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Microplastic pollution in Swedish freshwater lakes.: A comparative field study of microplastic contamination in two drinking water reservoirs, Lake Vombsjön and Lake Bolmen.
Halmstad University, School of Business, Engineering and Science.
2018 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Microplastic contamination in the environment has been increasing over the years. However, most research has focused on marine environments, leaving a gap of knowledge on microplastic contamination in freshwater lakes which are important sources of drinking water. In this study, microplastic contamination in two Swedish freshwater lakes that serve as drinking water reservoirs, Lake Vombsjön (mainly agriculture in catchment) and Lake Bolmen (mainly forestry in catchment) was compared. The aim was to determine if land use influences microplastic abundance as well as the relative distribution of different types of microplastics between lakes as well as between the sediment and the water column. Nine sediment and nine water samples were collected in April 2018 around each lake. Microplastics in water and sediment samples were extracted using Sodium Iodide. There was no significant difference in microplastics abundance in sediment between the two lakes. Microplastics abundance was 155.56± 91.67 sd and 80.56± 59.66 sd per kg dry sediment in Lake Vombsjön and Lake Bolmen respectively. Fibres were the most common type of microplastics, whereas proportions of films, pellets and fragments did not differ significantly between lakes or between the water column and sediment. The presence of microplastics in both water and sediment is an indication of the contribution of land use in microplastics pollution. In Lake Bolmen, the heavy use of fishing nets for commercial fishing, may even contribute to the high proportion of microplastic fibres in the water column. This study shows that microplastics are omnipresent even in fresh water lakes used for supplying drinking water and are considered clean. Therefore, there is a need to curb the increasing threat of microplastics pollution through minimizing their transference from drainage basins into water bodies.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. , p. 22
National Category
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-37254OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-37254DiVA, id: diva2:1222617
External cooperation
Sydvatten
Educational program
Master's Programme in Applied Environmental Science
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2018-06-25 Created: 2018-06-21 Last updated: 2018-06-25Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf