On April 10, the Nebraska Water Center hosted a special seminar on microplastics and nanoplastics in drinking water. Visiting researcher Dr. Thomas Grischek, professor of Water Management at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Dresden, Germany, provided an engineer’s perspective on the management and treatment of microplastic and nanoplastic particles in drinking water.
Dr. Grischek presented a comprehensive seminar on microplastics and nanoplastics in water systems, sharing research findings from his university's work over the past six years. He discussed sediment and water sample pre-treatment and detection methods including electroseparation, density separation, flow cytometry, FTIR and LDIR, with particular focus on developing techniques to analyze particles in river sediments, groundwater, and drinking water. The presentation covered current knowledge gaps, particularly regarding nanoplastics below 1 micrometer, and reviewed European Union guidelines for measuring microplastics in drinking water, which currently only address particles larger than 20 micrometers.
Dr. Grischek’s research found very low levels of microplastics in drinking water samples, with an average of two particles per cubic meter, though he noted significant variation in published results ranging from less than one to 100,000 particles per cubic meter. The seminar concluded with discussions about potential risks, analytical challenges, and future research needs, including the development of standard methods for comparing results across different studies.
The seminar recording is available on the Nebraska Water Center’s YouTube channel, https://youtu.be/8mONbWqyvnA?si=IN-T77dpPWZZrcPl.
The slides from Dr. Grischek’s presentation are linked above.
