For context, here is a smattering of headlines that emerged recently, regarding microplastics and human health:

The Guardian: Microplastics found deep in lungs of living people for first time

The Guardian: Microplastics found in human blood for first time

Civil Eats: There is an Alarming Amount of Microplastics in Farm Soil—and Our Food Supply

Don’t panic

While it’s important to be aware of the latest research when it comes to microplastics, we mustn’t panic. All of these articles are quick to point out that yes, microplastics are here but no we don’t actually know the full scale of impact…yet!

From Civil Eats: “The full impact of microplastics contamination in agricultural soils, particularly as concentrations increase with time, is unknown.”

From The Guardian, re: lungs: “The impact on health is as yet unknown.”

A rationale for research

Because we don’t yet understand the full size and scope of the problem microplastics may present to human health (and the health of our planet) we must continue studying them. In doing so, we have the potential to get ahead of any possible negative outcomes.

Interviews

Daybreak South with Chris Walker: A group of researchers in the Okanagan have found microplastics in Okanagan lake

News Articles

Global News: Microplastics found in Okanagan Lake, researchers say

OC News: Community collaboration studies microplastics in Okanagan Lake

Castanet: Relatively low levels of microplastics detected in Okanagan Lake, Kelowna wastewater

Kelowna Capital News: Microplastics research being conducted in Okanagan Lake

Infotel: iN VIDEO: Warning issued about microplastics found in Okanagan Lake

The Golden Star: Microplastics research being conducted in Okanagan Lake

Kelowna Daily Courier: Microplastics found in Okanagan Lake

Kelowna Now: Research reveals presence of microplastics in Okanagan Lake

Videos

Kelowna10: WATCH: Do microplastics pose a risk to Okanagan Lake?

Despite their detection, the project team is quick to emphasize that their relative concentrations are low.

Relative to other freshwater samples, microplastics in Okanagan Lake are quite low (as compared to Lake Ontario, for example). Similarly, relative to marine environments, Okanagan Lake is also quite low (as compared to Pacific Ocean datasets, for example). We are encouraged by the relatively low values but we caution that this is a preliminary study. More work is needed to identify point source origins as well as mitigation solutions.

Freshwater results

The freshwater team discovered that microplastics were present in all five sampled locations of Okanagan Lake. In total, about 2.75 grams of plastic were collected across all five sample locations. (out of a total of 155,000L water filtered across all sample sites). The greatest concentration of microplastics was collected below the William R. Bennett bridge and yielded 1.1009g.

Microplastic morphology (fragments, fibres, and films) was highly varied, randomized, and did not follow a distinct pattern. Visual analysis revealed that fragments were the most abundant morphology of microplastic collected, although some fragments mimicked the appearance of fibres. With that being said, film-type plastic was the most distinguishable of the samples but least commonly found due to the ease of degradation and resultant varying sizes.

Fragments were collected at four of five locations, with abundance being greatest in the area south of the William R. Bennett Bridge. Fibres were collected at all locations, with the greatest abundance appearing in the region of the lake south of the Mission Creek outflow. Films were collected at three of five locations, with the area north of the William R. Bennett Bridge and the area south of it yielding the greatest number of films.

Wastewater results

The wastewater team discovered that microplastics were present in both influent and effluent samples. Influent is the water coming into the facility, pre-treated; effluent is what goes out after it has been filtered, processed, and treated.

Based on visual observation, most recovered particles appeared to be microfibers. Some plastic films, fragments, and particles that appeared like microbeads were also observed. The most identified colours of the particles were red, blue, black and clear. Other colours observed included yellow, purple, green and pink colours were also observed.

There may have been some contamination while processing samples that would have impacted data results. For example, during sample collection, plastic bottles and a plastic water pump were used, which could lead to plastic particle shedding and contamination into water samples. Similarly, synthetic clothing worn during collection and analysis could impact samples.

