Not only are tiny plastic particles showing up in the fish we eat, but they’re in nearly all the tap water we drink, says an investigation by Orb Media. The research examined samples from around the world, and 83 percent of them contained microplastics.
“The US had the highest contamination rate, at 94 percent, with plastic fibres found in tap water sampled at sites including Congress buildings, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York. Lebanon and India had the next highest rates,” says The Guardian.
Scientists worry that the smallest microplastics can penetrate cells and thus organs, as well as harbor pathogens or chemicals on their surface area.
“The scale of global microplastic contamination is only starting to become clear, with studies in Germany finding fibres and fragments in all of the 24 beer brands they tested, as well as in honey and sugar. In Paris in 2015, researchers discovered microplastic falling from the air, which they estimated deposits three to 10 tonnes of fibres on the city each year, and that it was also present in the air in people’s homes,” says The Guardian.
How the plastic is infiltrating our water supply isn’t completely understood, but it’s possible that it accumulates in the atmosphere. As clothes and carpets, among other products, break down, their particles float into the air, before landing back in waterways, like reservoirs and streams.