Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Drinking Water

This review examines published evidence on microplastic presence in tap water, bottled water, and drinking water treatment plants, summarizing known pathways by which microplastics enter drinking water supplies and discussing potential human health impacts and future research priorities.

2025
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and Source of Microplastics Contamination in Drinking Water and Performance of Water Treatment Plants in Removing Microplastics

This review summarizes evidence that microplastics are present in both tap water and bottled water worldwide, with bottled water frequently contaminated by particles shed from the plastic packaging itself. Conventional water treatment plants remove between 40% and 93% of microplastics but cannot eliminate them entirely, meaning treated drinking water still carries measurable plastic loads. The chapter highlights the irony that plastic packaging intended to deliver clean water is itself a major source of microplastic contamination.

2023
Article Tier 2

Prevalence and implications of microplastics in potable water system: An update

This review summarizes current knowledge on microplastic contamination in drinking water systems worldwide, covering sources, detection methods, and potential health implications. Researchers found that microplastics are present in both tap and bottled water, with fibers and fragments being the most common types detected. The study highlights the need for standardized testing methods and regulatory limits to protect public health from microplastic exposure through drinking water.

2023 Chemosphere 47 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastics in water, from treatment process to drinking water: analytical methods and potential health effects

This systematic review examines how microplastics travel through the water treatment process from raw water sources to your tap and bottled water. The researchers present methods for detecting these particles and assess potential health impacts of drinking microplastic-contaminated water. The findings suggest that current water treatment may not fully remove microplastics, meaning ongoing low-level exposure through drinking water is likely.

2022 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 13 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination in Drinking Water: A Review

This review summarized current research on microplastic contamination in drinking water, covering detection methods, occurrence data, and health implications. The authors found microplastics widely present in tap and bottled water worldwide and noted that conventional treatment processes remove them incompletely, raising ongoing concerns about chronic low-level human ingestion.

2025 Journal of Health Science and Pharmacy
Article Tier 2

Analytical Review of Microplastics Occurrence in Bottled Water, Tap Water, and Wastewater Treatment Plants

This review analyzes microplastic contamination across bottled water, tap water, and wastewater treatment plants using data from studies worldwide. Researchers found that microplastic levels in drinking water are closely tied to the water source and that packaging type significantly influences contamination, with glass bottles recommended over plastic. The study emphasizes the need for improved water treatment technologies and greater public awareness about microplastic exposure through drinking water.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Ubiquity of Microplastics in Drinking Water: An Update on Its Assessment and Impact

This review documents the widespread presence of microplastics in drinking water worldwide — including both tap and bottled water — and examines the potential health impacts of ingesting these particles. Current evidence shows microplastics are present in essentially all drinking water supplies at levels that cause concern, though the long-term health effects remain under investigation. The review calls for improved water treatment and reduced plastic use as parallel strategies to address the problem.

2021 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Drinking Water: Assessing Occurrence and Potential Risks

This review paper examines how widespread microplastics are in drinking water — from rivers and lakes to groundwater — and what health risks this contamination may pose. The authors call for urgent research into how microplastics move through water treatment systems and ultimately reach taps, emphasizing that current sampling and analytical methods are inconsistent, making it hard to compare studies or set safety thresholds. For people drinking tap or bottled water daily, understanding and regulating this exposure pathway is a pressing public health priority.

2023 Journal for Research in Applied Sciences and Biotechnology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in drinking water distribution systems: Occurrence, environmental behavior, and human health concerns

This review examines how microplastics move through drinking water distribution systems, from treatment plants all the way to household taps. Despite treatment efforts, microplastics persist in the water supply, with plastic pipes and fittings themselves contributing additional contamination. The tiny particles also serve as carriers for harmful bacteria and other pollutants, compounding the health risks of microplastic-contaminated drinking water.

2025 Environmental Pollution 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Drinking Water: A Review of Sources, Removal, Detection, Occurrence, and Potential Risks

This review examines how microplastics enter drinking water supply systems, evaluates methods for their detection and removal, and summarizes what is known about their occurrence in treated water. Researchers found that while conventional water treatment removes a significant portion of microplastics, no current method eliminates them completely. The study highlights the need for improved monitoring standards and further research into the long-term health effects of ingesting microplastics through drinking water.

2025 Toxics 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Drinking Water:Current Knowledge, Quality Assuranceand Future Directions

This review synthesizes current knowledge on microplastics in drinking water, covering their occurrence in source waters, behavior during treatment processes, and potential health implications. Researchers found that while drinking water treatment plants remove a portion of microplastics, standardized quality assurance methods are still lacking. The study calls for improved monitoring protocols and treatment technologies to better address microplastic contamination in tap water.

2024 Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics throughout a tap water supply network

Researchers evaluated microplastic presence throughout a large tap water distribution network, detecting microplastics at multiple points from treatment plant to consumer taps and finding that concentrations increased along the distribution system, suggesting the pipe network itself as a contamination source.

