Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Water Environment Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

An 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.

2025 Journal of Geography Environment and Earth Science International 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Water 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Groundwater in the age of plastic

This review examines microplastic contamination of groundwater globally, synthesizing studies on occurrence, transport pathways through soil and aquifer matrices, and the emerging implications for drinking water safety and groundwater ecosystem health.

2024
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Environmental Pollution 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in groundwater: Environmental fate and possible interactions with coexisting contaminants

This review looked at how microplastics end up in groundwater and what happens when they interact with other pollutants already present. Researchers found that microplastic contamination in groundwater varies widely around the world, with levels ranging from zero to nearly 7,000 particles per liter. The study highlights that microplastics can act as carriers for other harmful substances, potentially increasing their ability to spread through groundwater and pose risks to ecosystems and human health.

2025 Environmental Pollution 3 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 27 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

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.

2024 Environmental Pollutants and Bioavailability 59 citations
Review Tier 2

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.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 225 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Water 64 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastics in water systems: A review of their impacts on the environment and their potential hazards

This review examines how microplastics spread through seawater, freshwater, and wastewater systems, summarizing their abundance, distribution patterns, and the environmental factors that control their movement. The paper highlights that aging microplastics become more effective at absorbing other pollutants, which increases their potential hazard when they enter drinking water sources or are consumed by organisms in the food chain.

2023 Heliyon 308 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

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

Microplastics in water: occurrence, detection, and impacts – a comprehensive review of multiple studies

This comprehensive review synthesized current knowledge on microplastic occurrence, detection methods, and impacts across marine, freshwater, and remote aquatic ecosystems. Researchers highlighted that microplastic concentrations are particularly high in urban rivers, transported through runoff, atmospheric deposition, and river input. The review identifies critical research gaps including the need for standardized detection methods and more studies on chronic human exposure through contaminated seafood and drinking water.

2026 Water Practice & Technology
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Groundwater for Sustainable Development 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the Aquatic Environment: Occurrence, Persistence, Analysis, and Human Exposure

This review synthesizes global research on microplastic occurrence in aquatic environments, from rivers and lakes to wastewater and seafood, and examines how these particles eventually reach humans. Researchers found that microplastics are now ubiquitous in freshwater and marine systems, with trophic transfer and biomagnification serving as key routes of human exposure. The study highlights the need for standardized sampling and analysis methods to enable better comparison across studies and more accurate risk assessment.

2021 Water 104 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Water Bodies and in the Environment

This review examines microplastics and nanoplastics as emerging pollutants of concern in water bodies and broader environments, synthesizing current knowledge on their sources, distribution, detection methods, and ecological and human health implications. It discusses the challenges of monitoring these contaminants across freshwater, marine, and terrestrial systems given the diversity of particle types, sizes, and polymer compositions involved.

2022 Water 8 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Science Progress 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics influencing aquatic environment and human health: A review of source, determination, distribution, removal, degradation, management strategy and future perspective

This review paper provides a broad summary of microplastic pollution in water environments, covering where they come from, how to detect them, how they spread, and how to remove them. The authors emphasize that microplastics persist for extremely long periods in water and can harm both aquatic life and human health, calling for better management strategies worldwide.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 17 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Water Research 20 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastic contamination, an emerging threat to the freshwater environment: a systematic review

Researchers systematically reviewed the spread of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems — rivers, lakes, and streams — documenting their sources, how they move through water, the damage they cause to aquatic organisms, and the methods used to detect them. Their review serves as a baseline reference for future research and calls for improved waste management to protect freshwater environments from ongoing microplastic contamination.

2024 ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging microplastics in the environment: Properties, distributions, and impacts

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution, covering the most common types of plastics found in the environment, their physical characteristics, and how they are distributed across water, soil, and air. Researchers summarized the potential harmful effects of microplastics on ecosystems and living organisms. The study highlights significant knowledge gaps that still need to be addressed to fully understand the environmental and health risks of these tiny particles.

2022 Chemosphere 116 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic: Unveiling the Stealthy Polluters in Our Water

This review covers microplastic contamination in water sources, documenting sources, environmental pathways, analytical detection methods, and potential human health risks from drinking water containing plastic particles, along with emerging mitigation strategies.

2025 Personalia Pelajar
Article Tier 2

Global Insights into Micro- and Nanoplastic Pollution in Surface Water: A Review

This review analyzed 194 published studies on micro- and nanoplastic pollution across marine, freshwater, and wastewater systems worldwide. Researchers found that the distribution of these particles is influenced by their physical and chemical properties as well as environmental conditions. The study assessed current sampling, detection, and removal techniques while identifying ecological risks and potential toxic effects on living organisms through direct and indirect exposure.

2025 Hydrology 1 citations