Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882

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Environmental Pollution
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol

Contribution of different land use catchments on the microplastic pollution

in detention basin sediments☆
Zoé Iannuzzi a, b, Brice Mourier a, *, Thierry Winiarski a, Gislain Lipeme-Kouyi b,
Philippe Polomé c, Rémy Bayard b
a
Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, F-69518, Vaulx-en-Velin, France
b
INSA Lyon, DEEP, EA 7429, 69621, Villeurbanne, France
c
Univ Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130, Ecully, France

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The assessment of microplastic (MP) pollution in urban areas is essential considering its abundance in freshwater,
Urban sediment particularly due to urban wet weather discharge. The precise sources of MPs must be identified to better un­
Microplastics derstand its characteristics. This study examines the relationship between MP pollution in detention basin
Detention basin
sediments and land use in the investigated catchments. The study of stormwater management infrastructure,
Land use
mainly in detention basins, has enabled the quantification of MP abundance in sediments conveyed by storm­
Source assessment
water in urban areas. Sediment sampling was conducted in ten detention basins and one combined sewer
overflow (CSO) structure in the Lyon metropolitan area, France. These basins correspond to stormwater outlets of
representative urban catchment areas. MP extraction involves densimetric separation and organic matter
degradation. MPs were then characterized using micro-Fourier infrared spectroscopy and siMPle software. This
protocol identified MPs between 50 and 500 μm in the study sites. This study highlights the high abundance in
the collected sediment samples, ranging from 2,525 to 1,218,82 MP kg− 1 by dry weight sediment. The MPs found
have a median size around 115 μm, making them very small MPs that are mainly composed of polypropylene
followed by polyethylene and polystyrene or polyethylene terephthalate. The abundance of MPs in sediments is
associated with the land use type. Catchments in predominantly industrial and commercial zones were more
significantly polluted with MPs compared with those in predominantly agricultural or heterogeneous zones.
Finally, statistical analyses revealed links between sedimentary and urban parameters and MPs concentrations.
Several recommendations are given for future research, notably concerning the analyzing of stormwater sedi­
ments to understand the sources of MP pollution.

1. Introduction
The sources of MPs must be identified to mitigate plastic pollution
(Wagner et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2023). As most MP pollution found in
the sea originates from inland sources, our knowledge of the specific
origins of such pollution remains limited (Blot et al., 2021), despite it
being ubiquitously reported in freshwater systems (Li et al., 2020; Yang
et al., 2021). A better understanding of the MPs released from urban
areas is necessary to establish its connections with nearby rivers (Eer­
kes-Medrano et al., 2015). Various studies have demonstrated that MPs
are mainly concentrated in sediments near urban and industrial areas
(Ballent et al., 2016; Dendievel et al., 2023), which play a major role in
the emission of plastics into the environment (Österlund et al., 2023).
These sediments are transported to the natural environment through
sewage and stormwater systems, which are considered the dominant
pathways for MPs in freshwater. Surface runoff from stormwater con­
stitutes the main source of MPs and other anthropogenic particles in
rivers (Wang et al., 2022; Cho et al., 2023).
The MP concentration of runoff water in urban catchments must be
assessed by monitoring MPs in combined or separate sewer networks
and urban water management structures, such as wastewater treatment
plants (WWTP), detention basins, infiltration basins, and combined
sewer overflows. However, this process has highlighted the difficulty in
separating and identifying which MPs come from wastewater and

☆
This paper has been recommended for acceptance by Eddy Y. Zeng.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: brice.mourier@entpe.fr (B. Mourier).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123882
Received 13 January 2024; Received in revised form 1 March 2024; Accepted 25 March 2024
Available online 26 March 2024
0269-7491/© 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
stormwater (Wang et al., 2022). Gies et al. (2018) reported that
approximately 1.76 trillion MPs particles enter WWTPs annually, but
only 0.03 trillion MPs particles are discharged into the environment,
demonstrating the effectiveness of WWTP treatment. Nevertheless,
stormwater that flows into a separate water system does not have the
same thorough treatment. The assessment of MP pollution in sediments
from stormwater management structures is limited in the existing
literature. In Denmark, researchers have studied stormwater retention
ponds to establish links between land use in urban watersheds and MPs
concentrations (Olesen and al., 2019; Molazadeh et al., 2023; Liu and
al., 2019a, 2019b).
