Does drinking 1 L of water at public places in Kolkata (India) means ingesting three million microfibers? A commentary on “cost-effective remedial to microfiber pollution from wash effluent in Kolkata and Ranaghat”

The success of research in addressing a problem is heavily reliant on established methodologies and techniques from previous research findings. Therefore, precision and specificity are crucial to avoid drawing inaccurate conclusions. In this paper, we provide a critical commentary on a recently publ...

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Published in:Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 343; p. 140188
Main Authors: Gani, Khalid Muzamil, Bhat, Zaid Mushtaq, Feroz, Mariha
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2023
Subjects:
Filtration
Methodology
Microfiber
Microplastics
Packed-bed microfiltration
Result error
Result error
Microplastics
Filtration
Microfiber
Methodology
Packed-bed microfiltration
ISSN:0045-6535, 1879-1298, 1879-1298
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The success of research in addressing a problem is heavily reliant on established methodologies and techniques from previous research findings. Therefore, precision and specificity are crucial to avoid drawing inaccurate conclusions. In this paper, we provide a critical commentary on a recently published research paper titled "Cost-effective remedial to microfiber pollution from wash effluent in Kolkata and Ranaghat" published in Chemosphere (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137548), which reports a study on microfiber pollution and its mitigation from drinking water and washing effluents in Kolkata and Ranaghat, India. Our comment focuses on the microfiber results reported by Mondal et al. (2023). Surprisingly, Mondal et al. (2023) reported microfibers in drinking water samples in higher concentration of microfibers (3000–5800 MFs/mL) compared to the washing effluents. This unusual variation in microfiber concentrations raises questions, especially considering the efficiency of conventional drinking water treatment plants in removing microfibers and exaggerated risk to public health. Based on our critical analysis of the methodology and data analysis reported by Mondal et al. (2023), we highlighted the significant errors and deficiencies present in the published article. These inaccuracies were due to inclusion of weight of suspended solids in the microfiber calculations. Our study highlighted the need of robust analytical methods for the quantification of microfibers in water sources.
Bibliography:content type line 23
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Correspondence-1
ISSN:0045-6535
1879-1298
1879-1298
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140188