Wastewater Discharge Transports Riverine Microplastics over Long Distances.
Environ Sci Technol
; 2024 Jul 30.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39079029
ABSTRACT
Wastewater discharge from wastewater treatment plants continuously pumps microplastics into rivers, yet their transport distances within these waterways remain unknown. Herein, we developed a conceptual framework by synthesizing the microplastic data from the Yangtze River Basin to evaluate its transport distances, quantifying a significant spatial dependence between large-scale wastewater discharge and riverine microplastics (p < 0.05). The presence of microplastics at a specific sampling site could be attributed to wastewater discharge within a large-scale range spanning >1000 km upstream, encompassing a substantial portion equivalent to one-third of the Yangtze River Basin. The dominance analysis indicated that the contribution of wastewater discharge in rivers with higher discharge (>100 m3/s) to riverine microplastic pollution exceeded 65% within the Yangtze River Basin. The spatial dependence framework of riverine microplastics on wastewater discharge advances our prior understanding of the prevention and control of riverine microplastics by demonstrating that such pollution is not limited to nearby environmental factors.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article