Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E46

Microplastics occurrence and composition in drinking water from an Icelandic urban area

Höfundar / Authors: Ásta Margrét Ásmundsdóttir (1), Alessio Gomiero (2), Kjell Birger Öysæd(2)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Háskólinn á Akureyri, 2. NORCE Norway

Kynnir / Presenter: Ásta Margrét Ásmundsdóttir

Microplastics as a potential health and environmental problem has gained increasing attention recently. The sources of microplastic are many and state of the art literature reports that microplastics are ubiquitous worldwide. While several authors report fragments of different polymers observed practically in all environmental compartments of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, others point out the possible accumulation of micro- and nanometric sized plastic particles thorough the marine and terrestrial food webs posing a risk to marine and terrestrial life and ultimately the human health. Very little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in the drinking water and their implications on human health. According to the WHO men should consume 3 L and women should consume 2.2 L of beverage per day. Most of these beverages consist of tap water or drinks derived from tap water. The risk of plastic uptake from drinking water is currently unpredictable and furthermore, these plastic particles are in addition to plastics potentially consumed in other sources, such as sea salt, beer, and food and seafood. The research tasks of the present work is to develop and optimize a standardized fast, sensitive protocol for sampling and quantification of nano/microplastics particles in drinking water based on analysis by Pyrolysis GCMS. The study area is located in Akureyri area. The first results of the research will be presented.