Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Estimated discharge of microplastics via urban stormwater during individual rain events

Researchers collected stormwater samples from 15 locations during rain events to assess microplastic discharge through urban runoff. The study found highly variable microplastic concentrations influenced by catchment characteristics, and provided estimates of the quantity of microplastics released to receiving waters during rain events, highlighting urban stormwater as an important pathway for microplastic pollution.

2023 Frontiers in Environmental Science 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding the dynamics of microplastics transport in urban stormwater runoff: Implications for pollution control and management

Researchers modeled how microplastics travel through urban stormwater runoff into water bodies. They found that a microplastic's shape, size, and density strongly influence whether it settles or floats during transport, and that local factors like street slope and surface friction significantly affect how quickly particles reach storm drains. The findings could help cities design better stormwater management strategies to capture microplastics.

2024 Environmental Pollution 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Design of model microplastics to study their transport in urban waters

Researchers designed model microplastic particles with controlled physical properties to systematically study their transport behavior in urban water systems. The work provides a foundation for understanding how microplastic size, density, and shape influence fate and transport in stormwater and urban drainage networks.

2025 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
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

Urban stormwater characterization, control, and treatment

This review summarizes over 280 studies on the characterization, control, and treatment of urban stormwater runoff published in 2019, covering pollutant loads and management strategies. Stormwater runoff is a major pathway for transporting microplastics from roads and urban surfaces into rivers and coastal waters.

2020 Water Environment Research 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Global and local sensitivity analysis to improve the understanding of physically-based urban wash-off models from high-resolution laboratory experiments

A global and local sensitivity analysis was conducted on an urban stormwater runoff model to understand which parameters most influence how particles and pollutants are washed off city surfaces during rain events. Better stormwater models help quantify how microplastics from roads and urban surfaces reach waterways.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic emission characteristics of stormwater runoff in an urban area: Intra-event variability and influencing factors

Researchers found that stormwater runoff from both industrial and residential urban catchments contained substantial microplastics (54–639 particles per liter), with polypropylene and polyethylene dominating, and that microplastic concentrations peaked early in rain events following longer dry periods.

2023 7 citations
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
Article Tier 2

Quantifying microplastic stocks and flows in the urban agglomeration based on the mass balance model and source-pathway-receptor framework: Revealing the role of pollution sources, weather patterns, and environmental management practices

Researchers developed a mass balance model using a source-pathway-receptor framework to quantify microplastic stocks and flows in an urban agglomeration, revealing how pollution sources, weather patterns, and environmental management practices collectively determine the transport of microplastics to receiving water bodies.

2022 Water Research 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Dynamics of microplastics in urban rivers under varying hydrological regimes

Monitoring of urban rivers showed that microplastic concentrations fluctuate significantly with varying hydrological conditions such as storm events and seasonal flow changes. Understanding these dynamics is essential for accurately characterizing the river microplastic load and its variability over time.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic sampling strategies in urban drainage systems for quantification of urban emissions based on transport pathways

Researchers developed and applied microplastic sampling strategies across an entire urban municipal catchment under both dry and wet weather conditions, finding that wastewater treatment plants remove over 96% of microplastics but still emit 189 kg per year, while wet-weather emissions from high-traffic subcatchments reached 1,952 grams per population equivalent per year, far exceeding dry-weather levels.

2023 Applied Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Modelling Microplastic Transport in River Systems Using the SWAT Hydrological Model

Researchers developed a novel modelling approach using the SWAT hydrological model to simulate microplastic transport through river basin systems, integrating hydrological and physical plastic properties. The model provides a tool for understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of freshwater microplastic pollution to support mitigation planning.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences
Article Tier 2

Inter-event and intra-event dynamics of microplastic emissions in an urban river during rainfall episodes

Researchers conducted high-frequency sampling of microplastics in a Japanese urban river during three different rainfall events to understand how storms mobilize plastic pollution. They found that rainfall events increased microplastic loads by 4 to 110 times compared to dry weather, with smaller particles mobilizing first during lighter rains and larger particles surging after peak rainfall intensity. The study reveals that storm dynamics play a critical role in determining when and how microplastics are flushed from urban areas into waterways.

