underappreciated roles in how microplastics move through soil into groundwater, which is a drinking water source for billions of people worldwide.
Microplastics in groundwater: a global analysis
Researchers conducted a global groundwater sampling study to characterize microplastic contamination in aquifer systems worldwide, investigating transport mechanisms and fate of particles in anoxic subsurface environments where knowledge gaps remain despite extensive research on surface water systems.
Review of Current Issues and Management Strategies of Microplastics in Groundwater Environments
This review synthesizes current knowledge on microplastic contamination in groundwater, identifying it as a substantially understudied environment compared to surface water and marine systems. The authors describe pathways by which microplastics enter aquifers and discuss management strategies for this largely invisible contamination route.
Global status, risk assessment, and knowledge gaps of microplastics in groundwater: A bibliometric analysis
This review analyzed 215 published studies on microplastics in groundwater and found that this area of research is still in its early stages compared to surface water studies. Evidence indicates that microplastic contamination is present in groundwater worldwide, but sampling methods and reported results vary widely. The authors identified significant knowledge gaps in understanding how microplastics move through underground water systems and what risks they may pose to drinking water sources.
Microplastic pollution in groundwater: a systematic review
This systematic review reveals that microplastics have been found in groundwater sources worldwide, raising concerns about drinking water safety. Detection methods and reported contamination levels vary widely, highlighting the need for standardized testing to fully understand the scope of the problem.
A comprehensive review on microplastics: Their presence in surface and ground water, environmental distribution, and impact on human and aquatic systems
This comprehensive review examines the distribution, environmental behavior, and health impacts of microplastics in surface water and groundwater systems. Researchers summarized how microplastics enter surface waters and subsequently infiltrate groundwater, acting as carriers for other contaminants along the way. The study emphasizes the need for standardized analytical procedures for groundwater microplastic research and highlights the role of particle size and morphology in determining potential health effects.
Groundwater systems under siege: The silent invasion of microplastics and cock-tails worldwide
This review reveals that groundwater, a critical drinking water source for billions of people, is increasingly contaminated with microplastics from surface pollution seeping downward through soil. Unlike ocean and river pollution, groundwater microplastic contamination has received far less research attention, leaving major gaps in understanding how plastics migrate underground. The findings are alarming because contaminated groundwater directly enters drinking water supplies with little to no treatment in many regions.
Research advances of micro/nanoplastics in groundwater: occurrence, environmental impacts and control strategies
This review examines the emerging issue of microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in groundwater systems, covering their sources, distribution patterns, potential environmental risks, and removal strategies. Researchers highlight that the strong heterogeneity and complexity of underground environments make studying microplastic migration particularly challenging. The study identifies significant knowledge gaps in sampling methods and calls for more research into how microplastics move through groundwater aquifers.
Control strategies for microplastic pollution in groundwater
This review summarizes how microplastics migrate from soil into groundwater and the strategies available to control this contamination. Researchers found that microplastic concentrations in groundwater vary by region, with factors like soil type and land use influencing how particles travel underground. The study highlights the urgency of developing effective control measures since groundwater is a primary drinking water source for much of the world's population.
The Urgent Need to Investigate Microplastic Contamination in Groundwater: Soil and Groundwater Interactions as Key Drivers
This viewpoint paper argued for urgent investigation of microplastic contamination in groundwater, highlighting soil-groundwater interactions as key drivers of subsurface MP transport and emphasizing the gap in current monitoring efforts.
Microplastics in soil and freshwater: Understanding sources, distribution, potential impacts, and regulations for management
This review synthesizes knowledge on microplastics in soil and freshwater systems, covering their sources, transport mechanisms, ecological and health impacts, and current regulatory frameworks for managing plastic pollution in terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Microplastics in Groundwater: Pathways, Occurrence, and Monitoring Challenges
This review provides a comprehensive look at how microplastics make their way into groundwater from surface water, seawater, and soil, and examines the challenges researchers face in detecting and monitoring them. The study found that a lack of standardized sampling and analysis methods makes it difficult to compare findings across different studies. Researchers emphasize the importance of understanding local geological conditions and preventing sample contamination to improve the reliability of groundwater microplastic monitoring.
Microplastic accumulation in groundwater: Data-scaled insights and future research
This data-driven review of nearly 400 groundwater samples worldwide found that microplastics are present in both shallow and deep groundwater, with open groundwater sources showing higher contamination than enclosed aquifers. The findings are relevant to human health because groundwater supplies drinking water for billions of people, and the study identifies key gaps in our understanding of how microplastics accumulate underground.
Propensity and repercussion of microplastics in the soil-water-urban continuum
This review examines microplastic sources, transport pathways, and accumulation in soil-water-urban systems, with specific attention to how urbanization and agricultural practices drive microplastic migration into groundwater and the implications for ecosystem services and the 'one health' framework.
State of knowledge and future research needs on microplastics in groundwater
This study used text-mining analysis of the scientific literature to summarize the state of knowledge on microplastics in groundwater, identifying research gaps around sources, transport through soil, and human exposure through drinking water. The review found that groundwater microplastic research lags behind surface water studies and that uniform detection methods are lacking.
Future Global Groundwater Quality Challenges
This review outlines emerging and legacy groundwater quality challenges that threaten drinking water security globally, including microplastic contamination alongside chemical and microbial pollutants. The authors call for improved monitoring and treatment infrastructure to protect future groundwater supplies.
Microplastic particles in groundwater systems worldwide
This review synthesizes global evidence on microplastic contamination in groundwater systems, examining how particles enter aquifers via vadose zone infiltration, groundwater-surface water exchange, and managed recharge sites, while highlighting the lack of standardized baseline concentration data across aquifer types worldwide.
Groundwater Pollution and Contamination: Sources, Impacts, Management, and the Integration of AI/ML for Future Solutions
This review covers the sources, health impacts, and management strategies for groundwater pollution, including contamination from agricultural runoff, industrial waste, and landfill leachate. While broadly focused on water quality, the paper is relevant to microplastic concerns because contaminated groundwater is a drinking water source for billions of people, and emerging pollutants including microplastics are increasingly found in these systems.
A Global Review of Microplastic Contamination in Groundwater: Empirical Evidence and Latin American Perspectives
Scientists reviewed 129 studies and found that tiny pieces of plastic (called microplastics) are contaminating groundwater around the world, which is concerning because groundwater provides drinking water to billions of people. The research shows we don't know enough about this problem, especially in Latin America where only two studies have actually tested groundwater for plastic contamination. This matters because we need better monitoring and policies to protect our underground water sources from plastic pollution that could affect human health.
Microplastics pollution in groundwater: Case study - Slovenia
Researchers investigated microplastic pollution in Slovenian groundwater, which supplies drinking water to 98% of the population, characterizing MP occurrence, transport, and risk across multiple aquifer systems affected by urban, industrial, and agricultural activities.