Effect of Wastewater Treatment Plants on Microplastics in Mussels and Their Surrounding Environment
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Microplastics are a growing concern, especially in the context of aquatic systems. Microplastics are small (<5 mm) particles of plastic that have been broken down and can carry toxic chemicals as well as bioaccumulate in the environment. All over the world, microplastics are being studied and considered a current threat. Especially with the consumption of aquatic animals, microplastics are entering the human food chain and causing damage to the human immune system. Even rural areas with fewer human populations, such as Upstate New York, are seeing the bioaccumulation of freshwater mussels. Specifically looking at wastewater treatment, mussels are a good indicator of the microplastics present in the outflow of wastewater treatment plants. This study aimed to collect mussel samples from three sites in the Adirondack region: the Grasse River, the Raquette River, and the Saint Regis River, to determine how these areas are affected by microplastic pollution. Mussels, water, and sediment samples were collected from the upstream and downstream of three wastewater treatment plants that discharge into these rivers to understand the effect of wastewater treatment plant effluents on the mussels and their surrounding environment. Results from this study should provide an important indication of the type of microplastics released from wastewater treatment plants as well as the dominant microplastic type ingested by an important aquatic biota, mussels. Furthermore, this study also builds a relationship between microplastics in organisms (mussels) and their living environment (water and sediment).
Get full access to this chapter
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Bošković, N., Joksimović, D., and Bajt, O. 2023. Microplastics in mussels from the Boka Kotorska Bay (Adriatic Sea) and impact on human health. Food and Chemical Toxicology 173, 113641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2023.113641.
Cornell, E., ed. n.d. Guide to freshwater mussels of New York and New Jersey: AMNH. American Museum of Natural History. https://www.amnh.org/research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/resources-and-publications/handbooks/freshwater-mussels.
Digka, N., Tsangaris, C., Torre, M., Anastasopoulou, A., and Zeri, C. 2018. Microplastics in mussels and fish from the Northern Ionian Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin 135, 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.06.063.
Haque, A., Holsen, T. M., and Baki, A. B. M. 2023. Distribution and risk assessment of microplastic pollution in a rural river system near a wastewater treatment plant, hydro-dam, and river confluence. Scientific Reports (under review).
Li, J., Yang, D., Li, L., Jabeen, K., and Shi, H. 2015. Microplastics in commercial bivalves from China. Environmental Pollution 207, 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.018.
Zhao, X., Wang, J., Yee Leung, K. M., and Wu, F. (2022, June 21). Color: An important but overlooked factor for … - ACS publications. Color: An important but Overlooked Factor for PlasticPhotoagingandMicroplasticFormation.https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.2c02402.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: May 16, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.