The source of contamination could also be environmental: previous studies have suggested that plastic particles can remain in the air for between one hour and 6.5 days.

What are the solutions?

There are many actions we as individuals can take to prevent more microplastics from entering our freshwater ecosystems.

• Get involved with local beach, stream, or neighbourhood cleanups, to remove plastics and other trash from entering storm drains or waterways.
• Remember to pack out what you pack in when visiting a beach, hiking,  or camping.
• Limit your use of single-use disposable plastics like bags, cutlery, takeout foam food packaging, and straws.
• Consider your garment choices: synthetic clothing sheds microplastic fibres each time you wash them; transition to cotton or other natural fibres. Buy second-hand or on consignment to save on new material production (and save money!).
• Install or invest in microplastic-capturing devices for your washing machine. (e.g. Lint Luv-r, Filtrol, Cora Ball, or Guppy Friend).

Speak up for our water

In addition to individual actions, there are many ways to collectively let our elected officials and business owners (large and small) know that we care about clean, freshwater ecosystems:

• Let your local government officials (Mayor and City Council; MLA; MP) know that you care about clean water and that you support more research into microplastics in your area.
• Support the Government of Canada’s declaration of plastics as a toxic substance.
• Support legislation to ban or remove harmful or excessive amounts of disposable plastics such as bags, straws, and take-out packaging.

We have an opportunity to prevent further, widespread contamination in the lake, as well as to create hope and opportunity for mitigation solutions to be developed.

Well, folks, all the prep and planning has led to this moment: our team officially got onto Okanagan Lake to trawl for some microplastics.

This day would not have been possible without the support and assistance of several key groups. Let’s give them a round of applause!

• The Okanagan Nation Alliance, for generously contributing their research vessel, and two staff and their time to assist us with sampling. Without them, this day would not have happened!
• Okanagan College, for assisting with the sampling and connecting us with a possible option for analyzing these samples in the fall (and Erin and her tiny microscope – so fun to watch little zooplankton zip around the jars)
• UBCO and Ryland Giebelhaus, who joined us on this journey, helped us get our sampling protocols aligned, and assisted with preliminary analysis.
• FreshWater Life and Gregg Howald, steering the ship on this project
• Copper Sky Productions and Jan Vozenilek, capturing the events of this project through his lens. The beautiful visuals you see here are all his work!
• Fresh Outlook Foundation and Joanne De Vries, supporting the communications aspect of this project
• And of course, the OBWB whose grant made this all possible.

The day turned out to be perfect, despite the ever-present smoky skies. Calm water, reasonable temperatures, and enthusiastic deckhands. 🙂 Interestingly, we pulled up what we assume to be ash particles along with organic materials. Once the samples were pulled on deck, they were quickly transferred to glass jars and preserved with ethanol. The jars have been transferred to Okanagan College where they will await further analysis!

Turns out, not all microplastics are created equal. Who knew?

As we dive into the wild world of microplastics, we’re quickly learning that there are many types of microplastics. Let’s start with the big three:

1. films
2. fragments
3. fibres

These are known as “morphologies” or “morphotypes” – think of them as categories. Of course, before we can get to morphology, it’s also helpful to understand that there is another level of microplastics which includes:

1. Primary
2. Secondary

Primary microplastics are purpose-built for a specific task. Think microbeads in face scrubs or toothpaste. Nurdles, or pre-production plastic pellets (what all plastic items are made from) are also an example of primary microplastics. Secondary microplastics are the stuff you see along wrack lines on beaches, the tiny fragments, fibres, and films sloughed off from larger, macro plastics. What is now microplastic once started its life as a bottle, bag, or rope.

In this project, we’re looking for any and all microplastics but we expect we’ll find more secondary microplastics in both Okanagan Lake and Kelowna’s wastewater. Why? Well, for starters, more and more companies are phasing out the use of microbeads in personal care products. There also isn’t a big plastics production industry in Kelowna, an industry where nurdles might be common.

