{"title":"Microplastics in drinking water distribution systems: Occurrence, environmental behavior, and human health concerns","authors":"Soon-Thiam Khu, Fang Li, Weigao Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126666","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microplastics, increasingly detected in drinking water, have sparked growing concern due to their persistence, potential bioaccumulation, and risks to human health. Elucidating their fate in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) is critical for accurately assessing exposure risks and guiding effective mitigation strategies. This review systematically evaluates the microplastic occurrence at key nodes in DWDSs, their morphological characteristics, and environmental behaviors within the network. Direct comparisons across studies are hindered by methodological inconsistencies, highlighting the need for standardized protocols. Drinking water treatment plants serve vital function limiting microplastics ingress into the distribution systems, but conventional technologies often fail to ensure complete removal. Microplastics are predominantly present as small and fibrous particles within DWDSs. The wear and degradation of plastic pipes and fittings are recognized as potential sources of microplastic contamination. Neglected small microplastics and nanoplastics tend to exhibit colloidal properties that enhance their mobility and sorption potential. Microplastics exhibit complex environmental behaviors during transport. Due to their diminutive size and high specific surface area, microplastics act as effective vectors for microbial colonization and co-pollutant accumulation, thereby intensifying the composite contamination risk. Furthermore, the irregular structure and high porosity of the pipe scale facilitate microplastic retention and adsorption. This review reveals the distribution and fate of microplastics in DWDSs, offering scientific references for developing effective pollution control strategies for microplastics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":311,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Pollution","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 126666"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749125010395","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Microplastics, increasingly detected in drinking water, have sparked growing concern due to their persistence, potential bioaccumulation, and risks to human health. Elucidating their fate in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) is critical for accurately assessing exposure risks and guiding effective mitigation strategies. This review systematically evaluates the microplastic occurrence at key nodes in DWDSs, their morphological characteristics, and environmental behaviors within the network. Direct comparisons across studies are hindered by methodological inconsistencies, highlighting the need for standardized protocols. Drinking water treatment plants serve vital function limiting microplastics ingress into the distribution systems, but conventional technologies often fail to ensure complete removal. Microplastics are predominantly present as small and fibrous particles within DWDSs. The wear and degradation of plastic pipes and fittings are recognized as potential sources of microplastic contamination. Neglected small microplastics and nanoplastics tend to exhibit colloidal properties that enhance their mobility and sorption potential. Microplastics exhibit complex environmental behaviors during transport. Due to their diminutive size and high specific surface area, microplastics act as effective vectors for microbial colonization and co-pollutant accumulation, thereby intensifying the composite contamination risk. Furthermore, the irregular structure and high porosity of the pipe scale facilitate microplastic retention and adsorption. This review reveals the distribution and fate of microplastics in DWDSs, offering scientific references for developing effective pollution control strategies for microplastics.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health.
Subject areas include, but are not limited to:
• Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies;
• Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change;
• Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects;
• Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects;
• Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest;
• New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.