Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Wastewater Discharge Transports Riverine Microplastics over Long Distances

This study demonstrated that wastewater discharge transports riverine microplastics over long distances downstream, with treatment plant effluent contributing significantly to the total microplastic load in receiving rivers.

2024 Environmental Science & Technology 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in the German aquatic environment: Existence, interactions and research needs

This review examines microplastic pollution in German waterways and wastewater treatment plants, finding concentrations as high as 11,050 particles per liter in rivers. Fibers were the most common shape, and polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene were the dominant polymer types, mostly coming from municipal and industrial wastewater. The authors highlight that despite being Europe's largest economy, Germany has surprisingly limited research on this issue and call for standardized measurement methods.

2024 Environmental Engineering Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport processes of microplastic particles in the fluvial environment : erosion, transport and deposition

This thesis examines how microplastics are eroded, transported, and deposited in river systems, tracing their movement from land sources to the ocean. The research fills an important gap in understanding how rivers act as conduits for microplastic pollution and what processes determine where plastic particles accumulate in freshwater environments.

2020 RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Riverine microplastic contamination in southwest Germany: A large-scale survey

A large-scale survey of microplastic contamination across multiple rivers in southwest Germany found that contamination increased from headwaters to lowland sections and was elevated downstream of urban areas and wastewater treatment plant discharges. Fibers dominated in all rivers, and the study highlighted rivers as both pathways and temporary sinks for microplastics.

2022 Frontiers in Earth Science 40 citations
Article Tier 2

Global plastic export by rivers: large differences in trends between microplastics and macroplastics

A global analysis modeled river export of both micro- and macroplastics to the sea, finding large divergences in trends between the two size classes and highlighting that models focused solely on macroplastics significantly underestimate total riverine plastic inputs to the ocean.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems - influence of river runoff on microplastic concentrations

Researchers investigated microplastic pollution in the subsurface water of the River Tollense in Germany, measuring particle concentrations (above 20 µm) and correlating levels with hydrological parameters including discharge and flow velocity. They detected a mean transport of 648 particles per second at measured discharge rates, finding that river runoff characteristics significantly influenced microplastic export from the catchment.

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

First evidence of microplastics in a freshwater river and their relationship to water quality

Researchers measured microplastic concentrations in a freshwater river used for recreational purposes and found a significant relationship between microplastic abundance and water physicochemical quality parameters, along with the presence of three organic compounds, providing evidence that microplastic pollution and water quality are closely linked.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Article Tier 2

Understanding the spatio-temporal behaviour of riverine plastic transport and its significance for flux determination: insights from direct measurements in the Austrian Danube River

This study analyzed the spatio-temporal behavior of plastic transport in rivers, examining how flow conditions, catchment characteristics, and seasonal variation influence plastic flux and retention within river systems.

2024 Frontiers in Earth Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

The role of biofilm and hydrodynamics on the fate of microplastic particles in rivers: an experimental study

Researchers conducted experimental flume studies to investigate how biofilm formation and hydrodynamic conditions jointly govern microplastic particle fate in rivers, examining why some urbanized and industrialized river reaches show no significant upstream-to-downstream increase in microplastic concentration despite theoretical inputs.

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

How flooding rivers deliver plastic to the ocean: A case study of microplastic and mesoplastic load–discharge relationships

A field study tracked how a flooding river delivered plastic debris to the ocean, mapping the rapid transport of macroplastics and microplastics during a high-flow event. The research shows that floods are major episodic drivers of plastic export from land to sea, contributing disproportionately to ocean plastic budgets.

2025 Water Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Terenowe metody badania zanieczyszczenia rzek makroplastikiem

This paper reviews field methods for measuring macroplastic pollution in rivers, discussing their environmental impacts on living organisms and the aesthetic degradation of riparian landscapes, as well as the downstream connection to microplastic generation.

2024 Prace Geograficzne
Article Tier 2

River plastic transport and storage budget.

