Environmental Assessment and Technology for Hazardous Waste Management Research Center, Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, 90112, Thailand.
Environment and Climate Study Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Lalitpur, Nepal.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Jun;29(26):39928-39936. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-18301-9. Epub 2022 Feb 3.
Microplastics are man-made pollutants which have been detected in surface water and groundwater. Research on microplastic concentration in aquatic environment is attracting scientists from developing countries, but in Nepal no information regarding microplastic in freshwater system is available. Therefore, this study investigates the presence and abundance of microplastic in lake surface water of Phewa Lake, the second largest lake in Nepal. The average concentration of microplastic for surface water was 2.96 ± 1.83 particles/L in winter (dry) season and 1.51 ± 0.62 particles/L in rainy (wet) season. Significant difference with t = 4.687 (p < 0.01) in microplastic concentration was observed in two different seasons. Fibers (93.04% for winter and 96.69% for rainy season) were the commonly found microplastic type in lake water and transparent as the dominant color for the two seasons. Almost all the detected microplastic were found to be < 1 mm in size. Due to the small size of microplastic and unavailability of micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μ-FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy in Nepal, polymer identification was not done. The findings from this study can provide a valuable baseline data on microplastics for the first time in Nepal's freshwater lake environment.
微塑料是人为污染物，已在地表水和地下水中检测到。关于水生环境中微塑料浓度的研究吸引了来自发展中国家的科学家，但尼泊尔没有关于淡水系统中微塑料的信息。因此，本研究调查了尼泊尔第二大湖泊费瓦湖湖水表面微塑料的存在和丰度。冬季（旱季）微塑料的平均浓度为 2.96 ± 1.83 个/升，雨季（湿季）为 1.51 ± 0.62 个/升。两个季节的微塑料浓度差异显著，t=4.687（p<0.01）。在湖水中发现的常见微塑料类型是纤维（冬季为 93.04%，雨季为 96.69%），两种季节的主要颜色都是透明。几乎所有检测到的微塑料尺寸都小于 1 毫米。由于尼泊尔缺乏微傅里叶变换红外光谱（μ-FTIR）和拉曼光谱等小型微塑料的检测手段，无法进行聚合物鉴定。本研究的结果首次为尼泊尔淡水湖泊环境提供了微塑料的宝贵基线数据。
