Microplastics found in Pennsylvania’s cleanest streams

What are microplastics?

Plastic doesn’t biodegrade. Instead it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. When it measures around 5mm or smaller, about the size of a grain of rice, it becomes classified as microplastic. Microplastics are in the air and water, they’re consumed by animals, and they’ve been found in the human body. 

The results of our microplastics water testing

From October 2021 to May 2022, PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, in partnership with stakeholders and volunteers from around Pennsylvania, collected 300 samples of water from 50 rivers and streams across the commonwealth. The samples were then tested for microplastics at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia. Every waterway tested had microplastics. The waterways tested were classified as either Exceptional Value, High Quality or Class A Coldwater Trout by the Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP describes these classifications as “standards, which are designed to safeguard Pennsylvania’s streams, rivers and lakes, consist of both use designations and the criteria necessary to protect those uses…streams with excellent water quality may be designated High Quality Waters (HQ) or Exceptional Value Waters (EV).”

This map shows approximate sampling locations for each of the 50 waterways and includes what types of microplastics were found and the counties the waterways flow through. For the full data see our report Pennsylvania’s Pristine Waterways and Microplastics: A Survey of Exceptional Value, High Quality, and Class A Trout rivers and streams. Results for a previous round of testing done on iconic waterways from around the commonwealth can be found in our report Microplastics in Pennsylvania: a Survey of Waterways and in this map.