To mitigate MP pollution in freshwater and develop suitable man­
agement strategies, the existing relationships between MPs concentra­
tions in urban areas and different land use types must be investigated
(Österlund et al., 2023). Urban surfaces are mostly impervious, and
leaching from these surfaces is responsible for a large portion of the
diffusion of MPs in the environment (Wang et al., 2022). In this case, the
watershed scale seems relevant for elucidating the origin of MP pollu­
tion, its storage, and occurrence of its main fluxes. The conceptual model
of the plastic cycle (Hoellein et al., 2021) perfectly illustrates the role of
urban watersheds in transferring MPs into the environment or storing
them through various existing infrastructures that trap plastic particles,
such as detention basins.
Studying MPs contamination in urban environments in a systemic
way raises two main scientific questions: Is there an urban signature of
MP contamination in urban sediments? What are the sources of MPs
contamination in urban sediments, particularly through different land
uses? We aimed to identify the urban sources of MPs by sampling sed­
iments in several stormwater detention basins that drain various land
use catchments. Three steps were implemented to achieve this goal: (1)
the development of a protocol for quantifying MPs in complex urban
sediment matrices, (2) the characterization of MP in 11 catchments that
Fig. 1. Land use of the catchment areas and their related detention basins. Key sites: detention basins (DB), combined sewer overflow (CSO).
2
Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
represent diverse urban land uses, and (3) the identification of the fac­
tors that influence MP occurrence through a statistical analysis and
modelling. The proposed approach allowed the identification of key
influencing parameters but also specified the sources of MP pollution in
cities. Key messages with recommendations were drawn for future
research to better understand the sources of MP pollution.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study sites
The Greater Lyon area, which covers 533 km2 and has a population
of 1.4 million, is responsible for managing the water cycle including
management of wastewater, stormwater and drinking water. The area is
equipped with a combined sewer system that collects nearly all the
wastewater (99%) and half of the rainwater in the region. While 90% of
the water is processed in the Greater Lyon WWTPs, and the remaining
10% flows directly into the Rhone and Saone Rivers via CSO. Further­
more, the Greater Lyon area recovers 20% of urban and agricultural
runoff through a specific network, most of which is directed toward
detention basins. In most situations, these waters infiltrate the ground­
water owing to infiltration basins.
To delineate the urban watersheds of each study site, Greater Lyon
wastewater and stormwater network data, topographic data from Geo­
portail (www.geoportail.gouv.fr), and land use data from CORINE Land
Cover 2018 were imported into QGIS (v.3.32.0). Eleven sampling lo­
cations were selected based on the dominant land use of the associated
urban watershed and classified into four groups (Fig. 1). Three were
considered predominantly industrial and commercial areas, three were
agricultural areas, three were urban areas, which included housing
areas, roads, streets, shops, and parking lots, and two were heteroge­
neous areas that were a combination of agricultural, forest, and
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
residential sectors. The size of the watershed ranged from 0.02 to 6.19
km2 (Table S1).
2.2. Sampling process
Ten detention basins and one stilling basin downstream of the CSO
structure were sampled once between April and October 2022. Because
the detention basins were all open and dry during the dry season, the
basin did not have water during sampling. To obtain a representative
sample of sediments in the detention and stilling basin sites, 1 kg of
sediment was collected from eight different locations within a site and
these were combined into a composite sample (Hebrard-Labit et al.,
2006). The first phase of homogenization was performed onsite. Sam­
pling required less plastic equipment, requiring a stainless-steel shovel
and a glass jar. The jars were stored in a cold room until further analysis.
