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Presence of microplastics in drinking water from freshwater sources: the investigation in Changsha, China

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Abstract

We investigated the abundance of microplastics in freshwater, treated water, and household tap water from the drinking water supply chain in Changsha, China. The abundance was 2173–3998 (mean = 2753), 338–400 (mean = 351.9), and 267–404 (mean = 343.5) particles L−1 in freshwater, treated water, and tap water, respectively. Fibrous and fragments made up the majority (> 70%) in all water samples, and most polymers were composed of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate. Microplastics in tap water were related to materials of transportation pipelines in drinking-water supply chain. Although plastics are corrosion-resistant, the slight fragmentation and abrasion may occur during drinking water treatment transportation. This study provided a proof for the occurrence of microplastics in drinking water, which may offer a reference for microplastic removal during drinking water treatment, and the formulation of standards for microplastic content in drinking water.

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Funding

The study is financially supported by the Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A20323, 51521006, 51909090), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT-13R17), the Three Gorges Follow-up Research Project (2017HXXY-05), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (2019JJ50409).

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Author notes

  1. Maocai Shen and Zhuotong Zeng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University and Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha, 410082, People’s Republic of China

    Maocai Shen, Xiaofeng Wen, Xiaoya Ren, Guangming Zeng & Yaxin Zhang

  2. Department of Dermatology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, People’s Republic of China

    Zhuotong Zeng & Rong Xiao

Authors
  1. Maocai Shen
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  5. Guangming Zeng
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Correspondence to Guangming Zeng, Yaxin Zhang or Rong Xiao.

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Shen, M., Zeng, Z., Wen, X. et al. Presence of microplastics in drinking water from freshwater sources: the investigation in Changsha, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 42313–42324 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13769-x

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