DRINKING WATER of the WORLD is now CONTAMINATED with MICRO PLASTIC too! 

 

According to 2 articles in the Guardian the world's drinking waters are polluted with micro plastics. The most recent article titled: "We are living on a plastic planet. What does it mean for our health? It was published in on Tuesday 5 September 2017. The topic was a study which revealed high levels of plastic fibers found in tap water around the world.  

To read the complete article copy and paste the link below on your address browser;

 https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2017%2Fsep%2F06%2Fwe-are-living-on-a-plastic-planet-what-does-it-mean-for-our-health%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_fb&

The 2nd article- aslo by The Guardian: "Plastic fibers found in tap water around the world, study reveals". was published a month ago and it said the following- clearly- without mincing words; "Recent tests show that billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted.  Micro plastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health."
 To read the complete article copy and paste the link below on your address browser;
 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals?CMP=share_btn_fb

HERE'S THE GUARDIAN MAIN POINTS- I hope and pray that you, our public officials at the federal, Sate and local level will take protective action before it is too late.

"Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analyzed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibers.

Analysis- 
We are living on a plastic planet. What does it mean for our health? New studies reveal that tiny plastic fibers are everywhere, not just in our oceans but on land too. Now we urgently need to find out how they enter our food, air and tap water and what the effects are on all of us.

The US had the highest contamination rate, at 94%, with plastic fibers found in tap water sampled at sites including Congress buildings, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York. Lebanon and India had the next highest rates.

A lot of the micro plastic debris is washed into wastewater treatment plants, where the filtering process does capture many of the plastic fragments. But about half the resulting sludge is released back on to farmland across Europe and the US, according to recent research published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. That study estimates that up to 430,000 tons of micro plastics could be being added to European fields each year, and 300,000 tonnes in North America.

It is striking that transfers of micro plastics – and the hazardous substances bound to them – from urban wastewater to farmland has not previously been considered by scientists and regulators,” the scientists concluded. “This calls for urgent investigation if we are to safeguard food production,” they say in a related publication.

Cities also appear prone to the extensive pollution. Another recent study, again the first to shed light on the topic, revealed a rain of micro plastics falling on Paris from the air, dumping between three and 10 tonnes a year on the city. The same team found micro plastics in an apartment and hotel room. A leading scientist, citing this work, says we are likely to be breathing micro plastics."

It is evident, imperative and urgent that our public officials; our governments at all levels/everywhere (locally in our counties, in our rural areas, in towns, our villages and our cities, and then at the State and federal levels) work together to eliminate this threat to our health and our planet...before it is too late! If isn't already! As Boyan Slat (the young European engineer who head of The Ocean Clean up Project) says: "Technology made this problem and technology will solve it."  
However, technology alone won't be enough, we must unite, work hard and effectively in the process of cleaning up our planet. We owe it to ourselves, but most of all we owe it to our children, our future.

So, if you're reading this and you are concerned like me, beg you, please do something now about this serious threat to our health and our environment.

These images you see here (below) will give us some suggestions on how we can help in reducing micro plastics into the environment.  
My family and I have began implementing the 4Rs steps; reduce, reuse, refuse and recycle- for many years now- in our own house;
We do not use the electric drier- we dry clothes in our basement and/or outside. 
We drive as little as possible, and avoid plastic bags, bottles etc., and recycle all that we can (plastic, glass, metals, paper, cardboard)- when we go shopping we refuse plastic bags and instead use our re-usable shopping bags.

Thank you! 
Ottavio Lo Piccolo
husband, father, retired USAF Veteran ENL teacher, 
and individual concerned with social and environmental justice