Pollution status of microplastics in the freshwater environment of China: a mini review

Abstract

In the last few years, the pollution of microplastics in freshwater environments such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs has aroused widespread concerns. In this review, rich and appropriate data on microplastics, in the freshwater ecosystem of China, was collected. Following this microplastics in surface waters, sediments, and biota, of the freshwater system, were thoroughly analyzed. The results show that microplastics are widespread in the freshwater environment of China. At the same time, the abundance of microplastics is positively correlated with both intensive human activities and urbanization. The risk index of microplastics is relatively high in the water of Yellow River (654 items/L), Yangtze River (9.20 × 105 items/km2), and Pearl River regions (7571 items/m3). The prevalent shapes of microplastics, in water and sediments, are fragments and fibers. Moreover, the particle size of microplastics is mainly less than 2 mm. In fact, PP and PE are found to be the main polymer types in the freshwater environment of China. Bivalves and freshwater fish are the main research objects of microplastics pollution in China. In parallel to that, the abundance of microplastics, in each aquatic organism, varied from a few to a dozen. Additionally, the characteristics of microplastics in organisms are mainly fibers smaller than 1 mm. Fundamentally, the key two sources of microplastics, in the freshwater environment of China, are wastewater discharge and surface runoff. It is noteworthy that microplastics, in a freshwater environment, does not only cause environmental pollution but harms aquatic organisms, too. Finally, microplastics can reach the human body, through the food chain, causing potential health issues.

The determination of microplastic contamination in freshwater environments using sampling methods – A case study

“…The sludge sample of a secondary wastewater treatment plant contained the most fibres of 1,000-2,000 μm (Vardar et al, 2021). The MPs in the water column and sediments of freshwaters in China were dominated by fibres of 500-5000 μm (Zhao et al, 2022). The size of the predominant The results of a previous study indicated the dominance of conventional plastic polymers in freshwater environments in Poland (Kaliszewicz et al, 2020).…”

Evaluating the interaction of plant communities with microplastics found in water and soil sediments of Lake Victoria

“…In the world's major freshwater lakes, microplastic pollution varies across countries and regions, depending on many factors among them, the location, local development level and economic structure [23]. In China, microplastics are widespread in the freshwater environment, with high abundance in the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Pearl River regions [24], [25]. Lake Ulansuhai in the Yellow River basin of northern China has been found to have microplastic concentrations ranging from 1760 to 10,120 n/m 3 , with colored particles and bers being the most abundant [26].…”

Microplastic-Induced Oxidative Stress in Metolachlor-Degrading Filamentous Fungus Trichoderma harzianum

“…Urban-Malinga et al examined 12 beaches on the Polish coast (southern Baltic) and found that the average MP concentrations ranged from 76 to 295 elements per kg dry sediments [ 20 ]. Some reviews have shown the presence of MPs on surface and groundwater, while only limited studies have been conducted on the content of MPs in terrestrial systems, where significant amounts of MPs are accumulated in soil due to the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Plastic mulching and littering are other sources of MPs in soil [ 25 , 26 ].…”