Abstract
The story of human civilization will remain incomplete without addressing the contribution of rivers in our life. The riverine system is the largest source of the freshwater aquatic body. River confluences and its tributaries play a significant role in human life. Today, the riverine systems from all over the world especially the South-Asian rivers are moving towards an alarming situation due to anthropogenic pollution. South Asia, the cultural and economically develo** part of the Asian continent, is now combating successive increases in high population rate, urbanization and industrialization. All these factors are cumulatively leading towards riverine pollution. Plastics, especially microplastics pollution, are one of the major threats to the degradation of riverine health due to high dependence on plastics to meet expectations of daily life. Studies from different sources reveal that most of the rivers of the world are getting polluted by microplastics (<5 mm in diameter). Natural weathering processes transform the plastics into microplastics which pose a serious threat to the aquatic biota and food chains. Remediation strategies are still less understood for this new-age pollutant. This article is an initiative to gather data on plastics and microplastics pollution in the riverine system and a scientific overview of the present situation.
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Moon, U.M., Mondal, C., Saha, N.C., Hossain, A. (2022). Microplastics in Freshwater Riverine Systems: Brief Profile, Trophic-Level Transfer and Probable Remediation. In: Patra, B.C., Shit, P.K., Bhunia, G.S., Bhattacharya, M. (eds) River Health and Ecology in South Asia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83553-8_6
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