2021 Water and Environment Journal 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in drinking water

This review examines what is known about microplastic contamination in both tap and bottled drinking water around the world. Researchers found that while microplastics have been detected in drinking water at many locations, the reported concentrations vary enormously, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about relative risk. The study highlights the urgent need for standardized sampling and analysis methods to produce reliable and comparable data on microplastics in the water we drink.

2021 Current Opinion in Toxicology 117 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and nanoplastics contamination in raw and treated water

Researchers analyzed 189 samples of raw, tap, and bottled drinking water for micro- and nanoplastic contamination. They found plastic particles in every sample tested, with raw water sources containing the highest concentrations and treated tap water containing the lowest, though contamination was never fully eliminated. The study suggests that current water treatment processes reduce but do not completely remove plastic particles from drinking water.

2023 Water Science & Technology Water Supply 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics hack the water supply system: What it means for water safety and human health?

This review traced microplastics through the entire water supply chain, from source water to the tap, and found that daily human intake through drinking water is rapidly increasing. The study suggests that water treatment infrastructure, including disinfection chemicals and aging pipes, can actually transform microplastics in ways that increase their health risks.

2025 Water Research 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Tracking Microplastics Contamination in Drinking Water Supply Chain in Haikou, China: From Source to Household Taps

Researchers tracked microplastic contamination throughout the entire drinking water supply chain in Haikou, China, from source water to household taps. They found that while water treatment reduced some microplastic content, treated water actually showed higher concentrations than raw water, suggesting contamination during the treatment process itself. The study provides a health risk assessment indicating that microplastic exposure through tap water warrants continued monitoring.

2024 Toxics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in drinking water: a macro issue

This review examines the growing concern of microplastic contamination in drinking water sources, noting that microplastics are found not only in oceans but also in freshwater and tap water. The study highlights that beyond direct harm, microplastics can act as carriers for other contaminants, making their presence in drinking water a significant issue for human health.

2022 Water Science & Technology Water Supply 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic removal across ten drinking water treatment facilities and distribution systems

Researchers characterized microplastic removal across ten drinking water treatment facilities and found that conventional municipal treatment achieved greater than 97.5% removal, primarily through granular media filtration or ultrafiltration. Untreated source waters contained between approximately 1,200 and 7,200 microplastic particles per liter, with polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyamide being the most common types. The findings provide valuable data on microplastic exposure through drinking water and the effectiveness of existing treatment processes.

2025 npj Clean Water 1 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastics contamination in water supply system and treatment processes

This systematic review found that microplastics are frequently detected in drinking and bottled water despite current treatment technologies, and that no existing method can completely remove them. Integrating advanced treatment approaches with life-cycle assessment and machine learning is needed to address this pervasive contamination of water supply systems.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of microplastics via drinking water treatment: Current knowledge and future directions

This review examines what is currently known about microplastics in drinking water systems and how well existing water treatment processes remove them. Researchers found that while conventional treatment steps like coagulation and filtration do reduce microplastic levels, significant amounts can still persist through to tap water. The study calls for more research into optimizing treatment processes and developing monitoring strategies specifically targeting microplastic contamination in drinking water.

2020 Chemosphere 386 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics (mps) in Drinking Water: Uses, Sources and Transport

This paper reviews the sources, transport pathways, and health hazards of microplastic particles in drinking water, noting that MPs enter freshwater systems through wastewater effluent, stormwater runoff, degraded plastic waste, atmospheric deposition, and industrial discharge. The study provides accessible background on analytical detection methods and underscores that microplastics in tap and bottled water represent a direct, daily human exposure route.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Transportation in a Typical Drinking Water Supply: From Raw Water to Household Water

Researchers tracked microplastics through an entire drinking water system, from the source water to household taps, and found that treatment plants actually increased microplastic counts rather than removing them. The treated water contained 12 to 25 particles per liter, with most being tiny fragments under 100 micrometers made of common plastics like PET and PVC. This suggests that current water treatment infrastructure may be shedding microplastics from its own pipes and filters into the water people drink.

2024 Water 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Tracking microplastics in a drinking water supply system proximity to industrial facilities: Occurrence, source identification, and risk assessment

Researchers comprehensively investigated microplastic occurrence, sources, and health risks in a drinking water supply system near industrial facilities, finding that a granular activated carbon filter removed 93.39% of microplastics at the treatment plant. However, microplastic abundance increased during distribution, highlighting post-treatment contamination as a critical but underappreciated exposure pathway.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in drinking water. Efficiency of treatment and distribution of a drinking water cycle

Researchers tracked microplastics through an entire drinking water cycle — from reservoir to treatment plant to distribution network — and found that conventional treatment removed about 92% of microplastics, but particle counts rose again in storage tanks and pipes, likely from material wear. The study highlights that even effective treatment plants can be undermined by the distribution infrastructure downstream.

2025 Cleaner Engineering and Technology 6 citations