Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The abundance, characteristics and ecological risk assessment of microplastics in rainwater – Preliminary study

Researchers measured microplastic contamination in rainwater collected monthly throughout 2023 in both a Polish village and a nearby city, finding significantly higher concentrations in the urban setting (averaging 214 particles per liter) with rubber — largely from tire wear — making up the dominant type. Ecological risk assessment indicated a high to very high risk, raising concerns about using rainwater directly without treatment.

2025 Desalination and Water Treatment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Micropollution of rainwater collected from roof surfaces in the context of sustainable water management

Researchers collected rainwater runoff from concrete tile roofs over 2023–2024 and found it generally met drinking water quality standards for most physical and chemical parameters, but often exceeded limits for ammonia and bacterial counts, and contained detectable microplastic particles. The findings support rainwater harvesting as a viable supplemental water source with appropriate treatment, while flagging microplastic contamination as an important quality consideration.

2025 Desalination and Water Treatment 1 citations
Review Tier 2

Rainwater management in urban areas in Poland: literature review

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications on rainwater management in urban areas in Poland using Scopus and Web of Science databases with the 'biblioshiny' tool, synthesizing research trends and identifying likely future directions. The review provides a structured overview of the state of knowledge on urban rainwater management practices and challenges in the Polish context.

2023 Bulletin of Geography Physical Geography Series 3 citations
Article Tier 2

End-user perspective of low-cost sensors for urban stormwater monitoring: a review

Not relevant to microplastics — this review assesses the readiness of low-cost electronic sensors for monitoring urban stormwater parameters such as rainfall, water level, pH, turbidity, and nutrients.

2023 Water Science & Technology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Rening av dagvatten med en kompakt reningsanläggning

Researchers investigated compact underground stormwater treatment systems as a space-efficient alternative to conventional stormwater ponds in dense urban environments, evaluating their performance in removing pollutants including microplastics from urban runoff.

2025 KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Article Tier 2

Managing Urban Water Resources: A Review of Challenges, Techniques, and Sustainability Strategies

Despite its title referencing urban water resource management, this paper is a broad review of water management challenges and tools — including hydrological modeling, remote sensing, and integrated governance strategies — rather than a study of microplastic pollution. It reviews planning frameworks and case studies related to water sustainability and does not examine microplastics or their health effects.

2025 Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Blue–Green Infrastructure Effectiveness for Urban Stormwater Management: A Multi-Scale Residential Case Study

Despite its title referencing urban stormwater management, this paper studies the effectiveness of blue-green infrastructure — such as rain gardens and permeable pavements — at managing stormwater runoff from residential areas under climate change conditions. While stormwater is a major carrier of microplastics to waterways, this study focuses on hydraulic performance rather than microplastic removal, and is only tangentially relevant to the topic.

2025 Land 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics retained in rain gardens within different functional areas of Nanjing, eastern China

Researchers investigated microplastic retention in rain gardens across different functional areas of Nanjing, China, quantifying MP characteristics in these low-impact development stormwater management systems and evaluating their sources, finding that rain gardens can serve as significant sinks for urban microplastic pollution.

2025 Environmental Engineering Research
Article Tier 2

Study on financial cost evaluation of urban water environment management and pollution prevention and control

This paper is not about microplastics — it evaluates the financial cost-effectiveness of urban water environment governance in four Chinese cities, finding that treatment costs do not always translate to proportional environmental benefits.

2024 AQUA - Water Infrastructure Ecosystems and Society 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantifying Morphological Complexity and Wet Deposition of Microplastics Abundance: A Case Study of Wroclaw, Poland

Scientists measured tiny plastic particles that fall from the sky in rainwater in Poland and found significant amounts - about 135-168 particles per liter of rainwater. Most of these microplastics were fiber-shaped pieces that likely come from sources like synthetic clothing and vehicle tires. This matters because these plastic particles are constantly raining down on us and our food systems, though more research is needed to understand the full health impacts of this widespread contamination.

2026
Article Tier 2

Microplastic analysis in urban areas and their impact on quality of life

Researchers assessed microplastic contamination in urban water environments and evaluated its impact on community quality of life, arguing that a critical gap in standardized analytical methods is limiting progress in both research and environmental management of microplastic pollution.

2025 MATEC Web of Conferences
Article Tier 2

Stormwater harvesting with membrane technology: From an idea to apartment building installation

This paper describes the development and installation of a membrane-based stormwater harvesting system in an apartment building in Sweden as part of the EU-Horizon 2020 REWAISE project, which aims to reduce drinking water consumption by 30%. The system was designed to produce potable-quality water from stormwater, with microplastic removal as one of the key treatment objectives.

