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Effects of garbage salvaging and suspended crossbar on microplastic pollution along a typical urban river

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Abstract

Microplastic pollution has been considered as a global environmental issue that potentially threatens human health. However, research about microplastic pollution in urban rivers is still insufficient. This study analyzed the abundance and distribution of microplastics in surface water of the Nanfei River in Hefei, China. Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.8 to 27 items/L along the studied river. The small size (50–333 μm) (47.58–84.89%) and white (55.65–88.89%) were predominant among all samples, except that collected from the source reach. Pellet was a typical and abundant microplastic type and accounted for 60.30%. PE and PP were the major polymers, occupying 55.24% and 22.86%, respectively. The results showed that traditional environmental management practices including salvaging surface garbage regularly and setting wooden suspended crossbars at tributary confluences could significantly mitigate the pollution degree of microplastics. The polymer risk index was calculated to describe the potential risk of microplastics, and the pollution level was still at high risk under various management practices. This study provides a valuable finding for future research on microplastics in urban city rivers, which may improve the knowledge that how to control and prevent microplastic pollution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFC0408500), the Key Research and Development Plan of Anhui Province (201904a07020070), the Science and Technology Major Projects of Anhui Province (18030801106), the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Anhui (2008085QD189), the Key University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province (KJ2019A0759) and the Startup Foundation for Doctors of Anhui Jianzhu University (2018QD37).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Engineering and Technology Research Center of Smart City, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China

    Bingyu Chen, Ziwei Chen, Shuguang Zhu & Xinli Cai

  2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yuan Liu

  3. School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China

    Bingyu Chen, Ziwei Chen, Shuguang Zhu & Xinli Cai

  4. Anhui Advanced Technology Research Institute of Green Building, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China

    Bingyu Chen, Ziwei Chen, Shuguang Zhu & Xinli Cai

  5. Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China

    Bingyu Chen, Ziwei Chen, Shuguang Zhu & Xinli Cai

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  1. Bingyu Chen
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  2. Ziwei Chen
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  3. Yuan Liu
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  4. Shuguang Zhu
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  5. Xinli Cai
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BC, SZ, XC managed the project; BC and ZC collected the samples; ZC and YL prepared and analyzed the samples; BC and YL wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bingyu Chen.

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Chen, B., Chen, Z., Liu, Y. et al. Effects of garbage salvaging and suspended crossbar on microplastic pollution along a typical urban river. Environ Geochem Health 44, 3239–3248 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01084-w

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