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QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF MICROPLASTICS IN THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER - ATLANTA'S MOST IMPORTANT DRINKING WATER SOURCE

Abstract

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a pervasive environmental issue with significant ecological and human health implications. The degradation of macroplastics (>5mm) has led to an accumulation of micro (1 nm to 5 mm) and nanoplastics (<1 nm) in natural environments and human body through food chain and drinking water. Recent research has discovered that microplastics are small enough to penetrate biological cells and tissues, causing serious concerns in public health. This study focuses on the analysis of microplastics in bodies of water along or connected to the Chattahoochee River by using the fluorescence properties of microplastics. Water samples were collected from 13 sites monthly between July and October by volunteers. For each sample, four liters of water were taken from the river surface and filtered through a stack of two metal sieves (500 microns and 63 microns respectively). These samples were delivered to GGC chemistry lab and analyzed using vacuum filtration and imaging under UV light. This research seeks to investigate microplastics in the local drinking water sources, providing the first publicly available quantitative data in this region, as well as establishing a benchmark for future references.

Acknowledgements

We thank Annie Lin for training us on how to analyze the water samplesandthe high school volunteers in collecting water samples monthly. We also thank Dr. Qing Shao, Dr. Pingping Song, and Dr. Ying Guo for gathering and delivering them to our lab. This research was funded byGGC VPASA/Provost SeedFunds,GGC STEC4500undergraduate research funds,and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action funds.

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