Heavy rains control the floating macroplastic inputs into the sea from coastal Mediterranean rivers: A case study on the Têt River (NW Mediterranean Sea)

This study focuses on the relevance of small watersheds in the macroplastic pollution of coastal environments. It aims to identify and quantify in terms of composition, number and mass, current riverine flows of floating macroplastics (>2.5 cm). Estimates are based on 66 visual monitoring of tota...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2023-06, Vol.877, p.162733-162733, Article 162733
Main Authors: Laverre, M., Kerhervé, P., Constant, M., Weiss, L., Charrière, B., Stetzler, M., González-Fernández, D., Ludwig, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Floating macroplastics
Mediterranean river
Riverine pollution
Temporal variability
Visual monitoring
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Summary:This study focuses on the relevance of small watersheds in the macroplastic pollution of coastal environments. It aims to identify and quantify in terms of composition, number and mass, current riverine flows of floating macroplastics (>2.5 cm). Estimates are based on 66 visual monitoring of total litter over a 4-year-period (2016–2019) in a small coastal Mediterranean river, the Têt River (NW Mediterranean Sea). The plastic fraction represented 97 % of the observed litter, mainly cigarette butts (20.5 %), polystyrene fragments (18.8 %) and light packaging (16.3 %). The Tet River is characterized by frequent flash-flood events caused by heavy rain, that can induce a sudden rise of the water discharge. Such hydroclimatic forcing greatly influence macroplastic flows, both in terms of their average compositions and loads. We have estimated that 354,000 macroplastic items, corresponding to 0.65 tons, are discharged annually from the Tet River into the sea, and that 73 % of them are released during rain events (∼6 % of the year). The short observation distance from the water surface allowed to exhibit the great abundance of small litter (80 % of them were 
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162733