A new report has found that even some of Pennsylvania’s cleanest waterways, including those around the Lehigh Valley, have not escaped being polluted by plastics. WDIY’s Sarit Laschinsky has more.
The nonprofit PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center reported that it tested 50 waterways across Pennsylvania for microplastic pollution, including six in and around the Lehigh Valley.
Microplastics are pieces that are less than 5mm in length, or smaller than a grain of rice. They pose several hazards to wildlife, and researchers says the plastic, and its contained chemicals, could also affect human health.
The tested waterways are categorized as Exceptional Value or High Quality, or as Class A Coldwater Trout Fishing streams, by state agencies.
According to the recently-released report, 100% of the samples – from waterways considered to be of the highest ecological value, and some of the state’s cleanest - contained microplastics.
Of the results, 100% of samples had microfibers (primarily from clothing or textiles) and 84% had microfragments (from harder plastics or feedstock) or microfilm (from plastic bags or flexible packaging.) Only 2% of sites had microbeads, which come primarily from cosmetic products.
Around the Valley, the Lehigh River was found to contain three types of microplastics, along with the Little Lehigh, Bushkill and Monocacy creeks.
The Saucon and Little Bushkill creeks were each found to contain two types of microplastics.
PennEnvironment said legislators from the local to the federal level should implement several policies to cut down on plastic usage which range from local bans on single use plastics, to modernizing Pennsylvania’s recycling law, to developing green infrastructure and stormwater programs.
The group's full report can be found here, and an interactive map is also available.
(Original air-date: 10/27/22)
