Determinación de la Presencia de Microplásticos en el Agua Lluvia de la Upz 99 (Chapinero) en Bogotá D.C

Abstract

Plastics are among the fastest growing industrial materials in modern industry (Montalvo, 2007), taking into account that their use has increased by leaps and bounds due to their notable characteristics that include being lightweight, highly durable and versatile. , and relatively cheap to produce (Geyer et al., 2017), however, these same properties make most of this material recalcitrant to biodegradation, resulting in its accumulation, rather than decomposition, in landfills. and ecosystems, being more representative in the oceans and coasts (Barnes et al., 2009). For example, in the 1940s there was an annual production of less than 1 million tons, while in 2016 global production reached 335 million tons and 359 million tons in 2018 (Thompson et al., 2009; Meng et al., 2009; al., 2020; Wayman and Niemann, 2021). Furthermore, there is growing concern about the impact that the elimination of this component is having on the environment, since it is now found in almost all ecosystems, especially in aquatic environments (Thompson et al., 2009). Environmental problems mainly result from the lack of reuse and recycling options in many countries. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that the composition of plastic, its uses, its transport and fragmentation into microplastics, which arise from its disposal in the soil, being exposed to physical collisions, including mechanical activities (erosion, wave action, abrasion ), chemicals (photooxidation, temperature, corrosion) and biodegradation that lead to their fragmentation, and can absorb a variety of environmental contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals and antibiotics (Yin, et al., 2021; Andrady, 2011; Zettler et al. ., 2013), its fluvial and atmospheric transport, stormwater and disasters facilitate its release (Hale et al., 2020). In other words, microplastics are plastics between 1 μm and 5 mm in diameter, small primary plastic particles (for example, resin granules) or secondary products of this material, broken and worn that can directly enter the environment (Gigault et al. , 2018; Hartmann et al., 2019) It should be added that, from this perspective, they become emerging contaminants, being a potential risk for humans and animals, mainly upon entry into the food chain since it results in their direct ingestion. Ecotoxicological studies have shown that some species can suffer from digestive tract obstruction, oxidative stress, damage to different organs, weakening and even death due to the ingestion of microplastics (Sol et al., 2020). For this research work that focuses on the study of the presence of microplastics, the zonal planning unit (UPZ) 99 is taken as a reference, located in the town of Chapinero, which has a concentration of zones for industry, services and residential spaces. . In particular, this UPZ is characterized by being a transit point for the winds from Bogotá that circulate towards the northeastern area of the city, which makes it easier for the PMs to be present because they are transported by these wind currents. MPs, being low-density materials, are characterized by accumulating in the areas through which wind currents circulate in particular, leaving residues when combined with precipitation. The results of this work relate physical characteristics of the materials present in precipitation captures, comparing the behavior of these samples throughout the geographical space delimited in the UPZ.