Rachel Hurley

Norwegian Institute for Water Research | NIVA · International Environment and Development

Fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) is an important basal resource in stream ecosystems for deposit- and filter-feeding macroinvertebrates (collectively ‘particle feeders’). Microplastics (MP) share many characteristics with FPOM (e.g. size range, surface area to volume ratios) and are potentially consumed by particle feeders. Accordingly, MP co...

The interaction between environmental plastic and trace elements is an issue of concern. Understanding their interaction mechanisms is key to evaluate the potential threats for the environment. To this regard, consolidating confidence in extraction protocols can help in understanding the amount of different species present on plastic surface, as we...

Reference materials (RMs) are vital tools in the validation of methods used to detect environmental pollutants. Microplastics, a relatively new environmental pollutant, require a variety of complex approaches to address their presence in environmental samples. Both interlaboratory comparison (ILC) studies and RMs are essential to support the valida...

Plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is of growing concern. Aquatic ecosystems play an important role in transport and storage of plastic waste from land-based storage to riverine and marine environments. This focus issue brings together new insights on the sources, transport dynamics, fate, and impact of plastic pollution through aquatic environ...

River systems are a key environmental recipient of macroplastic pollution. Understanding the sources of macroplastic to rivers and the mechanisms controlling fate and transport is essential to identify and tailor measures that can effectively reduce global plastic pollution. Several guidelines exist for monitoring macroplastic in rivers; yet, no si...

Microplastics (MPs) are one of the most widespread contaminants worldwide, yet their risks for freshwater ecosystems have seldom been investigated. In this study, we performed a large monitoring campaign to assess the presence and risks of MPs in Amazonian freshwater ecosystems. We investigated MP pollution in 40 samples collected along 1500 km in...

Unlabelled: Microplastic is now ubiquitous in freshwater, sediment and biota, globally. This is as a consequence of inputs from, for example, waste mismanagement, effluents from wastewater treatment plants and surface runoff from agricultural areas. In this study, we investigated point source pollution of plastic to an upland stream, originating f...

Plastic pollution in an aquatic ecosystem may negatively impact ecology, aquatic species, and causes economic damage. Rivers provide an excellent opportunity for intercepting plastic pollution before it reaches the ocean. The aim of this study is to identify and quantify the number of plastic debris in the Citarum River. Plastic debris was collecte...

Soils are the main recipients of microplastic pollution that is subsequently transferred to aquatic ecosystems. Land-based sources dominate microplastics inputs to the ocean but knowledge gaps about their accumulation in soil, run-off and in-stream transport has hindered assessments of regional/global distributions and marine ecosystem exposure. Th...

Microplastic (MP) ingestion has been shown for various organisms; however, knowledge of their potential adverse effects on freshwater invertebrates remains limited. Here we assessed the ingestion capacity and the associated effects of polyester fibers (26‐5761 µm) and car tire particles (25‐75 µm) on freshwater invertebrates under acute and chronic...

Microplastics have been detected in lake environments globally, including in remote regions. Agricultural and populated areas are known to congregate several inputs and release pathways for microplastic. This study investigated microplastic (50–5000 µm) contamination in five Danish freshwater lakes with catchments dominated by arable land use. The...

Improper handling of plastic waste and related chemical pollution has garnered much attention in recent years owing to the associated detrimental impacts on human health and the environment. This article reports an overview of the main interlinkages between persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and plastic in the waste management system of India. Bo...

Plastic waste generation has been increasing over the last decades. Rivers represent complex environments where plastics may be stored and remobilized. Studies on riverine plastic, including riverbank contamination, are still lacking. Riverbank surveys were carried out in the Citarum River, Indonesia, at three river sections in Purwakarta, Karawang...

The restoration effort to clean up the river, known as “Citarum Harum” requires monitoring to estimate both the composition and the volumes of plastic pollution. The objective of the monitoring is to obtain a scientific baseline of marine plastics from Citarum River as a function of other influencing aspects. A static net trawl (60 m x 10 m, mesh s...

