From the Well to the Bottle: Identifying Sources of Microplastics in Mineral Water
Open accessAbstract
Microplastics (MP) have been detected in bottled mineral water across the world. Because only few MP particles have been reported in ground water-sourced drinking water, it is suspected that MP enter the water during bottle cleaning and filling. However, until today, MP entry paths were not revealed. For the first time, this study provides findings of MP from the well to the bottle including the bottle washing process. At four mineral water bottlers, five sample types were taken along the process: raw and deferrized water samples were filtered in situ; clean bottles were sampled right after they left the bottle washer and after filling and capping. Caustic cleaning solutions were sampled from bottle washers and MP particles isolated through enzymatic and chemical treatments. The samples were analyzed for eleven synthetic and natural polymer particles ≥11 µm with Fourier-transform infrared imaging and random decision forests. MP were present in all steps of mineral water bottling, with a sharp increase from <1 MP L−1 to 317 ± 257 MP L−1 attributed to bottle capping. As 81% of MP resembled the PE-based cap sealing material, abrasion from the sealings was identified as the main entry path for MP into bottled mineral water.
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Plastic contamination is confirmed in every step from the well to the bottle in drinking water production.
“Specifically in drinking water production, plastic contamination is confirmed in every step from the well to the bottle (77).”
From Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy (2024) · cites this paper as [77]
Section 3.2 (page unavailable) reports microplastics at the sampled stages of mineral-water bottling except in cleaned bottles. It also says some raw and deferrized water measurements were below the detection limit. The paper therefore does not confirm contamination at every step as claimed. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPVC is identified as the most abundant polymer type in raw water from microplastic analysis.
“PVC is identified to be the most abundant polymer type in raw water from microplastic analysis (77).”
From Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy (2024) · cites this paper as [77]
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- Authors
- Weisser, J., Beer, I., Hufnagl, B., Hofmann, T., Lohninger, H., Ivleva, N. P., & Glas, K.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- TU Wien (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Weisser, Jana
- Venue
- Water
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-03-19
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 841
- ISSN
- 2073-4441 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3137433286
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 8
- FWCI
- 5.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Water (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- mediaTUM – the media and publications repository of the Technical University Munich (Technical University Munich) (submittedVersion)
- mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (1258-16)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Fecal contamination and water quality
- Keywords
- microplastics, mineral water, bottled water, abrasion, bottle washing, microplastic sources, polymer particles, Fourier transform infrared imaging, random forest
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