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Influence of COVID-19 on Microplastics Pollution in Coastal Water and Sediment of Chennai, India

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Advances in Construction Management

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering ((LNCE,volume 191))

Abstract

Event of microplastics (plastic garbage < 5 mm) along the coast is a developing concern around the world, because of the expanded contribution of disposed of squanders from different sources. Around 400 million tons of plastic are produced per year worldwide, out of which only 18% is recycled that has led to its poor disposal practices. The significance of my work is to analyze mainly the positive impacts due to lockdown during COVID-19. The discharged plastics remain in the environment for several 100 years either in their original or fragmented form. The fragmentation of particles is caused by several factors like wind currents, wave currents, abrasions, exposure to sunlight, etc. The study of the distribution of microplastics in time and space, as well as their distribution on parameters, such as polymer type, size, shape, in different coastal environmental all over the world, is the need of the hour. This study describes a framework to assess the presence and distribution of microplastics in marine water and sediments of Adyar and Cooum Estuary along the Chennai coast. Ten sampling sites from each estuary were selected from which surface water and sediments were collected. The samples were carried over to the laboratory for analyzing the presence of microplastic content, and also basic seawater quality parameters were analyzed in the Environmental Engineering Department laboratory. The study investigated the presence and distribution of microplastics before and during COVID-19. The presence and distribution study of microplastics in coastal waters and sediments were carried out by means of FTIR and XRD spectroscopy methods. From this analysis, microplastics occur in both estuaries and there is a significant reduction in Microplastic content in both estuaries because of continuous lockdown due to COVID-19. From FTIR analysis, it was found that the concentration of Polyethylene(PE) and Polypropylene (PP) was higher than the other types of polymer in both the locations and both the times (August 2019 and 2020). And from XRD analysis, black residues were found on most of the microplastics surfaces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu, 603203, Tamilnadu, India

    S. Ramesh & R. Nagalakshmi

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  1. S. Ramesh
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  2. R. Nagalakshmi
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Correspondence to S. Ramesh .

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  1. IIC University of Technology, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

    Lee Yee Loon

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab, India

    Muthulingam Subramaniyan

  3. SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    K. Gunasekaran

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Ramesh, S., Nagalakshmi, R. (2022). Influence of COVID-19 on Microplastics Pollution in Coastal Water and Sediment of Chennai, India. In: Loon, L.Y., Subramaniyan, M., Gunasekaran, K. (eds) Advances in Construction Management. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 191. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5839-6_47

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5839-6_47

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