Mountains to the sea: River study of plastic and non-plastic microfiber pollution in the northeast USA

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Volumn 124, Issue 1, 2017, Pages 245-251

  Miller, Rachael Z ^a   Watts, Andrew J R ^b   Winslow, Brooke O ^a   Galloway, Tamara S ^b   Barrows, Abigail P W ^c,d  

^a Rozalia Project   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   (United Kingdom)

^c Forest Specialist Adventure Scientists Bozeman   (United States)

^d College of the Atlantic ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

Freshwater systems; Microfibers; Microplastic; Plastic; River pollution; WWTP

Indexed keywords

PLASTICS; POPULATION STATISTICS; RIVERS; WASTEWATER TREATMENT;

ANTHROPOGENIC CONTAMINATION; AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS; FRESHWATER SYSTEMS; MICROFIBERS; MICROPLASTIC; POPULATION DENSITIES; WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS; WWTP;

RIVER POLLUTION;

ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCE; FILTER; FRESHWATER ENVIRONMENT; FTIR SPECTROSCOPY; PLASTIC FLOW; POLLUTANT TRANSPORT; RIVER POLLUTION; WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT;

ARTICLE; CONCENTRATION (PARAMETERS); ENVIRONMENT; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; HYDROGRAPHY; INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY; MOUNTAIN; POPULATION ABUNDANCE; POPULATION DENSITY; SEA POLLUTION; UNITED STATES; WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT; WATER ANALYSIS; WATERSHED; ANALYSIS; ATLANTIC OCEAN; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; NEW YORK; RIVER; TEXTILE; WASTE WATER; WATER POLLUTANT;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; HUDSON RIVER; UNITED STATES;

PLASTIC;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; NEW ENGLAND; NEW YORK; PLASTICS; RIVERS; TEXTILES; WASTE WATER; WATER POLLUTANTS, CHEMICAL;

