College of Architecture and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, PR China; Yibin Institute of Industrial Technology, Sichuan University Yibin Park, Yibin, Sichuan 644000, PR China.
Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
J Hazard Mater. 2023 Oct 5;459:132206. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132206. Epub 2023 Aug 2.
Despite the significant attention given to microplastics in urban areas, our understanding of microplastics in rural drinking water systems is still limited. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the presence and pathways of microplastics in rural drinking water system, including reservoir, water treatment plant (WTP), and tap water of end-users. The results showed that the treatment processes in the WTP, including coagulation-sedimentation, sand-granular active carbon filtration, and ultrafiltration, completely removed microplastics from the influent. However, the microplastic abundance increased during pipe transport from WTP to residents' homes, resulting in the presence of 1.4 particles/L of microplastics in tap water. This microplastic increase was also observed during the transportation from the reservoir to the WTP, suggesting that the plastic pipe network is a key source of microplastics in the drinking water system. The main types of polymers were PET, PP, and PE, and plastic breakdown, atmospheric deposition, and surface runoff were considered as their potential sources. Furthermore, this study estimated that rural residents could ingest up to 1034 microplastics annually by drinking 2 L of tap water every day. Overall, these findings provide essential data and preliminary insights into the fate of microplastics in rural drinking water systems.
尽管人们对城市地区的微塑料给予了极大关注，但我们对农村饮用水系统中微塑料的了解仍然有限。为了填补这一知识空白，我们调查了农村饮用水系统中微塑料的存在和迁移途径，包括水库、水净化处理厂（WTP）和终端用户的自来水。结果表明，WTP 中的处理过程，包括混凝沉淀、砂粒活性炭过滤和超滤，可完全去除进水口的微塑料。然而，在从 WTP 到居民家中的管道输送过程中，微塑料丰度增加，导致自来水中存在 1.4 个/升的微塑料。在从水库到 WTP 的输送过程中也观察到了这种微塑料增加，这表明塑料管网是饮用水系统中微塑料的一个关键来源。主要的聚合物类型为 PET、PP 和 PE，而塑料破裂、大气沉积和地表径流被认为是它们的潜在来源。此外，本研究估计，农村居民每天饮用 2 升自来水，每年可能会摄入多达 1034 个微塑料。总的来说，这些发现为农村饮用水系统中微塑料的归宿提供了必要的数据和初步见解。
