Journal Article

Microplastics from headwaters to tap water: occurrence and removal in a drinking water treatment plant in Barcelona Metropolitan area (Catalonia, NE Spain)

Ferrer, Núria, Ballesteros-Cano, Rubèn, Boleda, Mª Rosa, Lacorte, Silvia, Paraira, Miquel, Dalmau-Soler, Joan

2021

Overview

Nowadays, the presence of microplastics in drinking water is of concern worldwide due to potential impacts on human health. This paper has examined the presence of microplastics along the Llobregat river basin (Catalonia, Spain) and studied their behaviour and elimination along the drinking water treatment plant (DWTP). Due to different water composition, different sampling and sample preparation protocols were used to determine microplastics from river water and in the DWTP. Identification of microplastics of size range from 20 μm to 5 mm was performed by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Microplastics were detected in 5 out of 7 points along the Llobregat basin, with concentrations ranging between non-detected and 3.60 microplastics/L. In the intake of the DWTP, the mean concentration was 0.96 ± 0.46 microplastics/L ( n =5), with a predominance of polyester (PES) and polypropylene (PP) and at the outlet the mean concentration was of 0.06 ± 0.04 microplastics/L with an overall removal efficiency of 93 ± 5%. Sand filtration was identified as the key stage in microplastic removal (78 ± 9%). Furthermore, the results showed that ultrafiltration/reverse osmosis (advanced treatment) is more effective for microplastic removal than ozonation/carbon filtration stage (upgraded conventional treatment). In addition, a preliminary migration test of the different materials used in the DWTP has been performed to identify potential sources of microplastics in each treatment step.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Aquatic Pollution / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / basins / carbon / Drinking water / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Environmental science / Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy / Fourier transforms / Headwaters / human health / hydrochemistry / Infrared spectroscopy / Metropolitan areas / Microplastics / Outlets / Ozonation / Plastic debris / Plastic pollution / polyesters / Polypropylene / polypropylenes / Recent Developments and Innovative Strategies in Environmental Sciences in Europe / Reverse osmosis / River basins / river water / Rivers / Sample preparation / sand / Sand filters / Spain / tap water / Ultrafiltration / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollution Control / Water treatment / Water treatment plants / watersheds