Microplastic Contamination of Surface Water-Sourced Tap Water in Hong Kong—A Preliminary Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methodology
2.1. Sampling Sites
2.2. Sample Collection
2.3. Rose Bengal Staining and Quantification of Microplastics
2.4. Statistical Analysis
2.5. Quality Assurance and Quality Control
3. Results
3.1. Contamination Control
3.2. Abundances and Morphological Characteristics of Microplastics
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Study Area | Water Source | Sample Size | Sampling Method | Filter Pore Size (μm) | Mean Microplastic Abundance (n L−1) | Predominant Particle Size (μm) | Predominant Shape Type | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Germany | Groundwater | 15 | Sampling at the outlet of a drinking water treatment plant, at a water metre and at a water tap | 0.2 | 0.0007 | In the range of 50–150 | Fragments | Mintenig et al. [35] |
Demark | Groundwater | 17 | Sampling at a water tap | 0.2 | 0.58 | Not specified | Fibres (82%) | Strand et al. [42] |
Czech Republic | Surface water a | 36 | Sampling at the outlet of a drinking water treatment plant | 0.2 | 443 (WTP1) | In the range of 1–10 | Fragments | Pivokonsky et al. [23] |
338 (WTP2) | ||||||||
628 (WTP3) | ||||||||
Global | Not specified | 159 | Sampling at a water tap | 2.5 | 5.45 | Not specified, fibre lengths ranged from 100–5000 | Fibres (98.3%) | Kosuth, Mason and Wattenberg [25] |
Hong Kong | Surface water | 110 | Sampling at a filter-unattached water tap | 2.7 | 2.181 | In the range of 150–499 (30.8%) | Fibres (97.8%) | This study |
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Lam, T.W.L.; Ho, H.T.; Ma, A.T.H.; Fok, L. Microplastic Contamination of Surface Water-Sourced Tap Water in Hong Kong—A Preliminary Study. Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 3463. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103463
Lam TWL, Ho HT, Ma ATH, Fok L. Microplastic Contamination of Surface Water-Sourced Tap Water in Hong Kong—A Preliminary Study. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10(10):3463. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103463
Chicago/Turabian StyleLam, Theresa Wing Ling, Hiu Tung Ho, Anson T.H. Ma, and Lincoln Fok. 2020. "Microplastic Contamination of Surface Water-Sourced Tap Water in Hong Kong—A Preliminary Study" Applied Sciences 10, no. 10: 3463. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103463