TY - JOUR
T1 - Microplastic contamination in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA
AU - Sutton, Rebecca
AU - Mason, Sherri A.
AU - Stanek, Shavonne K.
AU - Willis-Norton, Ellen
AU - Wren, Ian F.
AU - Box, Carolynn
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (Contribution No. 769 ), with in-kind contributions from San Francisco Baykeeper and the 5 Gyres Institute. The authors would like to acknowledge participants from the following wastewater treatment plants: Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant, Fairfield Suisun Sewer District, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, East Bay Dischargers Authority, City of San Mateo Wastewater Treatment Plant, San José/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, and San Francisco International Airport Sanitary Waste Treatment Plant and Reclaimed Water Facility. The authors acknowledge Pete Kauhanen for preparation of the GIS image, Rusty Holleman for Bay wastewater flow data, and Claire Boudreaux for assistance with visualization. Additional thanks to Oberlin College, Career Center for providing intern support. Comments from Derek Muir, Luisa Valiela, Arleen Feng, Bridgette DeShields, Jackson Vanfleet Brown, and an anonymous reviewer greatly strengthened the resulting publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/8/15
Y1 - 2016/8/15
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992365104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84992365104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.05.077
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.05.077
M3 - Article
C2 - 27289280
AN - SCOPUS:84992365104
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 109
SP - 230
EP - 235
JO - Marine pollution bulletin
JF - Marine pollution bulletin
IS - 1
ER -
