Removal efficiencies of microplastics of the three largest drinking water treatment plants in Bangladesh

Drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) are intended to provide safe water to the municipality, typically by treating surface waters from rivers, lakes, and streams. Regrettably, all of these water sources for DWTPs have been reported to be contaminated by microplastics (MPs). Hence, there is an urg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2023-10, Vol.895, p.165155-165155, Article 165155
Main Authors: Islam, Muhammad Saiful, Islam, Zahidul, Jamal, A.H.M. Shofiul Islam Molla, Momtaz, Nasima, Beauty, Sadia Afrin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
arsenic
Bangladesh
cadmium
chromium
copper
Drinking water treatment plant
environment
lead
Microplastics
polyethylene
polyethylene terephthalates
polypropylenes
polystyrenes
Public health
Removal efficiency
rivers
spectroscopy
Surface water
water treatment
X-radiation
zinc
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Summary:Drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) are intended to provide safe water to the municipality, typically by treating surface waters from rivers, lakes, and streams. Regrettably, all of these water sources for DWTPs have been reported to be contaminated by microplastics (MPs). Hence, there is an urgent need to investigate the removal efficiencies of MPs from raw waters in the conventional DWTPs anticipating public health concerns. In this experiment, MPs in the raw and treated waters of the three major DWTPs of Bangladesh, having different water treatment processes, were evaluated. The concentrations of MPs in the inlet points of Saidabad Water Treatment Plant phase-1 and 2 (SWTP-1 and SWTP-2), which share a similar water source of the Shitalakshya River, were 25.7 ± 9.8 and 26.01 ± 9.8 items L−1. The third plant, Padma Water Treatment Plant (PWTP) utilizes water from the Padma River and had an initial MP concentration of 6.2 ± 1.6 items L−1. The studied DWTPs, with their existing treatment processes, were found to reduce the MP loads substantially. The final MP concentrations in treated waters of SWTP-1, SWTP-2, and PWTP were 0.3 ± 0.03, 0.4 ± 0.01, and 0.05 ± 0.02 items L−1 with the removal efficiencies of 98.8, 98.5, and 99.2 %, respectively. The considered size range of MP was 20 μm to
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165155