Homogenization was performed in the laboratory, followed by a sieving
process using a 4 mm mesh, in which plastic particles >4 mm were
removed. Three sub-samples of 100g were collected for each composite
sample and stored in small glass jars. They were oven dried at 50 ◦ C
between 2 and 7 days to evaporate the water from the sediments. For the
MP analysis, a sample of 1–5 g of wet sediment was taken in each
sub-sample. The wet sediment mass was normalized to the residual
moisture content of the sample to obtain the dry mass.
2.3. Composition of sedimentary matrix
To characterize the sediments, their organic matter (OM) content
and grain size distribution were determined. The organic content in the
sediments were estimated using loss on ignition, following Heiri et al.
(2001). Grain size analyses were performed using a Mastersizer 3000
laser microgranulometer, and particle sizes were found to range be­
tween 0.01 μm and 3,500 μm. Any large grains such as leaves and wood
fragments were manually removed prior to analysis.
2.4. Extraction of MPs
Sediments collected from 11 sites were analyzed in triplicate (three
sub-samples of the main composite sample) for a total of 33 sub-samples.
Studying triplicates enabled the examination of variability within sam­
ples to confirm that the MP abundance in the three subsamples has the
same order of magnitude.
The first step of MP extraction involved densimetric separation using
a sodium iodide (NaI) solution with a density of 1.67 g cm− 3 for 24 h, as
described by Nakajima et al. (2019). The process involved stirring the
particles in the solution for 10 m using a magnetic stirrer. After 24 h, the
upper layer of the separator was collected and sieved to 500 μm. The
remaining solution was filtered through 10 μm stainless steel filters to
remove any OM particles present in the sample. Chemical oxidation was
then performed to remove residual OM with the addition of hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2 at 30%) for 24 h while heating at 40 ◦ C and 300 rpm. A
final filtration step using a 0.2 μm Whatman™ Anodisc™ filter was then
performed, with between three and seven Anodiscs filters needed per
sample depending on the amount of organic residues present. Each filter
was analyzed using an infrared imaging and microscopy system (Per­
kinElmer Spotlight 400 FT-IR Imaging System) in absorbance mode,
which measured the energy absorption per pixel (25 × 25 μm) and for
the entire filter (4.9 cm2). The siMPle application (Primpke et al., 2018)
was used to process the resulting data and identify plastic polymers by
comparing the spectral data to a reference database. This allowed for the
determination of the polymer type, size, and number of plastic particles
(items), as well as the estimation of the associated mass, which was
calculated based on the size and surface of each particle and the average
density of each type of polymer.
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Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
2.5. Data analysis
To analyze the concentration of MPs as a function of land use, four
groups were formed based on the dominant land use of the watershed:
(1) industrial and commercial, (2) urban, (3) agricultural, and (4) het­
erogeneous. To assess significant differences among pairwise groups,
Dunn’s multiple comparison test coupled with the Bonferroni correction
was conducted.
Various variables, including sample and catchment characteristics,
were tested to determine the correlation between the MP concentration
and land use type. Sediment matrix characteristics were represented by
OM content and median sediment size (Dx (50)). In addition, land use
factors were considered, such as total surface area (km2) and pro­
portions of industrial and commercial areas, urban areas, agricultural
areas, forests and semi-natural areas. A two-by-two Spearman’s corre­
lation test was performed for all variables.
To investigate the potential links between land use, sediment matrix
characteristics, and MP concentrations, two methods were used: ordi­
nary least squares (OLS) and random effects panels. These methods were
chosen for their robustness, as they are linear models, and their results
can be compared. The OLS model enables multiple linear regressions
using several regressors, and the panel method is useful when data are
dependent on the same context. This is the case for triplicates, where the
three sets of data are not identical but are linked to the sample. Using the
random effects method, the panel enabled the study of an intercept for
each group of triplicates, allowing us to consider unknown but similar
parameters within a triplicate that may explain these values.
2.6. Quality control
The sampling process utilized plastic-free equipment, such as a
stainless-steel bucket, coop, and glass jar, which were cleaned with
microfiltered water and ethanol and covered with aluminum wrapping.
