104-3 Sources and Sinks of Anthropogenic Fiber Contamination in Surface Drinking Water Sources: A Natural Experiment from Three Finger Lakes in Upstate New York, USA

Session: A Showcase of Undergraduate Research in Hydrogeology (Posters)

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Abstract:

Fibers are the most common microplastic morphology contaminating surface drinking water. In addition to plastic fibers, manufactured natural fibers derived from clothes washing and drying also contaminate surface water and may have similar behavior to petroleum-derived manufactured fibers. Since drinking water is an important route for human ingestion of fibers, identifying the sources and sinks of manufactured fibers has important public health and policy implications. We studied three Finger Lakes: Seneca, Hemlock, and Canadice, all of which provide drinking water to our region. These lakes offer a natural experiment for fiber sources and sinks. Seneca Lake is surrounded by developed land and receives significant treated wastewater, while Hemlock and Canadice are protected by State Forest, have almost no watershed development, and do not receive wastewater. Hemlock and Seneca contain invasive, filter-feeding Dreissena mussels; Canadice does not. In this system, we tested three hypotheses: 1) Watershed development increases fiber contamination; 2) Dreissena contributes to reducing fiber load, particularly in bottom water; 3) Fiber contamination positively correlates with precipitation, a potential source. We sampled surface and bottom water from all three lakes in August, September and October of 2023, and in June and July of 2025. We sampled integrated (wet and dry) atmospheric deposition in the week before each 2025 sampling campaign. Fibers that fluoresced under UV (360–380 nm) were counted from filtered water and normalized to a standard liter. We analyzed a subset of these fibers under Microscope FT-IR. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was the most common petroleum-derived manufactured polymer. Other plastics included: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), nylon, polybutylene terepthalate (PBT), polycarbonate (PC), polymethylpentene (PMP), polyoxymethylene (POM), polyvinylalcohol (PVAL), and polyvinylcarbonate (PVC). Cellulose-derived manufactured fibers including cotton, ramie, and rayon were also identified. Although the number of fibers varied significantly among sampling dates, all three lakes had statistically indistinguishable levels of fibers. This suggests that watershed size, degree of development, and wastewater input did not influence fiber contamination. Precipitation explained between 35–60% of the variation in the number of fibers in a lake. Canadice lake bottom water had more fibers compared to Dreissena-infested lakes, a difference that was statistically significant (p < 0.002) but small.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-8238

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