Microplastics Found In Bucks County Streams: Report

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Of the 53 waterways tested across Pennsylvania, microplastic contamination was found in every one of them, including the Delaware River and Bucks County streams.

That's according to a new report released by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center using methodology developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report provides new data on the presence of microplastics in water samples taken from Delaware River, Neshaminy Creek and Tohickon Creek. Microplastics are defined as pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters in diameter, which is smaller than a grain of rice.

“The results of this study should set off alarms for all Pennsylvanians who love our state's rivers and streams," Faran Savitz, Conservation Associate at the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, said in a news release Wednesday. "The staggering amount of microplastics we found likely means that no river, lake, or stream is safe from this increasingly common contaminant."

Results for each waterway and photos from sampling can be found in this map from the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. Locations are tagged at the approximate point where samples were taken.

The report's authors recommend passing federal bills such as the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which includes single-use plastic bans and producer responsibility provisions, and updating stormwater infrastructure to better capture rain and runoff laced with microplastics.

Rep. Perry Warren [D-Yardley], who took part in Wednesday's press conference announcing the results of the report, has proposed legislation that would reduce plastic water bottle usage.

"When our district office staff and I held a litter pickup event at Tyler State Park, the park staff kept the park so clean we had to go deep into the weeds to find litter to pick up," Warren said. "However, the waste we can’t see, the microplastics, are as or more toxic as the waste we can see."

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