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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Quantifying the Invisible - Micro- and Nanoplastics in the Urban Water Cycle
ClearMicroplastic Pollution in the Urban Water Cycle: A Comprehensive Review
This review of existing research found that tiny plastic particles called microplastics are widespread in urban water systems, including drinking water and bottled water, even after treatment at water facilities. While water treatment removes some microplastics, many still remain and could pose health risks to people who drink the water. The biggest problem is that scientists don't yet have consistent ways to measure these plastics or fully understand their long-term effects on human health.
Microplastic removal efficiency in a megacity water treatment plant and dynamics in the distribution system
This study tracked microplastics through a megacity drinking water treatment plant and urban distribution network, finding significant MP removal through treatment but detecting residual contamination in distributed water, raising public health concerns in rapidly growing urban areas.
Microplastics in urban water cycles: Looking for a more scientific approach for sampling and characterization in wastewater and drinking water treatment plants
Researchers monitored microplastics in urban water cycles across three drinking water plants and two wastewater treatment plants using a self-designed large-volume sampler that collected up to 1,000 liters per sample. Raw drinking water and wastewater contained 2 or more microplastic particles per liter, highlighting contamination across the urban water system.
Microplastic Pollution in Urban Water Systems, Environmental and Public Health Implications: A Narrative Review
This review found that microplastics are widespread in urban water systems including rivers, lakes, and water treatment plants, with single-use plastics and urban runoff as major sources. Current treatment methods do not fully remove these particles, meaning urban residents are exposed to microplastics through drinking water and food, with potential links to gut inflammation and hormonal disruption.
Sources, transport, measurement and impact of nano and microplastics in urban watersheds
This review examines what is known about nano and microplastic sources, transport pathways, transformations, and measurement challenges in urban watershed environments, identifying freshwater and terrestrial systems as critically underresearched compared to marine settings. The authors stress that most ocean plastic originates from land, making urban watershed research essential for source control.
Microplastics in Urban Runoff and Wastewater: Sources, Transport, and Advanced Removal Technologies
This research review found that tiny plastic particles called microplastics are getting into our water systems through city runoff and sewage, coming from sources like car tire wear, synthetic clothing, and construction materials. While water treatment plants can remove many of these plastic particles, large amounts still escape into rivers, lakes, and oceans where they can eventually make their way back to us through drinking water and food. Better treatment technology and coordinated city planning are needed to protect our water supply from this growing plastic pollution problem.
Microplastics in Urban Runoff and Wastewater: Sources, Transport, and Advanced Removal Technologies
This research review found that tiny plastic particles called microplastics are getting into our water systems through city runoff and sewage, coming from sources like car tire wear, synthetic clothing, and construction materials. While current water treatment plants can remove many of these plastic particles, a significant amount still escapes into rivers, lakes, and other water bodies that could eventually reach our drinking water. The study highlights that we need better water treatment technology and monitoring to protect our water supply from this growing plastic pollution problem.
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.
The urban microplastic footprint: investigating the distribution and transport
Researchers investigated the distribution and transport of microplastics within an urban environment, mapping the 'urban microplastic footprint' to understand how city infrastructure and land use patterns drive the spatial distribution and downstream export of plastic particles to receiving water bodies.
Micro- and nanoplastic pollution in urban influenced aquatic environments: Sources, pathways, and remediation strategies
This review examines the sources, transport pathways, and environmental fate of microplastics and nanoplastics in urban aquatic environments, finding that wastewater treatment plants remove only 40–95% of microplastics with much lower efficiency for nanoplastics, making them a persistent source of aquatic contamination.
Occurrence, Fate, and Treatment of Micro/Nano Plastics in Drinking Water Sources
This review examines the occurrence, fate, and treatment of micro- and nanoplastics in drinking water sources, covering how these particles enter water supplies and what treatment technologies exist to remove them. The authors note significant gaps in both detection methods and removal efficiency.
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.
Towards control strategies for microplastics in urban water
This paper applies substance flow analysis to map where microplastics enter, travel through, and accumulate in urban water systems to identify key control points. A systematic whole-system approach is needed because targeting individual sources in isolation has limited effect on overall pollution levels.
Silicon Nanomembrane Filtration and Imaging for the Evaluation of Microplastic Entrainment along a Municipal Water Delivery Route
This study filtered municipal drinking water samples from multiple points along Rochester's water delivery system and found microplastics at every stage including post-treatment. The findings confirm that conventional water treatment does not fully remove microplastics, meaning tap water is a potential route of human exposure.
A Review of Microplastic Pollution Characteristics in Global Urban Freshwater Catchments
This review synthesizes evidence on microplastic pollution characteristics in urban freshwater catchments worldwide, examining sources, concentrations, and transport pathways from terrestrial to marine environments. Researchers found that human activities are the fundamental driver of microplastic pollution and that freshwater catchments serve as critical conduits for microplastic transfer to oceans.
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.
Microplastics in the urban water cycle: A critical analysis of issues and of possible (needed?) solutions
This critical review examines microplastic contamination in urban water cycles, questioning whether the scientific evidence justifies the alarmist framing common in published studies while acknowledging that microplastic pollution is globally pervasive even in remote regions. The authors call for more rigorous causal evidence and standardized methods before drawing definitive conclusions about the health and environmental hazards of urban water-cycle microplastics.
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.
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.
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.
Microplastics in Water and Wastewater
This book covers the topic of microplastics in water and wastewater, addressing their sources, occurrence, fate, treatment, and regulatory context across the human water cycle. It provides a comprehensive reference for researchers and practitioners working on monitoring and reducing microplastic contamination in drinking water and wastewater systems.
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.
Differences of microplastics and nanoplastics in urban waters: Environmental behaviors, hazards, and removal
This review compares microplastics and nanoplastics in urban water systems, finding that nanoplastics are harder to remove but potentially more dangerous because their tiny size allows them to penetrate human tissue barriers more easily. The authors evaluate emerging technologies like advanced filtration and chemical oxidation that could help remove these particles from drinking water and wastewater.
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.