Identification of Micro-plastic Contamination in Drinking Water Treatment Plants in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

Micro-plastics (MP) contamination in drinking water has become a global concern. Its negative impacts on human health have been reported. This study identified the presence of MP in two different drinking water treatment plants (WTP) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and investigated their removal efficiency. Samples were collected from the inlet, sedimentation, sand filtration, and distribution tank to quantify the removal by each unit. An optical microscope and a fluorescence microscope were used to detect the MP in four size fractions: 6.5-20, 20-53, 53-500, and >500 µm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to identify the polymer type for particles with size fractions of 53-500 and >500 µm. The results showed that the MP counted in WTP1 were 1180.5 ± 158 p/L in the inlet and 521 ± 61 p/L in the distribution tank. In WTP2, the MP counted were 1463 ± 126 p/L in the inlet and 617 ± 147 p/L in the distribution tank. The smaller size fraction of 6.5-20 µm predominated at each sampling location. Fragments were the most abundant morphology compared to fibers in all sampling points of both plants. PET predominated and the overall percentages for the inlet tank were 28.8% and 26%, followed by PE with 27.1% and 20.8% in WTP1 and WTP2, respectively. Other common polymer types were PP, PA, PES, and cellophane, while all others accounted for less than 5%. The results of the study showed that a significant number of MP remained in the water distribution system.

Identifikasi Karakteristik dan Kelimpahan Mikroplastik Pada Sampel Air Kali Surabaya

“…Mikroplastik yang masuk ke badan perairan sungai akan berdampak terhadap lingkungan perairan dan kehidupan biota di dalamnya (Nurtriyani Sulistyo et al, 2020). Banyak hasil penelitian yang menyatakan bahwa mikroplastik telah dikonsumsi oleh hampir seluruh organisme (Gupta et al, 2022) seperti biota perairan sungai yang berpotensi masuk kedalam tubuh manusia melalui konsumsi makanan (Babel & Dork, 2021). Ukuran mikroplastik yang sangat kecil memudahkan untuk termakan oleh organisme yang memiliki kebiasaan memakan partikulat yang menurutnya sesuai dengan makanan aslinya.…”

Performance of Conventional Drinking Water Treatment Plants in Removing Microplastics in East Java, Indonesia

“…Kankanige & Babel, 2020); Cambodia(Babel & Dork, 2021), India(Sarkar et al, 2021); China(Shen et al, 2021), Iran(Adib et al., 2021); the Czech Republic (Pivokonsky et al, 2018); and Canada (Cherniak et al, 2022). Meanwhile, Figure 5 indicates that MP abundance increased in sedimentation units in CDWTPs I and II by 35 and 9%, respectively.…”

Identifikasi Karakteristik dan Kelimpahan Mikroplastik pada Sampel Sedimen Kali Pelayaran Kabupaten Sidoarjo Jawa Timur

“…Senyawa logam berat memiliki sifat beracunyang dapat mengancam kesehatan biota (Huang et al, 2021). Penelitian lain telah banyak mene-m u k a n h a s i l b a h w a m i k r o p l a s t i k termakan oleh biotabaik secara sengaja atau tidak (Babel & Dork, 2021). Partikel mikroplastik yang sangat kecil dapat m e m b u a t o r g a n i s m e t e r t i p u d a n menyangka partikel tersebut adalah partikulat yang bisa dimakan.…”