TSU study on microplastic in the Yenisei published in Water
The high-ranking journal Water has published the results of a pilot study by a TSU group researching microplastic in the rivers of Siberia – “Evidence for Microplastics Contamination of the Remote Tributary of the Yenisei River, Siberia –The Pilot Study Results”. According to it, the region of the Yenisei studied is much less polluted than many other major rivers.
“We gathered samples of water and bottom sediments from the Yenisei and its longest tributary, Nizhnyaya Tunguska, in summer 2021. The research was supported by a grant from the Eastern Siberian Oil Company (ESOC),” – says Julia Frank, head of the TSU Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology. “We counted up the items from 150 micrometers to 5 millimeters. The concentrations demonstrated that the pollution level in these rivers is relatively low: 4.5 items per cubic meter of water.”
In comparison, a study of Swiss rivers demonstrated a mean pollution level of 7 items per cubic meter; the Rhein River system’s pollution level is 9 items per cubic meter; and the level of microplastic reached 13 items per cubic meter in the Los Angeles River. It is difficult to compare numbers, because there is no standard size for counting microplastic items – different research groups count items of the size allowed by their instruments.
Read more: https://en.tsu.ru/news/tsu-study-on-microplastic-in-the-yenisei-published-in-water/
