Condition of European rivers “Alarming”

The French Tara Foundation had carried out a total of 14 exams by the following European rivers: Elbe and Rhine, Ebro in Spain, Garonne, Loire, Rhône, are in France and the Thames in Great Britain and the Tiber in Italy. On average swimming according to the studies “Three particles per cubic meter of water” in the rivers.

3000 plastic particles per second
According to the studies, the microplastic load in these rivers is much lower than in the ten dirty rivers in the world, such as Mekong, Nil and Ganges, where contamination is 40 microplastic particles per cubic meter. However, if one takes into account the power quantities, “we have a current speed of 1000 cubic meters per second in valence in the Rhône,” says the research manager for Ecotoxicology for Water Life of the French research institute CNRS, Jean-François Ghiglione. This means “3000 plastic particles per second”. The microplastics come in the water, among other things, by using plastic bottles and washing synthetic fiber clothing. “The pollution can be found in all European rivers,” says Ghiglione.

“Microplastic parts are smaller than a grain of rice,” explains the CNRS physics -Chemicus Alexendra ter Halle. They are less than five millimeters, the little ones are not recognizable with the naked eye. You can get into the water cycle by washing your synthetic materials by the wear of car tires on the street, but also through cosmetics or the use of plastic granulate by the industry.

Mass of the smallest particles larger than those of the visible
The scientists have met a “surprising” result in their studies: the mass of the smallest particles is larger than the mass visible microplastic particles. In particular, these microscopically small particles are particularly dangerous: because they were distributed throughout the course of the river and were absorbed by many animals and organisms. According to the authors of the study, the finding was also unexpected that a quarter of the microplastics in the French rivers were not about waste, but rather plastic dust in the industry.

EU works on stricter microplastic rules
In Brussels, negotiations for EU legislation are currently underway, which are intended to prescribe stricter rules for dealing with microplastics. According to the designs, they must ensure that plastic granulate does not come into nature due to their production. If that happens, the companies must pay for cleaning work