This global synthesis estimated the plastic transport and storage budget for rivers by measuring plastic in the water surface, water column, riverbanks, and floodplains — finding that far more plastic is stored within rivers than is transported to the ocean. The study challenges the assumption that rivers are primarily conduits and highlights them as major long-term plastic reservoirs.

2024 Water research
Article Tier 2

Rapid Assessment of Floating Macroplastic Transport in the Rhine

Researchers developed a rapid assessment methodology to quantify floating macroplastic transport in the Rhine River using visual counting from bridges combined with flow velocity data, demonstrating the feasibility of low-cost monitoring approaches for riverine plastic flux. The study contributes to better understanding of how rivers function as pathways delivering plastic pollution to the ocean.

2020 Frontiers in Marine Science 109 citations
Review Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of MP Pollution in Global Rivers: Distribution Patterns and Fluvial Transport Dynamics

A global review of microplastic pollution in river sediments found the highest concentrations in Africa and Asia, with wastewater treatment plants, industrial discharges, and urban runoff as the primary sources, and rivers transporting an estimated 70–80% of land-based plastic waste to the oceans. This synthesis underscores that rivers are critical intervention points for reducing the flow of microplastics into marine ecosystems.

2026 Water Environment Research
Article Tier 2

A numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition for fluvial systems

Researchers developed a numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in river systems, finding that rivers act as temporary sinks trapping significant fractions of MPs before they reach the ocean, with implications for estimating marine MP loading from terrestrial sources.

2025 Earth Surface Dynamics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Emission, Transport, and Deposition of visible Plastics in an Estuary and the Baltic Sea—a Monitoring and Modeling Approach

Researchers combined field monitoring and computer modeling to track how large micro- and mesoplastics (1–25 mm) travel from a German city through a river estuary and into the Baltic Sea, finding that estuaries and nearby beaches are major accumulation hotspots. The study shows that visible plastic particles are useful for modeling large-scale transport patterns, but cannot serve as reliable indicators for the far more abundant smaller microplastics below 1 mm.

2021 Environmental Management 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Identification and quantification of microplastic particles in drinking water treatment sludge as an integrative approach to determine microplastic abundance in a freshwater river

Researchers used drinking water treatment plant sludge as an integrative sampler to estimate microplastic abundance in a freshwater river over extended periods, capturing larger water volumes than conventional net or filtration methods. The approach improves representativeness of microplastic occurrence data in flowing water bodies.

2021 Environmental Pollution 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic transport in European river networks

Researchers estimated the average annual load of microplastics transported to seas and oceans from 125 European catchments by coupling a mass balance model with a graph-theory river network model incorporating wastewater treatment plant effluents, surface runoff, and combined sewer overflows.

2024
Article Tier 2

Relative contributions of different local sources to riverborne microplastic in a mixed landuse area within a tropical catchment

Researchers quantified the relative contributions of different land-use sources to riverborne microplastics in a tropical catchment, providing data to help prioritize pollution reduction measures for protecting human and ecological health.

2022 Environmental Research 23 citations
Article Tier 2

A Methodology for Measuring Microplastic Transport in Large or Medium Rivers

Researchers developed a net-based multi-depth sampling methodology for measuring microplastic transport across the full vertical profile of medium and large rivers, testing it in the Austrian Danube and revealing high heterogeneity in plastic concentrations within a single cross-section. The study demonstrates that surface-only measurements substantially underestimate total plastic transport in rivers due to turbulent mixing, density variation, and biofilm-driven settling.

2018 Water 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic particle emission from wastewater treatment plant effluents into river networks in Germany: Loads, spatial patterns of concentrations and potential toxicity

Researchers estimated annual microplastic particle emissions from wastewater treatment plants into Germany's ten major river basins and analyzed spatial concentration patterns across stream orders. The study found that while treatment plants are point sources of microplastic pollution, the spatial organization of facilities along river networks creates predictable downstream concentration patterns with potential ecological implications.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 129 citations
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