A new study, said to be the first of its kind, has discovered previously unknown plastic contamination in the tap water of cities around the world.
“According to exclusive research by Orb Media, a top journalism site, and researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps from New York to New Delhi with women, children, men, and babies consuming plastic in their water-based drinks,” said Bengt Rittri, a Swedish environmental entrepreneur and founder of Bluewater, a leader in drinking water technology.
Bengt added he was deeply concerned that the study had pointed to the U.S. as having the highest level of contamination, with perhaps 94 percent of water contaminated with microscopic plastic fibers.
“It’s now no secret plastics have entered the human food chain as a result of being ingested by fish and stored in their intestines and fat, but the latest study by Orb Media is the first time we’ve been handed evidence that we are also ingesting plastic from our tap drinking our tap water,” says Bengt.
Bengt said the findings resulted from a 10 month investigation by Orb Media across six continents. The Swedish entrepreneur notes that micro plastics are in the stomachs of almost one in three mackerel caught in the Baltic, according to Stockholm University’s Baltic Sea Centre.
Photo: Plastic junk in Thailand’s Chao Phraya river [Credit: iStockphotoSayan Moongklang]
