Microplastic Vulnerability in the Sediments of the Sabarmati River of India

Patel, Arbind Kumar; Bhagat, Chandrasekhar; Taki, Kaling; Kumar, Manish

doi:10.1007/978-981-15-4668-6_7

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Microplastics research in India has skewed chiefly towards the coasts (Veerasingam et al 2020;Amrutha et al 2021), and terrestrial water bodies have received less attention. However, a few studies on microplastic pollution in riverine sediments from Indian rivers exist (Sarkar et al 2019;Amrutha and Warrier 2020;Patel et al 2020;Ram and Kumar 2020;Chauhan et al 2021;Singh et al 2021;and Tsering et al 2021, Table 1). Besides, there is little knowledge on the behaviour of MPs with sedimentary and organic properties in these river systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern India

Amrutha

Shajikumar

Warrier

et al. 2022

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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There is very little knowledge on microplastic pollution in the Western Ghats (WG), a heritage site in southwest India. To address this, we have studied the spatiotemporal variations of sedimentary microplastics (MPs) from the River Sharavathi, a pristine river in the Western Ghats (WG), southern India. The rich biodiversity in the region makes it relevant to analyse the distribution of this emerging pollutant that is causing harm to the biota and the ecosystem. We analysed the sedimentological and carbon content (organic and inorganic) of these sediments and explored their relationship with MPs. Finally, risk assessment indices such as the Pollution Load Index (PLI), the Polymer Hazard Index (PHI), and the Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) were calculated to detect the levels of plastic pollution. The concentration of MPs ranged from 2.5 to 57.5 pieces/kg and 0 to 15 pieces/kg during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. The dip in the MPs’ abundance during the post-monsoon season was due to the extremely high rainfall in the river basin during July–August 2019, which would have entrained the sedimentary MPs and transported them to the coast/Arabian Sea. Smaller MPs (0.3–1 mm) were more abundant than the larger MPs (1–5 mm), mainly due to the breakdown of sedimentary plastics by physical processes. Fragments, films, foams, and fibres were the main categories of MPs, and the main polymers were polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polypropylene. No significant relationship was observed between the sedimentological properties and microplastics, which may be due to the different physical properties of sediments and microplastics. The PLI, PHI, and PERI indices suggest different contamination levels in the river basin. Based on the PLI scores, all the samples belong to the hazardous level I suggesting minor risk category, and the risk of microplastic pollution falls under the high to hazardous risk category based on the PHI values. The PERI value ranged from 160 to 440 and 40 to 2240 during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. The risk assessment in a region known for its rich biodiversity is crucial, as the data can be used by the district administration to mitigate plastic pollution.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern India

Amrutha

Shajikumar

Warrier

et al. 2022

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…MPs have been present in the environment for many years; there is no doubt in this fact. They are distributed across the aquatic systems, land surface, inside biological organisms, human consumables and even in the air (Zbyszewski and Corcoran 2011 ; Klein et al 2015 ; Prata 2018 ; Rezania et al 2018 ; Waring et al 2018 ; Barletta et al 2019 ; Patel et al 2020 ). The huge demand of plastic products owes to this widespread prevalence of MPs in the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics as contaminants in Indian environment: a review

Vaid

Mehra

Gupta

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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The increased production and consumption scale of plastic items has led to the generation of microplastics (MPs), an emerging class of contaminants, in our environment. MPs are plastic particles less than 5 mm in size and could originate due to primary and secondary sources. The primary ones are generated as such in the MP size range while the secondary MPs are a result of fragmentation of larger plastic particles which eventually enters the aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric environments. The increasing concern of MP pollution in every compartment of our environment is being globally explored, with relatively fewer studies in India. Among the total studies published on MP prevalence in the Indian environments, marine systems have received significantly higher attention compared to the other compartments like freshwater, atmosphere, terrestrial and human consumables. This review article is an effort to present current understanding of MP pollution in aquatic systems, terrestrial systems, atmosphere and human consumables of India by reviewing available scientific literature. Along with this, the review also focuses on identification of the gap areas in current knowledge and highlights way forward for future research. This would further help in meeting the goals of this emergent pollutant management.

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Seasonal variation, spatial distribution and risk assessment of microplastics in surface waters of Periyar River, Kerala, India

Mukhopadhyay,

Valsalan

2024

Environ Monit Assess

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Microplastic Vulnerability in the Sediments of the Sabarmati River of India

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern India

Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern India

Microplastics as contaminants in Indian environment: a review

Seasonal variation, spatial distribution and risk assessment of microplastics in surface waters of Periyar River, Kerala, India

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