Happy New Year all! There has been a lot of interest in microplastics in water recently and it looks like this will be one this year’s hot research areas. They have the potential to be impactful on human health but a lot of science remains to be done. As is typical with new water contaminants, methods need to be developed, compared, and standardized before potential regulations and drinking water treatment technologies can be optimized or selected (if a risk is identified). A critical review on methods for sampling and detection of microplastics in water and sediment has just been published. See below for the abstract.

I will also add that it has been demonstrated that humans shed microplastics in stool so this is an additional pathway to the environment and drinking water. If you are interested I have a poster entitled “Assessment of Microplastic Concentrations in Human Stool: Final Results of a Perspective Study.”

Bill

Methods for sampling and detection of microplastics in water and sediment: A critical review

Joana Correia Prata, Jo~ao P. da Costa, Armando C. Duarte, Teresa Rocha-Santos

Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 110, January 2019, Pages 150-159

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165993618305247?via%3Dihub

ABSTRACT “Microplastics are widespread contaminants, virtually present in all environmental compartments. However, knowledge on sources, fate and environmental concentration over time and space still is limited due to the laborious and varied analytical procedures currently used. In this work we critically review the methods currently used for sampling and detection of microplastics, identifying flaws in study design and suggesting promising alternatives. This work provides insights on bulk sample collection, separation, digestion, identification and quantification, and mitigation of cross-contamination. The sampling of microplastics will improve in representativeness and reproducibility through the determination of bulk sample volume, filter’s pore size, density separation and digestion solutions, but also through use of novel methods, such as the enhancement of visual identification by staining dyes, and the generalized use of chemical characterization.”