Identifying microplastic contamination in drinking water: analysis and evaluation using spectroscopic methods

Plastics are ubiquitous and so are microplastics. Plastics that are found in the environment slowly decay into small fragments called microplastics. Shape, size, thickness and their shades play an important role in determining their degradation. Plastics that are less than 5 mm in diameter are microplastics. Environmental exposures, quality of the plastic and plastic degradation are the three important factors that influence the shape of the microplastic. Long exposure in the environment has multiple effects on the plastics. The predominant way of microplastics entering the human body is via ingestion for example drinking waters, tank waters, eatables, etc. Recent researches reveal the presence of microplastic in human blood, placenta, in the guts of whales, fishes, turtles, etc. In this paper, a novel method is executed in analysing and determining the microplastic fragments. Also, drinking water samples were tested and analysed proving the presence of microplastics in drinking water.