Researchers have confirmed that microplastics are making their way into freshwater streams. That’s the conclusion from scientists at the University of Arkansas who say the plastic harms both water quality and living organisms. Study co-author Shannon Speirs, an assistant professor of water quality, says microplastics tend to build up.
As Professor Spears explains, “That tends to be downstream of something like a wastewater treatment plant because it’s taking all the water from our homes. But, what we really found was that a lot of this microplastic actually gets stored in the rocks and the sand at the bottom of the stream. But then, when we have high flow events like a storm come through, they’re very easily lifted up from the bottom and then moved further downstream.”
The study describes microplastics as particles typically less than 5millimeters in size. As NPR Arkansas affiliate KUAF reports, Speirs explains how microplastics enter the food chain, eventually reaching us. “Something eats that bug and ingests it then it has the microplastics from the bug in there and then something eats that next thing. And so, it’s relatively common now to find microplastics in tissues and not only in aquatic systems but in our tissue as well.”
