Water or sediment? Assessing seasonal microplastic accumulation from wastewater treatment works

Author:

Dalu Tatenda12ORCID,Ngomane Nelisiwe1,Dondofema Farai3ORCID,Cuthbert Ross N.4ORCID

Affiliation:

1. a Aquatic Systems Research Group, School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Nelspruit 1200, South Africa

2. b Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa

3. c Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa

4. d Institute for Global Food Security and School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK

Abstract

AbstractMicroplastics have become a major environmental concern around the world due to their potential impact on ecosystem functioning and biota. Microplastics enter freshwater systems through a variety of sources, with wastewater treatment work discharges being the most important source. The study aimed to determine the seasonal (i.e., hot–wet, cool–dry) variation in water and sediment microplastic abundances up- and down-stream of wastewater treatment works across two subtropical river systems (i.e., Crocodile and Luvuvhu) in South Africa. Overall, we found that microplastic type and distribution often did not show clear seasonal and site differences in water, hence microplastics were widespread across the studied systems and microplastic concentrations did not relate clearly to wastewater treatment works. This was further indicated by microplastic risk assessments which showed high pollution loads upstream. However, there were significant differences in sediment microplastic loads across seasons, indicating a source-sink effect towards the hot-wet season. The non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination based on microplastic densities for water and sediment discriminated slightly among systems, with major overlaps across the different locations and seasons. As a result, the current research indicates that seasonal context influences differences in microplastic concentrations, with the hot–wet season being associated with the high pollution loads, particularly within the sediments where this was more pronounced indicating the sink-source effect which is linked to sediments and not water.

Funder

National Research Foundation

South African Forestry Company Limited

Publisher

IWA Publishing

Subject

Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Water Science and Technology

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