RT journal article
T1 Influence of tourism on microplastic contamination at wastewater treatment plants in the coastal municipality of Chiclana de la Frontera
A1 Franco del Pino, Ana Amelia
A1 Iglesias Arroyo, Diana
A1 Egea-Corbacho Lopera, Agata
A1 Martín García, Ana Pilar
A1 Quiroga Alonso, José María
A1 Coello Oviedo, María Dolores
A2 Tecnologías del Medio Ambiente
K1 Microplastics
K1 FTIR
K1 Wastewater treatment plant
K1 Tourism
K1 Seasonality
AB The tourism is one of the most important sources of the economy in the Bay of Cadiz. Specifically, the municipality of Chiclana de la Frontera, with a population lower than 90,000 citizens, located in the southeast of Spain. During the summer season the population duplicates leading to an increment in flow at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). These facilities have been reported as a source of microplastics (MPs) into marine ecosystems, therefore the aim of the present study is to investigate if the tourism affects the presence, discharge and in the receiving environment. Samples were taken at the influent and effluent of the municipal WWTPs (one located at the urban area and other located at resort area) during 2021 (including low and high season). MPs were collected and extracted from wastewater matrixes following the method recommended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and UTS treatment to reduce organic matter and cellulose, respectively. The analysis of the samples was performed according to their abundance, shape, size, and type of polymer, along with the removal rates of MPs at WWTPs. The results showed heterogeneous MPs abundance ranging from 1246.4 to 345.7 MPs/L and 72.9 to 4.2, in the influent and effluent, respectively, increasing the presence of MPs at resort WWTP during high season. Fibers were the predominant shape within all the samples. A total of 17 polymers were identified, by ATR-FTIR, where Acrylates, PE and PA were the largest polymers found. Despite the high MPs retention performance of the WWTPs analyzed (84.1–99.3 %), a combined contribution of approximately 1.4 × 107–5.9 ×108 MPs/d to the aquatic environment was estimated. Finally, these results indicate that the increase of MPs in the wastewater at WWTP-B was related with the population increase as a consequence of summer tourism
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30046
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30046
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 07-nov-2026