Our library features many hundreds of entries.

To search among them, click "Search" below to pull down options, including filtering by document type, author, year, and keyword.
Find these options under "Show only items where." Or you can also sort by author, title, type, and year clicking the headings below.

Export 1 results:
Filters: Author is Deshpande, A.D.  [Clear All Filters]
2021
Werbowski, L. M.; Gilbreath, A.; Munno, K.; Zhu, X.; Grbic, J.; Wu, T.; Sutton, R.; Sedlak, M.; Deshpande, A. D.; Rochman, C. M. 2021. Urban Stormwater Runoff: A Major Pathway for Anthropogenic Particles, Black Rubbery Fragments, and Other Types of Microplastics to Urban Receiving Waters. Environmental Science and Technology Water . SFEI Contribution No. 1040.

Stormwater runoff has been suggested to be a significant pathway of microplastics to aquatic habitats; yet, few studies have quantified microplastics in stormwater. Here, we quantify and characterize urban stormwater runoff from 12 watersheds surrounding San Francisco Bay for anthropogenic debris, including microplastics. Depth-integrated samples were collected during wet weather events. All stormwater runoff contained anthropogenic microparticles, including microplastics, with concentrations ranging from 1.1 to 24.6 particles/L. These concentrations are much higher than those in wastewater treatment plant effluent, suggesting urban stormwater runoff is a major source of anthropogenic debris, including microplastics, to aquatic habitats. Fibers and black rubbery fragments (potentially tire and road wear particles) were the most frequently occurring morphologies, comprising ∼85% of all particles across all samples. This suggests that mitigation strategies for stormwater should be prioritized. As a case study, we sampled stormwater from the inlet and outlet of a rain garden during three storm events to measure how effectively rain gardens capture microplastics and prevent it from contaminating aquatic ecosystems. We found that the rain garden successfully removed 96% of anthropogenic debris on average and 100% of black rubbery fragments, suggesting rain gardens should be further explored as a mitigation strategy for microplastic pollution.