The abundance of microplastics (MPs) in the aquatic environment is increasingly threatening the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and human health. Moreover, conventional raw water treatment for treated water used for drinking water supply has not been able to remove MPs, which can cause biomagnification and accumulation in the human body. Information regarding the distribution and characteristics of MPs, which contaminate raw water for treated water, still needs to be provided, which becomes the aim of current research. The objectives of this research are to determine the abundance and characterization of MPs in raw water for treated water in the primary irrigation canals of Karawang, which originates from the Citarum Watershed. Fifty water samples were taken along 50.00 km of primary irrigation canals with 1.00 km from each point by the volume reduction method using two modified manta trawls in duplicates. MPs were prepared, observed, and analyzed using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration method, Olympus BX-41 microscopes, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry (ATR-FTIR), respectively. The results showed that MPs had contaminated raw water for treated water along the primary irrigation canals of Karawang as much as 48.33-339.17 particles/L, which was dominated by less than 1.00 mm of particles and fragments in size and shapes, respectively. The polymer of contaminated MPs was dominated by polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride with similarities of 80.11%-92.26%, 81.26%-87.44%, and 88.96%. The development and improvement of management for water resources, solid waste, wastewater, and drinking water supply systems in Karawang are recommended to address the potential for MPs contamination, consumption, and biomagnification to humans.
Sari et al. (Thu,) studied this question.