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. 2020 Aug:252:126493.
doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126493. Epub 2020 Mar 13.

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in tap water from China

Huiyan Tong  1 , Qianyi Jiang  2 , Xingshuai Hu  2 , Xiaocong Zhong  2
Affiliations

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in tap water from China

Huiyan Tong et al. Chemosphere. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Microplastics as new emerging pollutants in aquatic environments have received much attention in recent years. However, up to now, microplastic contamination in tap water has only been investigated by few studies. Therefore, this study investigated the presence of microplastics in tap water. 38 tap water samples were taken at different cities of China. The amount of microplastics in tap water varied from 440 ± 275 particles L-1. Particles smaller than 50 μm significantly predominated in most of the tap water samples. Further, according to the shape of these particles, fragments, fibers and spheres were found in tap water samples, while fragments were the most abundant morphotype in most samples. Despite these particles were identified as 14 different materials by micro-Raman spectroscopy, the majority of the microplastics comprised of polyethylene and polypropylene. Based on this investigation, drinking water treatment plants seemingly have to face the problem of microplastic pollution in tap water due to their potential eco-toxicological effects on humans.

Keywords: Human health; Micro-Raman spectroscopy; Microplastics; Plastic pollution; Tap water.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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