Characterization of microplastics in water and sediments in the wetlands Pantanos De Villa, Chorrillos, Lima, Peru

Abstract

Los Pantanos de Villa wetland (PVW), Chorrillos, Lima, Peru; It is a RAMSAR site of great international importance for being a resting place for bird migrations. The objective was to characterize microplastics (MP) in water and sediments in the Laguna Mayor of PVW during September 2019. Water samples were collected by vertical dragging with a 25 μm Sparenet and bottom sediments with a Van Veen dredge with a sampling area of 0.025 m2 in three sectors of the Laguna Mayor del PVW. MPs were quantified based on color, shape, and size. 0.94 particles·L-1 were found in the water, and 64 particles·kg-1 in the sediments. In the MP in water and sediment, the white and light blue/turquoise color, the fragment and film shape, and the size of 401 to 500 μm were the dominant ones. The urban and industrial anthropic activities, the illegal destination of clearings, dumps and dumping of garbage, vehicular and pedestrian traffic adjacent to the Laguna Mayor, and the transport of MP by wind could be factors that explain the differences in MP between the sectors of the PVW.