Pennsylvania’s bodies of water, including the Lehigh and Delaware rivers as well as Little Lehigh and Saucon creeks, are facing a tiny environmental enemy with a big-sounding name — microplastics — according to new data.
The PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, which issued a 20-page report Wednesday after testing 53 waterways statewide, paints a damning portrait of the environmental harm being done along lakes, streams and rivers, many of which serve communities. The Delaware River Watershed, for example, provides drinking water to 15 million people and includes the Lehigh Valley.
The group’s study, which used methodology developed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, notes that river cleanups and conservation efforts help with more visible forms of litter and pollution, but that the small size of microplastics makes it easy for them to travel from their source to waterways.
The group said it’s almost impossible for water treatment plants to filter out these pollutants, which come from textiles and are shed through normal wear and tear or routine machine washing. And the plastic waste, officials said, poses environmental and health threats, attracting pollutants that may already exist in the environment at trace levels, accumulating toxins, and delivering them to the wildlife that eat them, often “bioaccumulating” through the food chain.
“It’s in our air, so we breathe it; it’s in our food, so we eat it; it’s in our water, so we drink it,” PennEnvironment’s Faran Savitz said, joining others at an online news conference who called microplastics harmful to humans and wildlife.
Savitz said the study’s results “should set off alarms for all Pennsylvanians who love our state’s rivers and streams. The staggering amount of microplastics we found likely means that no river, lake or stream is safe from this increasingly common contaminant.”
The project took samples from waterways during 2020 and tested them for four types of microplastics, including fibers from clothing and textiles, film from bags and beads from cosmetic products.
The report also outlines possible solutions to tackle the problem, including stronger federal and state efforts to ban single-use plastics like straws and takeout containers, and better capturing rain and runoff laced with microplastics. Philadelphia and other communities said Wednesday they are suing the state General Assembly to remove a “preemption law” that strips the ability of municipalities to implement ordinances addressing waste and litter from single-use plastics.
Brendan Thomas, a spokesperson with the Plastics Industry Association who was contacted ahead of the news conference, said that, in general, no determinative science shows microplastics are detrimental to humans. He also noted other areas rely on plastic materials, such as in medicine’s use for items like surgical gloves, masks and instruments.
“The idea that plastic is intrinsically harmful is wrong,” he said. “But we don’t want plastics in the environment. No company seeks to harm the environment.”
PennEnvironment officials said their goal is not to remove all plastics, only single-use products such as grocery sacks. They say reducing those products would not seriously damage the state’s economy, yet it would help save the environment.
“I sort of go with the precautionary principle,” said David Valinsky, a Drexel University environmental professor. “It’s better to sort of make sure we are playing it safe with human and wildlife health before we blatantly say there is no harm.”
The nonprofit PennEnvironment is part of the Public Interest Network, which advocates on issues such as health, consumer protection and more.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at 610-820-6694 or asalamone@mcall.com.
Microplastics in waterways
PennEnvironment will hold an online event beginning 6 p.m. Thursday to discuss the research results about microplastics in state waterways that the organization released Wednesday. Penn State’s Sherri “Sam” Mason, whom the organization describes as one of the nation’s foremost experts on microplastics, will take part in a discussion. Visit pennenvironment.org to learn more.