The glass jar was sterilized in an oven at 550 ◦ C for 2 h to remove any
potential MP residue before being sealed with aluminum foil. Cotton
gowns and latex gloves were worn to minimize the presence of plastic
fibers. All glassware was sterilized in an oven at 550 ◦ C prior to use, and
stainless-steel equipment was washed with water, ethanol, and micro­
filtered water. Solutions, including water, NaI, and H2O2, were filtered
with a 2.4 μm microfilter before use. Laboratory blanks containing water
were used to assess the atmospheric contamination. Other blanks with
plastic-free sediment sampled in the dated sediment core were obtained
to assess potential contamination during the extraction phases (Shruti
et al., 2023) results showed that the airborne contamination varied
between 0 and 1 item per sample and between 2 and 4 particles for the
plastic-free sediment, which represent between 1,000 and 2,000 MP
kg− 1. This limit corresponds to the background noise associated with the
extraction method.
The effectiveness of the extraction protocol was assessed by
measuring the recovery rate of MPs using plastic-free matrices. A
mixture of various polymers (polyamide (PA) polypropylene (PE),
polyethylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET),
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) of different sizes (<500 μm) was intro­
duced into the plastic-free sedimentary matrices. The recovery rates
varied between 20% and 44%. The protocol used may have under­
estimated the measured concentrations of MPs.
3. Results
3.1. Detention basin characteristics
The detention basins were chosen because of their representativeness
of land use in the Lyon area. In Lyon, 47% of land use is urban, 20%
industrial and commercial, 2% road, 25% agricultural, and 6% natural
areas. The average surface area of the studied urban catchments was
1.846 km2. The “Sathonay_CSO” and “Sathonay_DB” catchments most
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
closely resemble Lyon’s land use, with around 20% industrial, 47%
urban, 26% agricultural and 10% natural areas, thereby representing the
most representative cities of Lyon. The proportions of each type of land
use were approximately the same as that of the city of Lyon, with 39%
urban, 28% industrial, 26% agricultural, and 7% natural. The charac­
teristics of the sediment matrix (moisture content, OM content, and
grain size distribution) were studied at 11 sites. The moisture content of
samples ranged from 10.47% from the “Buisson” basin to 61.91% from
“Leopha”. Organic matter content varied between 1.97% from the
“Pierre-Blanche (PB)” Basin and 24.96% from the “Chemin de Feyzin”
Basin, with a median rate of 9.82% (Table S1).
The samples were classified into three categories based on the grain
size distribution. The “Buisson” and “Pilon” basin sediments were
mainly composed of very fine particles (<63 μm) and sediments from
“Boulevard Urbain Est (BUE),” “PB,” “Sathonay_CSO,” and “Triangle”
were composed of sand. A third category had samples with sediments
grain sizes close to 63 μm, including both silt and sand particles. Sedi­
ments collected in the “Django,” “Leopha,” “Sathonay_DB,” and
“Chemin de Feyzin” sites had a median grain size of 88, 83, 73, and 76
μm, respectively (Table S1). Overall, the samples analyzed were fairly
wet, sandy, and had high OM content.
3.2. Characteristics of MP
The total number of items per sample ranged from 0 to 1,128 per
sample. The concentrations of MP in sediments are presented in Fig. 2,
with the number of particles ranging between 0 and 1,706,090 MP kg− 1
dry weight (dw). The median concentration obtained for all the samples
was 102,246 MP kg−dw1. Triplicate concentrations were homogeneous for
seven sites (for example “Triangle” and “Pilon” sites), whereas four sites
showed greater variability (for example “Leopha”) often with two
similar concentrations and one value changed by an order of magnitude.
The “Buisson” site had the lowest average concentration (2,525 MP
kg−dw1), closely followed by the “Sathonay” site (2,528 MP kg−dw1). The
highest average concentration was from the “Leopha” site with
1,218,782 MP kg−dw1. The “Triangle,” “Chemin de Feyzin,” and “Django”
basins also had very high concentrations, ranging from 272,490 to
384,020 MP kg−dw1.