Inorganic Macro-debris (IMD) such as plastics can negatively affect aquatic life and human wellbeing. Information about IMD transport in river systems is required to optimize prevention, mitigation, and reduction strategies. However, this data is currently lacking. Manual counting technique can be used to quantify and characterize macro-debris cont...

Given the increasing attention on the occurrence of microplastics in the environment, and the potential environmental threats they pose, there is a need for researchers to move quickly from basic understanding to applied science that supports decision makers in finding feasible mitigation measures and solutions. At the same time, they must provide...

Sewage sludge used as agricultural fertilizer has been identified as an important source of microplastics (MPs) to the environment. However, the fate of MPs added to agricultural soils is largely unknown. This study investigated the fate of MPs in agricultural soils amended with sewage sludge and the role of surface water runoff as a mechanism driv...

The properties of plastic have established it as an essential material in modern society. Yet, the extensive use of plastic and, in particular, mismanaged disposal of plastic products have culminated in environmental pollution that now spans a global scale (Geyer et al., 2017; Rochman, 2020). This contamination exists across wide size spectrum of p...

Research on plastic leakage and marine debris has developed significantly the last few years, but our knowledge on the scope of the problem, environmental and societal effects, and potential solutions is still limited. Accurate data on plastic waste generation, leakage to rivers and waterways, and total flux to the marine environment is lacking. Th...

In recent years, the focus of microplastic research has begun to observe a shift from the marine towards terrestrial and freshwater environments. This is in response to a greater awareness of the predominance of land-based sources in marine microplastic contamination. In this regard, terrestrial and freshwater environments are often perceived as co...

Wastewater discharge to rivers is a controversial practice that compromises water quality, aquatic habitats and human health worldwide. Here we show how untreated wastewater laced with microplastics and raw sewage is routinely discharged into UK river flows that are too low to disperse the microplastics downstream. These ‘dry weather’ spills lead t...

Chitinaceous organisms have been found to ingest microplastic; however, a standardised, validated, and time- and cost-efficient method for dissolving these organisms without affecting microplastic particles is still required. This study tested four protocols for dissolving organisms with a chitin exoskeleton: 1) potassium hydroxide (KOH) + chitinas...

Abrasion of tire wear is one of the largest sources of microplastics to the environment. Although most tire particles settle into soils, studies on their ecotoxicological impacts on the terrestrial environment are scarce. Here, the effects of tire particles (<180 μm) on three ecologically relevant soil invertebrate species, the enchytraeid worm Enc...

Microplastics (MPs) are considered to be ubiquitous contaminants in freshwater ecosystems, yet their sources and pathways at the river catchment scale need to be better determined. This study assessed MP (55-5000 µm) pollution in a Mediterranean river catchment (central Spain) and aimed to identify the importance of wastewater as an environmental p...

Chitinaceous organisms have been found to ingest microplastic; however, a standardised, validated, and time- and cost-efficient method for dissolving these organisms without affecting microplastic particles is still required. This study tested four protocols for dissolving organisms with a chitin exoskeleton: 1) potassium hydroxide (KOH) + chitinas...

Microplastics are a diverse category of pollutants, comprising a range of constituent polymers modified by varying quantities of additives and sorbed pollutants, and exhibiting a range of morphologies, sizes, and visual properties. This diversity, as well as their microscopic size range, presents numerous barriers to identification and enumeration....

Between April to November of 2017, microplastics (MPs) were analysed in biosolids from two separate suppliers, and in the soils of three agricultural fields to which they were applied, in Ontario, Canada. Soils of a control site with no history of biosolid application were also examined. High MP concentrations of between 8.7 × 10³ MP kg⁻¹ and 1.4 ×...

The occurrence of plastic waste in the environment has become a central topic on the global agenda. Recently, significant attention has been paid to this issue, with a particular focus on small plastic particles, microplastics, in the marine environment. This has resulted in a large volume of scientific research and public and media attention to th...

