Assessment of Microplastic Particles in Tap Water on The Right Side of Mosul City, Iraq

Abstract

In recent years, microplastics (MPs) contamination has become a serious concern in water distribution systems. Few studies on microplastics' numbers and their characteristics have been described. The current study focused on the abundance, characteristics, and polymer type of plastic particles in the tap water within 16 sites on the right side of Mosul city, including eight areas equipped by the Alayman aljadid drinking water treatment plant (AYJ-DWTP) and eight others that supplied by water from the Alayman alqadim plant (AYQ-DWTP). A stereomicroscope (SM) is used to detect MPs abundance and morphology by capturing images of plastic particles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was applied to distinguish polymer types. In this study, results elucidated that the presence of microplastics in the tap water of both the AYJ-water distribution network (WDN) and AYG-WDN ranged from 28 to 69 MPs/L, with an average of 45 ± 10 MPs/L. Fibres and fragments were the dominant form of microplastics, estimated for (89-91%) of total particles. The transparent colour of particles was the most abundant. Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and Nylon Polyamide (PA) were the most common polymers of MPs around (39%) and (21%), respectively. Statistical analysis was applied by ANOVA test. The PVC risk index was very high. This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license