Longitudinal and vertical distribution of microplastics in various pipe scales in an operating drinking water distribution system

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) are ingested by humans through the daily consumption of drinking water. Pipe scales are recognized as important sites of MPs occurrence in the drinking water distribution system (DWDS). Despite extensive research on drinking water, no study has been conducted to investigate the distribution of MPs in pipe scales within an operational DWDS. The underground placement of DWDSs brings challenges for sampling pipe scales. In this study, 5 tap water and 16 pipe scales samples were collected from a typical DWDS. The analysis of MPs abundance in these 21 samples filled the data gap in the distribution of MPs in both pipe scales and tap water along the DWDSs. MPs were detected in all water samples (1.74–20.88 MPs/L) and pipe scales samples (0.03–3.48 MPs/cm2). In tap water, MPs abundance increased abruptly in the stagnant-slow flow region and reached the maximum value (20.88 MPs/L), even surpassing the abundance in raw water (6.42 MPs/L). In the pipe scales, MPs abundance decreased from the upstream to downstream of DWDS and was associated with the heavy metal concentration. MPs smaller than 150 µm accounted for 91.6% of the tap water (21–971 µm) and pipe scales (20–2055 µm). The abundance of MPs showed a logarithmic increase as the size decreased. The proportion of MPs fibers in tap water was lower than that in pipe scales. A total of 35 MPs polymers were detected, with 34 polymers in pipe scales and 26 polymers in tap water. In terms of abundance, polyethylene terephthalate (50.0%) was the dominant polymer in pipe scales, while polyamide (70.3%) was the dominant polymer in tap water. Regarding detection rate, polyamide was detected in all 21 samples, followed by polyurethane in 19 samples. The distribution of MPs along the longitudinal direction of the DWDS was correlated with heavy metal. While the distribution of MPs in the vertical direction of large diameter pipe scales was dependent on their sizes, and densities. The greatest abundance, size and density of MPs were detected at the bottom 120-degree.