2023 Environmental Research 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in urban stormwater sediments and runoff: An essential component in the microplastic cycle

This review systematically analyzed microplastic contamination in urban stormwater runoff and sediments, finding concentrations that varied enormously across global studies. Researchers found that stormwater is a major but underappreciated pathway for delivering microplastics to rivers, lakes, and oceans. The study highlights that better stormwater management practices are needed to reduce this significant source of aquatic microplastic pollution.

2024 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Development and Calibration of a New Dripper-Based Rainfall Simulator for Large-Scale Sediment Wash-Off Studies

Researchers designed and calibrated a new rainfall simulator for large-scale experiments studying how rain washes pollutants from land surfaces into waterways. While not directly about microplastics, rainfall simulation tools are used in research on how plastic particles are transported from land to aquatic environments.

2020 Water 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic emission characteristics of stormwater runoff in an urban area: Intra-event variability and influencing factors

Researchers investigated microplastic emission characteristics in urban stormwater runoff from industrial and residential catchments. Microplastics were detected in concentrations of 54 to 639 particles per liter, with polypropylene and polyethylene being the dominant polymers and fragments the most common shape, and concentrations were higher after longer dry periods.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 109 citations
Article Tier 2

From headwaters to receiving waters: river dynamics in an increasingly urban world

This paper is not about microplastics; it synthesizes research on river dynamics from headwaters to receiving waters in urban environments, covering hydrological, ecological, and restoration topics.

2023
Article Tier 2

The influence of flow on the amount, retention and loss of plastic pollution in an urban river

Researchers sampled both microplastics and macroplastics at four sites along an urban river in Ontario, Canada during normal flow and storm conditions. The study found that storm events significantly influence plastic transport dynamics, with flow conditions affecting how much plastic pollution is retained in or flushed through urban river systems toward downstream water bodies.

2025 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and microfibers in urban runoff from a suburban catchment of Greater Paris

Researchers collected stormwater runoff samples from a suburban catchment in Greater Paris across multiple rain events and found significant concentrations of microplastics and microfibers, with concentrations varying substantially between events and correlating with rainfall intensity and catchment dry-weather duration.

2021 Environmental Pollution 120 citations
Article Tier 2

Hydro-environmental effects of microplastic dynamics and distribution in Ganga River basin system: An urban impact analysis

A modeling study examined the hydro-environmental dynamics of microplastic distribution in a water body, simulating how physical processes govern particle movement and accumulation. Hydrodynamic models for microplastics improve our ability to predict contamination hotspots and guide monitoring efforts.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Urban Stormwater Runoff: A Major Pathway for Anthropogenic Particles, Black Rubbery Fragments, and Other Types of Microplastics to Urban Receiving Waters

Researchers quantified microplastics in urban stormwater runoff from 12 watersheds surrounding San Francisco Bay and found concentrations ranging from 1.1 to 24.6 particles per liter, much higher than typical wastewater treatment plant effluent. The study suggests that stormwater runoff is a major and underappreciated pathway for microplastics and other anthropogenic particles to enter urban waterways.

2021 ACS ES&T Water 312 citations
Article Tier 2

Simulating microplastics temporal dynamics, driving mechanisms and giving insights on sources

Researchers developed a watershed-scale model to simulate temporal dynamics of microplastic concentrations across air, soil, and water compartments, incorporating land use, hydrology, and seasonal variation. The model reproduced observed patterns in a French river catchment and identified agricultural soils as the dominant terrestrial source to receiving waters.

2025
Article Tier 2

Characterizing microplastics in urban runoff: A multi-land use assessment with a focus on 1–125 μm size particles

Researchers collected stormwater runoff from three different urban land use types and found microplastics present across all sites, with significant variation in polymer types depending on the area. By using multiple detection techniques, they were able to identify particles as small as 1 micrometer, revealing that the smallest size fractions dominated the total count. The study emphasizes that urban runoff is a major pathway for microplastic pollution reaching waterways.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in urban runoff: Global occurrence and fate

This review examines global microplastic occurrence in urban runoff, finding concentrations up to 8,580 particles per liter, and highlights critical gaps in understanding microplastic mobilization, transport, and flux from urban environments to waterways.

2022 Water Research 187 citations