But, we will have to wait and see! Stay tuned for more updates as we gear up to get out in the field.

For more on the big world of small plastics, check out this resource from National Geographic.

When we think of plastic pollution, most of us imagine the ocean with images of sun-bleached or barnacle-covered laundry baskets, fishing debris, or other detritus. We may recall that one photo of the albatross that was going around, with its belly full of plastic. Or, we see what looks like a blue soup: clear ocean water with small, floating bits swirling about, the occasional plastic bag wafting into view.

We imagine marine examples because those are what has captured the public eye with myriad documentaries, photos, videos, and research projects taking place at sea or along our coastlines.

Microplastics in the freshwater environment are still considered to be a contaminant of “emerging concern” that is to say, we still don’t know much about them!

Plus, microplastics in freshwater are a lot harder to see with the naked eye…maybe that’s why they’re called microplastics! 😉

Why is it important to understand microplastics in freshwater?

Because we don’t know much about this issue, we also can’t assess the risk they pose to both aquatic life and human health. But risks they do pose! Microplastics – whether they are primary or secondary – are composed of plastic, made from petroleum with a whole slew of additives (phthalates, bisphenol-A, among others). They (and plastic pollution generally) also have the ability to soak up toxins from their surroundings, in addition to being physically damaging (even in organisms as small as phytoplankton). This toxin-soaking can have a “bioaccumulation” effect where toxins are accumulated as they advance up trophic levels (for example zooplankton ingests microplastics, which are then ingested by a small fish, then a larger fish, and then finally a fish we humans might consume).

In order to manage any risk, we have to know something about the issue and that requires two things: data and regular monitoring. As Kennedy Bucci and Chelsea Rochman suggest in their recent paper, ‘Microplastics: a multidimensional contaminant requires a multidimensional framework for assessing risk:

…microplastic pollution exists as a complex and dynamic mixture of particles, that varies over temporal and spatial scales.

Bucci and Rochman, 2022

They advocate for a multi-disciplinary approach to assessing microplastic risks and instead of simplifying the process, to actually incorporate all of what makes microplastics complex – it is in that complexity that connections can be made.

Resources

There is much to learn about microplastics in freshwater and the research just keeps on coming. Besides the two papers we’ve cited above, here are a few more that informed our own understanding, to help get you started learning more.

• Blair, 2017 – “Micro- and Nanoplastic Pollution of Freshwater and Wastewater Treatment Systems”
• Vermaire et al 2017 – ‘Microplastic abundance and distribution in the open water and sediment of the Ottawa River, Canada, and its tributaries’
• Claudia Campanale, et al 2020 – ‘A Practical Overview of Methodologies for Sampling and Analysis of Microplastics in Riverine Environments’
• Cox et al 2021 – ‘Distribution, abundance and spatial variability of microplastic pollution on the surface of Lake Superior’

Great news! The manta trawl – a key piece of equipment we’ll need for our surface water sampling in Okanagan Lake – arrived today, all the way from Southern California! We’re really grateful for the speediness of our colleague, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, with The 5 Gyres, who got this in the mail overnight to us.

Mimic Nature For Best Results

What is a “manta trawl” you ask? Well, think of a manta ray and you’ll have a good idea as to what it looks like and what it’s doing in the water. Similar to a manta ray, the trawl will skim the very surface layer of the water, propelled forward by the movement of the boat it’s attached to. The mesh on this net is very, very small (0.335 microns, or 0.000335 millimetres!) so it should do a good job at catching microplastics (if they’re there!). Microplastics, as we’ve learned, are any plastic particles less than 5 millimetres in size.

For more on manta rays and microplastics, check out this audio documentary from the BBC, all about studying the way mantas move and operate to come up with solutions for capturing microplastics in wastewater treatment plants before they get out into our watery environments.

Now that we have the manta, it’s time to find a boat and get on the water!