ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Pollution of Beach Sand from Selected Recreational Reservoirs by Microplastics
 
More details
Hide details
1
Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Department of Sanitary Networks and Installations, Czestochowa University of Technology
 
 
Online publication date: 2023-01-05
 
 
Publication date: 2022-12-01
 
 
Civil and Environmental Engineering Reports 2022;32(4):230-241
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The presence of microplastics have been ubiquitously confirmed in aquatic environment possessing the potential risk to the health of ecosystem. Most studies concerning microplastics are focused on water bodies, but it is considered that sediments and sands from the beaches may to be a long-term sink for microplastics. High concentrations of microplastics have been found in sand beach in Europe and all over the world. In the present studies samples of beach sand originating from three beaches of recreational reservoirs in Southern Poland (Silesian Voivodship) were analysed. Preliminary screening tests were done to evaluate the degree of microplastics pollution of the selected sandy beaches. Samples were taken once from three places on the beaches of each reservoir. Beach sections parallel to the waterline were selected at each study at the swash zone – about 1 m above the waterline. Previously, no studies were done on the presence of microplastics in these beaches. The samples taken from the beach were homogenized and mixed with saturated NaCl solutions, after separation of microplastics the pollutants were counted under optical microscope (under magnification 40 -100 x). It was found that in all three places the microplastics occurred in the beach sand samples. The most contaminated samples originated from Lisiniec recreation park (Adriatyk) which contained 340 ± 222 particles per kg/d.m. The most abundant fractions in the examined samples were fibres and fragments, the less abundant ones were granules. It can be concluded that recreational reservoirs beaches can be significantly contaminated by microplastics particles, but simultaneously the concentrations of these micropollutants can vary a lot between the individual places.
REFERENCES (24)
1.
Eriksen, M et al. 2013. Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Marine Pollution Bulletin 77, 1-2, 177-182.
 
2.
Nocoń, W, Moraczewska-Majkut, K and Wiśniowska, E 2018. Microplastics in surface water under strong anthropopression, Desalination and Water Treatment, 134, 174-181.
 
3.
Cózar, A, Echevarría, F, González-Gordillo, JI et al., 2014. Plastic debris in the open ocean. Procedings of the National Academy of Science 111 (28), 10239–10244.
 
4.
Law, KL and Thompson, RC, 2014. Microplastics in the seas. Science 345, 6193, 144–145.
 
5.
Claessens, M Van Cauwenberghe, L Vandegehuchte, MB et al., 2013. New techniques for the detection of microplastics in sediments and field collected organisms. Marine Environmental Research 70, 1–2, 227–233.
 
6.
Van Cauwenberghe, L Devriese, L Galgani, F Robbens, and Janssen, CR 2015. Microplastics in sediments: A review of techniques, occurrence and effects. Marine Environmental Research 111, 5-17.
 
7.
Hidalgo-Ruz, V and Thiel, M 2013. Distribution and abundance of small plastic debris on beaches in the SE Pacific (Chile): A study supported by a citizen science project. Marine Environmental Research 87-88, 12-18.
 
8.
Van Cauwenberghe, L, Classens, M, Van de Gehuchte, MB Mees, J, and Janssen, CR 2013a. Assessment of marine debris on the Belgian Continental Shelf. Marine Pollution Bulletin 73, 161-169.
 
9.
Browne, MA Crump, P Niven, SJ Teuten, E Tonkin, A Galloway, TS, and Thompson, RC 2011. Accumulation of microplastic on shorelines worldwide: Sources and sinks. Environmental Science & Technology 45, 9175-9179.
 
10.
Wright, SL Thompson, RC and Galloway, TS 2013a.The physical impacts of microplastics on marine organisms: A review. Environmental Pollution 178, 483-492.
 
11.
Popenda, A and Włodarczyk-Makula, M 2018. Hazard from sediments contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Desalination and Water Treatment 117, 318–328.
 
12.
Włodarczyk-Makuła, M Wiśniowska, E and Popenda, A 2018. Monitoring of organic micropollutants in effluents as crucial tool in sustainable development. Problems of Sustainable Development 13, 2, 191-198.
 
13.
Thompson, RC Olsen, Y Mitchell, RP Davis, A Rowland, SJ W Mc Gonigle, D and Russell, AE 2004. Lost at sea: where is all the plastic? Science 304, 838.
 
14.
Prata, JC da Costa, JP Duarte, AC and Rocha-Santos, T 2019. Methods for sampling and detection of microplastics in water and sediment: a critical review. Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 110, 150–159.
 
15.
15 MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter, 2013. Guidance on monitoring of marine litter in European seas. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union,2013, European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment andSustainability https://doi.org/10.2788/99475.
 
16.
Masura, J Baker, J Foster, G Arthur, C and Herring, C 2015. Laboratory Methods for the Analysis of Microplastics in the Marine Environment: Recommendations for Quantifying Synthetic Particles in Waters and Sediments. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS-OR&R-48.
 
17.
Ferreira Nascimento Maynard, I Cunha Bortoluzzi, P Machado Nascimento, L Riscala Madi, R Bezerra Cavalcanti, E Silva Lima, A de Lourdes Sierpe Jeraldo, V and Nogueira Marques, M 2021. Analysis of the Occurrence of microplastic in beach sand on the Brazilian coast, Science of the total Environment 771, 144-177.
 
18.
Dacewicz, E Bergel, T Łobos-Moysa, E Moraczewska-Majkut, K and Nocoń, W 2021. Microplastic and mesoplastic in stagnation of the Vistula water in highly urbanized areas of Krakow poviat – preliminary research, Acta Scientarum Polonorum 021, 20, 3-4.
 
19.
Nocoń, W Moraczewska-Majkut, K and Wiśniowska, E 2020. Microplastics upstream and downstream dam reservoirs, Desalination and Water Treatment, 199, 263-272.
 
20.
Chai, B Li, Y Wang, L Zhang, X Wan, Y, Chen, F Ma, J Lan, W and Pan, K 2022. Microplastic Contamination on the Beaches of South China, Frontiers in Marine Science, https://www.frontiersin.org/ar....
 
21.
Urban-Malinga, B Zalewski, M Jakubowska, A Wodzinowski, T Malinga, M Pałys, B and Dąbrowska, A 2020. Microplastics on sandy beaches of the southern Baltic Sea, Marine Pollution Bulletin 155, 111-170.
 
22.
Thi Thanh Nhon, Thao Nguyen, N Truong Nam Hai, H and Thi Hien, T 2022. Distribution of Microplastics in Beach Sand on the Can Gio Coast, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Water 14, 2779.
 
23.
Gao, Z Wontor, K Cizdziel, JV, and Lu, H 2022 Distribution and characteristics of microplastics in beach sand near the outlet of a major reservoir in north Mississipi, USA https://microplastics.springer....
 
24.
Zhang, K Xiong, X et al 2017. Occurrence and characteristics of microplastic pollution in Xiangxi Bay of Three Gorges Reservoir, China, Environmental Science & Technology 51 3794–3801.
 
eISSN:2450-8594
ISSN:2080-5187
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top