Nanoplastic Removal Spawns New Industries
Mary-Anna Holden is a former New Jersey BPU Commissioner and Butch Howard is a former South Carolina PSC Commissioner.
If you thought you had heard the last of emerging contaminants, you may be woefully misinformed. Water purveyors, both public and private, are straining to keep up with new threats and demands.
Water and wastewater facilities are constantly vigilant for the next unknown known, such as the growing concerns about microplastics, usually less than five millimeters in size, and then much like establishing levels for PFAs and PFOAs, the needed detection levels are shrinking to the levels of nanoplastics, typically less than one micrometer, or a hundred times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Think about that the next time you get a cup of water from the tap.
You’re probably saying, “Now what?”
Although the study of microplastics is relatively new, scientists are now studying the effects of nanoparticles on the brain. Since nanoplastics are so small, they are able to latch onto nutrients and slip past cells, known as pericytes, that primarily form a barrier that clears toxins from the brain. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases are associated with dysfunctional pericyte cells. Scientists are now investigating connections.