
Microplastic contamination in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA
Despite widespread detection of microplastic pollution in marine environments, data describing microplastic abundance in urban estuaries and microplastic discharge via treated municipal wastewater are limited. This study presents information on abundance, distribution, and composition of microplastic at nine sites in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Also presented are characterizations of microplastic in final effluent from eight wastewater treatment plants, employing varying treatment technologies, that discharge to the Bay. With an average microplastic abundance of 700,000 particles/km2, Bay surface water appears to have higher microplastic levels than other urban waterbodies sampled in North America. Moreover, treated wastewater from facilities that discharge into the Bay contains considerable microplastic contamination. Facilities employing tertiary filtration did not show lower levels of contamination than those using secondary treatment. As textile-derived fibers were more abundant in wastewater, higher levels of fragments in surface water suggest additional pathways of microplastic pollution, such as stormwater runoff.
Files
Metadata
Work Title | Microplastic contamination in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA |
---|---|
Access | |
Creators |
|
License | In Copyright (Rights Reserved) |
Work Type | Article |
Publisher |
|
Publication Date | August 15, 2016 |
Publisher Identifier (DOI) |
|
Deposited | November 17, 2021 |
Versions
Analytics
Collections
This resource is currently not in any collection.