First Evidence of Microplastics Burden in Surface Waters of Budhabalanga Estuary, Chandipur, Eastern India: Potential Threat to Aquatic Ecosystem

Abstract

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a new global concern because of its ubiquitous and persistent nature. Due to the rising use of plastics and discharge of plastic waste into coastal water bodies from point and non-point sources, the occurrence of microplastics along coastal ecosystems has become very prevalent. The current study is the first of its kind to evaluate the presence of microplastics in the surface water of river estuary along the coast of Odisha. Six GPS-fixed locations were used to collect the surface water samples from the Budhabalanga river estuary in Chandipur, Odisha, India. The samples were then subjected to further investigation to determine the types of microplastics present. The average microplastic abundance, according to our findings, ranged from 9.33 ± 2.11 items L⁻¹ to 28.50 ± 2.77 items L⁻¹. Microplastics come in a variety of colours and shapes, but the most prevalent kind is fibre-shaped and black in colour. The pollution load index of the sampling area was calculated to be 4.25 which is categorized under ecological risk level I. FE-SEM images clearly showed the topology of microplastics and ATR-FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polycarbonate (PC), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polystyrene (PS) at sampling stations. Our investigation provides useful information that helps to reduce the ecological risk in habitats connected with contaminated sites, including both aquatic and terrestrial habitats.