Title: Plastic in Agriculture: Sources, mass balance, and transport to local aquatic environments Year: 2019 Author(s): Sissel Brit Ranneklev, Rachel Hurley, Inger Lise Nerland Bråte og Christian Vogelsang Source: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, ISBN 978-82-577-7153-9 The aim of this preliminary project was to identify sources of plasti...

Polyester fiber is one of the most abundant types of microplastics in the environment. A major proportion of the fibers entering wastewater treatment plants end up in sewage sludge, which is used as a soil fertilizer in many countries. As their impacts in the terrestrial environment are still poorly understood, we studied the effects of polyester f...

On 26th December (Boxing Day) 2015 an exceptional flood event occurred in the Irwell catchment, UK, whilst the neighbouring Mersey catchment experienced a much more typical winter runoff event. This provided an opportunity to examine the influence of high magnitude hydrological processes on the behaviour of fine‐grained metal‐contaminated bed sedim...

Microplastic (MP) contamination is ubiquitous in the environment and many species worldwide have been shown to contain MP. The ecological impact of MP pollution is still unknown, thus there is an urgent need for more knowledge. One key task is to identify species suitable as sentinels for monitoring in key eco-compartments, such as coastal waters....

https://sciencetrends.com/plastics-in-our-soils-new-territory-in-the-plastic-contamination-issue/

Complex and organic-rich solid substrates such as sludge and soil have been shown to be contaminated by microplastics; however, methods for extracting plastic particles have not yet been systemically tested or standardised. This study investigated four main protocols for the removal of organic material during analysis of microplastics from complex...

The main objective of this project was to characterize microplastics in sewage sludge from Norwegian domestic wastewater treatment plants applying different wastewater and sludge treatment technologies. WWTPs were selected to cover the three main domestic WWTP categories in Norway and the main applied sludge treatment processes. Fenton’s reagent wa...

Microplastic contamination of the oceans is one of the world’s most pressing environmental concerns. The terrestrial component of the global microplastic budget is not well understood because sources, stores and fluxes are poorly quantified. We report catchment-wide patterns of microplastic contamination, classified by type, size and density, in ch...

The majority of micro(nano)plastic research has been concentrated on the marine environment. Whilst the ocean represents an ultimate sink for contamination, this focus overlooked key processes and pathways of micro(nano)plastics in the terrestrial environment that are of critical importance for their global environmental budget and exposure of huma...

Miljødirektoratet tasked NIVA to investigate methods used for the extraction of microplastics from environmental samples of blue mussels and marine sediment. Presented here are the results of methods tested, as well as NIVAs recommendations for future monitoring of microplastics in the Norwegian environment. Based on the current literature and this...

Microplastic contamination of the aquatic environment is a global issue. Microplastics can be ingested by organisms leading to negative physiological impacts. The ingestion of microplastics by freshwater invertebrates has not been reported outside the laboratory. Here we demonstrate the ingestion of microplastic particles by Tubifex tubifex from bo...

Purpose: Manchester is often heralded as the first industrial city. Large volumes of physical and liquid contaminants were released into its river network throughout the industrial period up to the latter part of the twentieth century. Water quality has improved dramatically in recent decades, but, given their environmental significance, it is impo...

Manchester is often heralded as the 'first industrial city'. Rapid industrialisation in the 18th and 19th centuries saw vast quantities of fine-grained sediments (e.g. boiler ash and cinders) and contaminants (e.g. dyes, bleaches, and chemicals) deposited into the river channels of the Irwell and Mersey in a manner largely unchecked until the 1970s...

Between 1750 and 1900 the city of Manchester was transformed. In the city and surrounding towns enormous volumes of fine-grained sediments (clays, silts and sands) were generated and much of this material, contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants, ended up in urban river channels that became choked with sediments. Water quality was dire....