2024 Lund University Publications (Lund University)
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in sediments of urban rainwater drainage system

Researchers found microplastics in all sediment samples from a university campus rainwater drainage system, with abundances ranging from 80 to 2,610 particles/kg and the highest concentrations in student living areas, suggesting that land use patterns and management practices influence microplastic accumulation in urban stormwater infrastructure.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Performance and Challenges of Low-Impact Development under Climate Change: A Bibliometric Review

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it is a bibliometric review of Low-Impact Development (LID) stormwater management strategies and their performance under climate change, with no substantive focus on microplastic pollution.

2023 Sustainability 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Stormwater Detention Reservoirs: An Opportunity for Monitoring and a Potential Site to Prevent the Spread of Urban Microplastics

This study investigated microplastic occurrence in a stormwater detention reservoir in the Alto-Tietê catchment in Brazil, finding that these infrastructure features trap and accumulate microplastics from urban runoff. Stormwater detention basins could potentially serve as intervention points to prevent microplastics from reaching natural water bodies.

2020 Water 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of bioretention cells in cities with a cold climate: modeling snow management based on a case study

This paper is not relevant to microplastics; it models the performance of bioretention cells (a green infrastructure technique) for managing stormwater runoff during snowmelt in a Canadian city.

2023 Blue-Green Systems 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of sustainable drainage strategies in urban water systems using urban water metabolism and multi-criteria decision analyses

This study simulated the performance of seven different urban drainage strategies — from conventional to sustainable systems — using urban water metabolism and multicriteria decision analysis. Sustainable drainage systems are relevant to microplastic management because they can reduce the volume of stormwater runoff that carries microplastics from roads and urban surfaces into waterways.

2023 Water Science & Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis of Micropollutants in Urban Water Run-off

This study investigates the quality of urban stormwater runoff, focusing on concentrations of micropollutants including heavy metals and microplastics. The research evaluates how runoff from urban surfaces contaminates both groundwater and surface water, and assesses current stormwater management strategies in cities.

2023 International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM ...
Article Tier 2

Neighborhood-Scale Urban Water Reclamation with Integrated Resource Recovery for Establishing Nexus City in Munich, Germany: Pipe Dream or Reality?

This study assessed the feasibility of neighborhood-scale water reclamation with integrated resource recovery — including energy and nutrients — in Munich, Germany. The analysis found that decentralized systems can recover more resources than centralized treatment plants and may be more resilient to future demands. Decentralized approaches also offer opportunities to reduce microplastic discharges through tailored treatment.

2022 Resources 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic pollution risks in bioretention systems: a case study

Researchers investigated plastic pollution in urban stormwater bioretention systems and found these green infrastructure features both accumulate microplastics from road runoff and risk leaching plastic particles into groundwater, raising concerns about their role as pollution pathways.

2022 Environmental Technology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Retention of microplastics and tyre wear particles in stormwater ponds

Researchers analyzed stormwater retention ponds to assess their effectiveness at capturing microplastics and tire wear particles from urban runoff. They found microplastics in all water samples and significantly higher concentrations in pond sediments, suggesting that the ponds do retain a portion of these pollutants. The study indicates that while stormwater ponds offer some mitigation, their long-term performance for trapping emerging contaminants like microplastics needs further evaluation.

2023 Water Research 57 citations
Article Tier 2

Stormwater microplastic polymer types, particle sizes, and impact of techniques

Researchers characterised microplastic size distribution, morphology, and polymer profiles in urban stormwater runoff across multiple storm events and assessed how different subsampling techniques affect estimated microplastic concentrations and polymer diversity. The study found that subsampling methodology significantly influences results, highlighting the need for standardised approaches to accurately quantify stormwater as a microplastic pathway into aquatic ecosystems.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Stormwater runoff microplastics: Polymer types, particle size, and factors controlling loading rates

Researchers characterized microplastics in stormwater runoff samples collected at urban outfall locations. The study identified 17 different polymer types across various storm events, with concentrations around 0.99 particles per liter for the 500-1000 micrometer size range, and found that rainfall intensity and land use were key factors controlling microplastic loading rates.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 17 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

New Model for Quantifying the Impact of the Social Economy on Water Resources’ Sustainability

This study models correlations between social economy indicators and water resource sustainability across EU27 countries, finding that environmental protection spending tends to cover ecological objectives even when exceeding budget allocations. The study is not related to microplastic research.

2024