Nanoplastics prevalent in water supplies: research
They’re so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye, but new cutting edge research has found an abundance of nanoplastics in the water we drink, raising concerns about what this might mean for human health.
Microplastics are small fragments measuring up to 5mm, but nanoplastics are absolutely minuscule, measuring no more than one micrometre – about one sixtieth the size of a grain of salt. In a scientific paper published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, Dr Elvis Okoffo from the University of Queensland shared his analysis of the presence of nanoplastics in water from various sources in Australia.
His research found nanoplastics in municipal water supplies (440 particles per litre in one sample and 380 in another), as well as store-bought bottled water (360 particles per litre in one brand and 220 in another, both unnamed).
Even higher levels were found in reservoirs, surface water, stormwater and wastewater – but because the field of research is so new, a “safe” level of prevalence cannot be determined.
Eight different types of plastics were detected, the most prevalent being polyethylene (PE), poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS).
Dr Okoffo said it was not clear how the nanoplastic particles were getting into the municipal water supplies, but there was “a lot of variability in the plastic concentrations” between different houses.
“Whether it’s actually coming from the lines, the pipes attached to our homes, or whether it’s actually being generated from the treatment plant … we need to investigate further because this was just to look at the final product, what is being consumed,” he said.
Dr Okoffo’s findings come amid escalating concern about plastic’s effect on the human body. On Friday, Professor Lukas Kenner from the Medical University of Vienna warned that cancer cells “spread at an accelerated rate” after contact with microplastics.