Different characteristics of microplastics in stormwater runoff by urban land use patterns

Title
Different characteristics of microplastics in stormwater runoff by urban land use patterns
Author(s)
Jang, Mi; Hong, Sang Hee; Ha, Sung Yong; Han, Gi Myung; Shim, Won Joon; Cho, Youna; Jeong, Jongwook
KIOST Author(s)
Jang, Mi(장미)Hong, Sang Hee(홍상희)Ha, Sung Yong(하성용)Han, Gi Myung(한기명)Shim, Won Joon(심원준)Cho, You Na(조유나)
Alternative Author(s)
장미; 홍상희; 하성용; 한기명; 심원준; 조유나; 정종욱
Publication Year
2021-05-05
Abstract
Terrestrial environment is known for important source of microplastics (< 5 mm) to the aquatic ecosystems. The point source such as discharge of microplastic from waste water treatment plants has been studied in detail, while there are only few studies on non-point source of microplastic such as stormwater runoff. In this study, the microplastics in stormwater runoff from urban area was identified. Residential, industrial, commercial and road areas has been selected for sampling sites, in order to evaluate whether the land use influenced the characteristic of microplastics in the stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff were sampled during single rain event (total rainfall: 6.4 mm) at 4 sites of rainwater outlets in Hannea river of Gumi city, South Korea in Agust 2020. Stormwater runoff samples (n=5, 50L) from each sites were collected at an hourly interval after beginning of the rain event. Freshwater (50L) was also sampled before one day prior to rain event for determine contamination of microplastics in baseflow. Microplastics was detected in all samples of baseflow and stromwater runoff. The microplastic concentration in first one hour of rainfall samples (66-823 n/L) was 2-80 fold higher than its in baseflow samples (1.8-676 n/L), and the concentration was decreased by rainfall time. After 4 hours from rainfall start, the concentrations of microplastic (1.8-11 n/L) were similar between 4 sites. PE and PP were dominant type of microplasitc in commercial area, while PEVA was abundantly detected in industrial and residential area. In case of samples from road area, ABS, SB, BR, BA, rubber, polystyrene copolymer, and acrylate copolymer (22%) was identified more than common polymer types, unlike other regions. Rubber was found only in the samples from road area. Abundant number of PP pellets (5.5 n/L, 3.8±0.5 mm, 12±3 mg) was found in base sample from industrial area. The different polymeric composition of microplastics between regions might be related to diverse sources such as degradation of plastic products, spill of plastic raw materials and fragmentation of tire wear. The results of this study indicate that land use is an important parameter in microplastic contamination of stormwater runoff. High concentraion of microplastic in the samples show that urban runoff is an important source of microplastics to aquatic environment.
URI
https://sciwatch.kiost.ac.kr/handle/2020.kiost/41304
Bibliographic Citation
SETAC Europe 31st Annual Meeting, 2021
Publisher
SETAC
Type
Conference
Language
English
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