Plastic pollution in lake ‘horrific ’
SCIENTISTS SAY MICROPLASTIC LEVELS IN REMOTE WATERS ‘SCARY’
PARTICLES of plastic found in isolated waters high on Snowdon are probably being dropped there by polluted rain, according to scientists.
A new study has found that there are microscopic beads of plastic in Llyn Glaslyn, which lies almost 2,000 feet up on Wales’ highest peak.
Bangor University environmental experts described the findings as “horrific”.
The BBC reports that three pieces of microplastic per litre of water were discovered in Llyn Glasyn, but the amount had risen to up to eight by the time the water from the Glaslyn river had emptied out into the sea at Porthmadog.
Dr Christian Dunn, a wetland science expert from Bangor University, told the BBC it was “most likely” the plastic was getting into the remote body of water through rain.
He added: “The results are scary when you think that this is at the top of a mountain on a very remote location.
“However, more detailed analysis would almost certainly find more plastic.
“I should be surprised because it’s so horrific, but I’m not.”
The samples were collected by environmental activist Laura Sanderson, who swam from the source of the river to the sea – a distance of around 10 miles – collecting water.
Scientists estimate that so-called nanoplastics that are invisible to the naked eye can circulate in the air and end up coming down as rain fall.
But it is believed that plastic particles of up to five millimetres could also end up in rain.