EID: 85025158311     PISSN: 0025326X     EISSN: 18793363     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.07.028     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Andrady, A.L., Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 62 (2011), 1596–1605.
2. Arthur, C., Baker, J., Bamford, H., Proceedings of the International Research Workshop on the Occurrence, Effects and Fate of Microplastic Marine Debris. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS-OR & R-30, 2009, NOAA, Silver Spring, 530.
3. Au, S.Y., Bruce, T.F., Bridges, W.C., Klaine, S.J., Responses of Hyalella azteca to acute and chronic microplastic exposures. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 34:11 (2015), 2564–2572.
4. Bagaev, A., Mizyuk, A., Khatmullina, L., Isachenko, I., Chubarenko, I., Anthropogenic fibres in the Baltic Sea water column: field data, laboratory and numerical testing of their motion. Sci. Total Environ. 599–600 (2017), 560–571.
5. Baldwin, A.K., Corsi, S.R., Mason, S.A., Plastic debris in 29 Great Lakes tributaries: relations to watershed attributes and hydrology. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50 (2016), 10377–10385.
6. Barrows, A.P.W., Neumann, C.A., Berger, M.L., Shaw, S.D., Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Anal. Methods 9 (2017), 1446–1453.
7. Browne, M.A., Crump, P., Niven, S.J., Teuten, E., Tonkin, A., Galloway, T., Thompson, R., Accumulation of microplastic on shorelines worldwide: sources and sinks. Environ. Sci. Technol. 45 (2011), 9175–9179.
8. Carr, S.A., Sources and dispersive modes of micro-fibers in the environment. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 13:3 (2017), 466–469.
9. Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Halsband, C., Galloway, T.S., Microplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: a review. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 62 (2011), 2588–2597.
10. Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Halsband, C., Galloway, T.S., The impact of polystyrene microplastics on feeding, function and fecundity in the marine copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 (2015), 1130–1137.
11. Cózar, A., Echevarría, F., González-Gordillo, J.I., Irigoien, X., Úbeda, B., Hernández-León, S., Palma, Á.T., Navarro, S., García-De-Lomas, J., Ruiz, A., Fernández-De-Puelles, M.L., Duarte, C.M., Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111:28 (2014), 10239–10244.
12. De Witte, B., Devriese, L., Bekaert, K., Hoffman, S., Vandermeersch, G., Cooreman, K., Robbens, J., Quality assessment of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis): comparison between commercial and wild types. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 85 (2014), 146–155.
13. Desforges, J.-P.W., Galbraith, M., Dangerfield, N., Ross, P.S., Widespread distribution of microplastics in subsurface seawater in the NE Pacific Ocean. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 79 (2014), 94–99.
14. Dris, R., Gasperi, J., Saad, M., Mirande, C., Tassin, B., Synthetic fibers in atmospheric fallout: a source of microplastics in the environment?. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 104:1–2 (2016), 290–293.
15. Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L.C.M., Carson, H.S., Thiel, M., Moore, C.J., Borerro, J.C., Galgani, F., Ryan, P.G., Reisser, J., Plastic pollution in the world's oceans: more than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea. PLoS One, 9, 2014, e111913.
16. Faure, F., Demars, C., Wieser, O., Kunz, M., De Alencastro, L.F., Plastic pollution in Swiss surface waters: nature and concentrations, interaction with pollutants. Environ. Chem. 12 (2015), 582–591.
17. Fazey, F.M.C., Ryan, P.G., Biofouling on buoyant marine plastics: an experimental study into the effect of size on surface longevity. Environ. Pollut. 210 (2016), 354–360.
18. Gasperi, J., Dris, R., Rocher, V., Tassin, B., Microplastics in the continental area: an emerging challenge. Norman Bull., 4, 2015.
19. Habib, D., Locke, D.C., Cannone, L.J., Synthetic fibers as indicators of municipal sewage sludge, sludge products, and sewage treatment plant effluents. Water Air Soil Pollut. 103 (1998), 1–8.
20. Hartline, N.L., Bruce, N.J., Karba, S.N., Ruff, E.O., Sonar, S.U., Holden, P.A., Microfiber masses recovered from conventional machine washing of new or aged garments. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50 (2016), 11532–11538.
21. HELCOM, BASE Project 2012–2014: Preliminary Study on Synthetic Microfibers and Particles at a Municipal Waste Water Treatment Plant. 2014.
22. Hidalgo-Ruz, V., Gutow, L., Thompson, R.C., Thiel, M., Microplastics in the marine environment: a review of the methods used for identification and quantification. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46 (2012), 3060–3075.
23. Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., Law, K.L., Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science 347 (2015), 768–771.
24. Jemec, A., Horvat, P., Kunej, U., Bele, M., Krzan, A., Uptake and effects of microplastic textile fibers on freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna. Environ. Pollut. 219 (2016), 201–209.
25. Kang, J.-H., Kwon, O.-Y., Shim, W.J., Potential threat of microplastics to zooplanktivores in the surface waters of the Southern Sea of Korea. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 69 (2015), 340–351.
26. Klein, S., Worch, E., Knepper, T.P., Occurrence and spatial distribution of microplastics in river shore sediments of the Rhine-main area in Germany. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 (2015), 6070–6076.
27. Law, K.L., Morét-Ferguson, S., Maximenko, N.A., Proskurowski, G., Peacock, E.E., Hafner, J., Reddy, C.M., Plastic accumulation in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. Science 329 (2010), 1185–1188.
28. Lechner, A., Ramler, D., The discharge of certain amounts of industrial microplastic from a production plant into the River Danube is permitted by the Austrian legislation. Environ. Pollut. 200 (2015), 159–160.
29. Li, L., Frey, M., Browning, K.J., Biodegradability study on cotton and polyester fabrics. J. Eng. Fibers Fabr. 5:4 (2010), 42–53.
30. Lusher, A.L., Burke, A., O'connor, I., Officer, R., Microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean: validated and opportunistic sampling. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 88 (2014), 325–333.
31. Mani, T., Hauk, A., Walter, U., Burkhardt-Holm, P., Microplastics profile along the Rhine River. Sci Rep, 5, 2015, 17988.
32. Mason, S.A., Garneau, D., Sutton, R., Chu, Y., Ehmann, K., Barnes, J., Fink, P., Papazissimos, D., Rogers, D.L., Microplastic pollution is widely detected in US municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent. Environ. Pollut. 218 (2016), 1045–1054.
33. Moore, C.J., Lattin, G.L., Zellers, A.F., Quantity and type of plastic debris flowing from two urban rivers to coastal waters and beaches of Southern California. J. Integr. Coast. Zone Manag. 11:1 (2011), 65–73.
34. Murray, F., Cowie, P.R., Plastic contamination in the decapod crustacean Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758). Mar. Pollut. Bull. 62 (2011), 1207–1217.
35. Naidoo, T., Glassom, D., Smit, A.J., Plastic pollution in five urban estuaries of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 101:1 (2015), 473–480.
36. Napper, I.E., Thompson, R.C., Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: effects of fabric type and washing conditions. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 112:1–2 (2016), 39–45.
37. Pirc, U., Vidmar, M., Mozer, A., Krzan, A., Emissions of microplastic fibers from microfiber fleece during domestic washing. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 23:21 (2016), 22206–22211.
38. Remy, F.O., Collard, F., Gilbert, B., CompèRe, P., Eppe, G., Lepoint, G., When microplastic is not plastic: the ingestion of artificial cellulose fibers by macrofauna living in seagrass macrophytodetritus. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49:18 (2015), 11158–11166.
39. Schreder, E.D., La Guardia, M.J., Flame retardant transfers from U.S. households (dust and laundry wastewater) to the aquatic environment. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48 (2014), 11575–11583.
40. Thompson, R.C., Olsen, Y., Mitchell, R.P., Davis, A., Rowland, S.J., John, A.W.G., Mcgonigle, D., Russell, A.E., Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?. Science, 304, 2004, 838.
41. U.S.G.S., National Water Quality Assessment Program - The Hudson River Basin. Available online http://ny.water.usgs.gov/projects/hdsn/fctsht/su.html#HDR0, 2013 (Accessed November 25, 2016).
42. U.S.G.S., Hudson River Streamflow Measurements. National Water Information System Data. Available online http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/measurements?site_no=01372058&agency_cd=USGS&format=html_table_expanded, 2016 (accessed November 20, 2016).
43. US Census Bureau, Population of New York City. Available online https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/36, 2016 (Accessed November 25, 2016).
44. Vermaire, J.C., Pomeroy, C., Herczegh, S.M., Haggart, O., Murphy, M., Microplastic abundance and distribution in the open water and sediment of the Ottawa River, Canada, and its tributaries. FACETS, 2, 2017, 301.
45. Watts, A.J.R., Urbina, M.A., Corr, S., Lewis, C., Galloway, T.S., Ingestion of plastic microfibers by the crab Carcinus maenas and its effect on food consumption and energy balance. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 (2015), 14597–14604.
46. Wright, S.L., Rowe, D., Thompson, R.C., Galloway, T.S., Microplastic ingestion decreases energy reserves in marine worms. Curr. Biol. 23 (2013), R1031–R1033.
47. Zubris, K.A.V., Richards, B.K., Synthetic fibers as an indicator of land application of sludge. Environ. Pollut. 138 (2005), 201–211.