style="font-size:15px;"> 49 Mani, T., Hauk, A., Walter, U., and Burkhardt‐Holm, P. (2015). Microplastics profile along the Rhine River. Scientific Reports 5: 1–7.50 McCormick, A., Hoellein, T.J., Mason, S.A. et al. (2014). Microplastic is an abundant and distinct microbial habitat in an urban river. Environmental Science & Technology 48: 11863–11871.
51 Moore, C., Lattin, G., and Zellers, A. (2011). Quantity and type of plastic debris flowing from two urban rivers to coastal waters and beaches of Southern California. Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada‐Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management 11: 65–73.
52 Napper, I.E. and Thompson, R.C. (2016). Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: effects of fabric type and washing conditions. Marine Pollution Bulletin 112: 39–45.
53 Napper, I.E., Bakir, A., Rowland, S.J., and Thompson, R.C. (2015). Characterisation, quantity and sorptive properties of microplastics extracted from cosmetics. Marine Pollution Bulletin 99: 178–185.
54 Peng, G., Xu, P., Zhu, B. et al. (2018). Microplastics in freshwater river sediments in Shanghai, China: a case study of risk assessment in mega‐cities. Environmental Pollution 234: 448–456.
55 Plasticseurope (2018). Plastics – the Facts 2018. An analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data. https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/6315/4510/9658/Plastics_the_facts_2018_AF_web.pdf (accessed 2019).
56 de Sá, L.C., Luís, L.G., and Guilhermino, L. (2015). Effects of microplastics on juveniles of the common goby (Pomatoschistus microps): confusion with prey, reduction of the predatory performance and efficiency, and possible influence of developmental conditions. Environmental Pollution 196: 359–362.
57 de Sá, L.C., Oliveira, M., Ribeiro, F. et al. (2018). Studies of the effects of microplastics on aquatic organisms: what do we know and where should we focus our efforts in the future? Science of the Total Environment 645: 1029–1039.
58 Sadri, S.S. and Thompson, R.C. (2014). On the quantity and composition of floating plastic debris entering and leaving the Tamar Estuary, Southwest England. Marine Pollution Bulletin 81: 55–60.
59 Schmidt, C., Krauth, T., and Wagner, S. (2017). Export of plastic debris by rivers into the sea. Environmental Science & Technology 51: 12246–12253.
60 Su, L., Xue, Y., Li, L. et al. (2016). Microplastics in Taihu Lake, China. Environmental Pollution 216: 711–719.
61 Ta, A. and Babel, S. (2019). Microplastic pollution in surface water of the Chao Phraya River in Ang Thong area. EnvironmentAsia 12: 48–53.
62 Ta, A. and Babel, S. (2020a). Microplastic contamination on the lower Chao Phraya: abundance, characteristic and interaction with heavy metals. Chemosphere 257: 127234.
63 Ta, A.T. and Babel, S. (2020b). Microplastics pollution with heavy metals in the aquaculture zone of the Chao Phraya River Estuary, Thailand. Marine Pollution Bulletin 161: 111747.
64 Ta, A.T., Babel, S., and Haarstrick, A. (2020c). Microplastics contamination in a high population density area of the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok. Journal of Engineering & Technological Sciences 52: 534–545.
65 Talvitie, J. and Heinonen, M. (2014). Preliminary study on synthetic microfibers and particles at a municipal waste water treatment plant. Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HELCOM, 1–14.
66 Tamminga, M., Hengstmann, E., and Fischer, E. (2017). Nile Red staining as a subsidiary method for microplastic quantification: a comparison of three solvents and factors influencing application reliability. SDRP Journal of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies 2: 165–172.
67 Tan, X., Yu, X., Cai, L. et al. (2019). Microplastics and associated PAHS in surface water from the Feilaixia Reservoir in the Beijiang River, China. Chemosphere 221: 834–840.
68 Ter Halle, A., Ladirat, L., Gendre, X. et al. (2016). Understanding the fragmentation pattern of marine plastic debris. Environmental Science & Technology 50: 5668–5675.
69 Van Cauwenberghe, L., Devriese, L., Galgani, F. et al. (2015). Microplastics in sediments: a review of techniques, occurrence and effects. Marine Environmental Research 111: 5–17.
70 Viršek, M.K., Lovšin, M.N., Koren, Š. et al. (2017). Microplastics as a vector for the transport of the bacterial fish pathogen species Aeromonas salmonicida. Marine Pollution Bulletin 125: 301–309.
71 Wang, W., Ndungu, A.W., Li, Z., and Wang, J. (2017). Microplastics pollution in inland freshwaters of China: a case study in urban surface waters of Wuhan, China. Science of the Total Environment 575: 1369–1374.
72 Willén, A., Junestedt, C., Rodhe, L. et al. (2017). Sewage sludge as fertiliser–environmental assessment of storage and land application options. Water Science and Technology 75: 1034–1050.
73 Wong, G., Löwemark, L., and Kunz, A. (2020). Microplastic pollution of the Tamsui River and its tributaries in northern Taiwan: spatial heterogeneity and correlation with precipitation. Environmental Pollution 260: 113935.
74 Yan, M., Nie, H., Xu, K. et al. (2019). Microplastic abundance, distribution and composition in the Pearl River along Guangzhou City and Pearl River estuary, China. Chemosphere 217: 879–886.
75 Yin, L., Wen, X., Du, C. et al. (2020). Comparison of the abundance of microplastics between rural and urban areas: a case study from East Dongting Lake. Chemosphere 244: 125486.
76 Zhang, K., Gong, W., Lv, J. et al. (2015). Accumulation of floating microplastics behind the Three Gorges Dam. Environmental Pollution 204: 117–123.
77 Zhang, K., Su, J., Xiong, X. et al. (2016). Microplastic pollution of lakeshore sediments from remote lakes in Tibet plateau, China. Environmental Pollution 219: 450–455.
78 Zhao, S., Danley, M., Ward, J.E. et al. (2017). An approach for extraction, characterization and quantitation of microplastic in natural marine snow using Raman microscopy. Analytical Methods 9: 1470–1478.
79 Zylstra, E. (2013). Accumulation of wind‐dispersed trash in desert environments. Journal of Arid Environments 89: 13–15.
2 Microplastics in Freshwater Environments – With Special Focus on the Indian Scenario
Sumi Handique
Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam, India
2.1 Introduction
Over the last 50 years, plastic has revolutionized the way we live and is now an essential part of our lives. Globally, plastic wastes have increased at a staggering rate in the last few decades, and around 79% are disposed of in landfills or in the surrounding environment with no proper waste management (Geyer et al. 2017). Out of this, a staggering amount of plastic waste, approximately 4.8–12.7 million tons, is estimated to enter the oceans each year, a large quantity of which comes from land‐based sources and is transported by fluvial or aeolian processes (Jambeck et al. 2015). Rivers are one of the main contributors of plastic waste to the oceans, and are reported to carry 2 million tons of MPs annually (Lebreton et al. 2017). It has been investigated and found that this
