The amount of these plastic contaminants have been steadily climbing in our freshwater lakes and rivers since rising global plastic production began in the 1950’s according to a recent study released by an interdisciplinary group of Penn State researchers. Their research points to important ways microplastics move and spread throughout lakes, rivers and other freshwater bodies. These finding point to important ways of creating a pathway through which we may one day be able to reduce this form of pollution. Here is a link to this study,  (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176619)

The study is important in a number of ways including how, over time, microplastics change and how concentrations have rose since before the 1050’s to now. This was done through analyzing freshwater sediment and seeing the physical concentrations of microplastics increasing from just before the 1950’s until now. These concentrations increase directly in tandem with global plastic production.

Microplastics are small, (5mm or smaller in size), plastic particles that have been broken down from larger plastics that, over time, shed and break down over time.

Research like Penn State’s are important studies that offer us a glimpse into how prevalent microplastics are in our drinking water. In Toronto this study provides insight into how the transport of microplastics in freshwater environments occurs. With the recent development of our waterfront, a comprehensive assessment of the trapping of river-borne plastics in estuaries such as at the bottom of the Don River is needed. It has been known for a long time that fresh water estuaries heavily process river borne materials, like carbon, sediment and nutrients, and this processing has a big impact on what eventually reaches the lake.

It is believed that the Don River estuaries could be functioning in a similar way for plastics, but more than modeling studies and a single core sample will be need. We need to consider the likely sources and sinks of plastics for a given system, such as rivers, atmosphere, estuarine sediment and marshes. Further, a study to determine how the composition and types of microplastics have changed over time and assess how the associated health risks have evolved is required.

Lake Ontario provides drinking water to millions of people…are microplastics entering our drinking water supplies? The threat to our health due to microplastic ingestion has been confirmed…we need to understand this important data and move towards controls and mitigation of these particles.