In terms of the estimated mass concentration, the values ranged from
0 to 3266.4 mg kg−dw1, with a median of 67.5 mg kg−dw1. The “Buisson” and
“Leopha” basins had the lowest and highest average estimated mass
Fig. 2. Average concentration and standard deviation of MPs (items per kg−dw1)
in detention basins.
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Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
concentrations (0.67 mg kg−dw1 and 2367 mg kg−dw1, respectively)
(Figure S1). The rank order of the basins did not differ between the
concentrations by number and mass.
In the samples, three to 11 types of polymers were found (Figure S2).
“Django” had the highest polymer diversity, with 11 types, including
polycarbonate, which was not found elsewhere. Ten different types of
polymers were found in other five basins. Samples from the “Buisson”
and “Sathonay” basins only had three polymers (e.g. PP, PE and PET).
For all samples, the most common polymer was PP, with proportions
ranging from 47% to 86% per sample, followed by PE. The third most
common polymer was PS, but it was PET for “Buisson,” “Sathonay,”
“DB,” and “CSO,” and PVC for the “Pilon” basin (Figure S2). In terms of
estimated mass concentration, the ranking of polymers was different,
with PE being more present in samples from “Buisson,” “Chemin de
Feyzin,” “Django,” and “Leopha” (Figure S3). Evidently, PE particles are
heavier while PP particles are more numerous.
Most particles were in the 50–500 μm range, which corresponds to
the limits of our analytical procedure to quantify MPs. The median MP
size was approximately 115 μm, and most of MPs found were between
60 and 85 μm in size (Figure S4). Polymeric diversity was analyzed in
terms of the MPs size classes as a function of the MP number or estimated
mass concentration. Three different sets of data illustrate these results,
“Django,” “PB,” and “Sathonay_CSO,” each with a different granulo­
metric distribution (Fig. 3 a, d, g). For “Django,” which had a fine sand
trend, the 100–200 μm size class had the greatest polymeric diversity
and the highest number of MP (Fig. 3 b). In terms of estimated mass
concentration, the >500 μm size class had the most polymers and
highest mass. The 100–200 μm size class, with the highest number of
items, only represents an estimated mass concentration of 120 mg kg−dw1,
compared with the 800 mg kg−dw1 of the >500 μm size class (Fig. 3 b, c).
For “Sathonay_CSO”, the most represented MP were <100 μm despite
the coarse particle size of the sedimentary matrix (e.g. sand). MPs with
sizes of 50–100 μm were the most abundant, despite the coarse gran­
ulometry of the sample; this represented around 7,000 MPs for an esti­
mated mass well below 1 mg kg−dw1. Meanwhile, the 200–500 μm size
class represented around 1,000 MPs for an estimated mass concentration
of 1.5 mg kg−dw1, demonstrating that despite the lower number of MP,
coarser particles represent a greater mass (Fig. 3 e, f). For the “PB” basin,
the 50–100 μm size class had the highest number of particles while the
100–200 μm size class has the greatest polymeric diversity (Fig. 3 h, i).
3.3. Statistical analysis
A Spearman correlation matrix was produced, making it possible to
study the links between the number of MPs.kg− 1, characteristics of MP,
sedimentary matrix, and land use characteristics of the catchment. The
results showed a significant positive correlation between the number of
MPs and their average particle size and mass. There was also a strong
positive correlation between the size and mass of MPs. Considering the
sediment parameters, the OM content was positively correlated with the
number of MP, whereas the median grain size (Dx (50)) did not appear
to be significantly correlated. For land use characteristics, the concen­
tration of MP was positively correlated with the proportion of industrial
surfaces (Spearman’s Rho: 0.4) and negatively correlated with agricul­
tural (− 0.5) and natural (− 0.8) areas. However, there was no correla­
tion between the total surface area of the catchment and the number of
MP. One of our hypotheses was that the MP concentration would be
higher when the total surface area was large. The correlation matrix
showed correlations between the explanatory variables, particularly a
very strong one (Spearman’s Rho: 0.8) between OM content and the
proportion of natural areas. There was also a strong positive correlation
between average MP size, average MP mass, and OM content (Fig. 4).
3.4. Statistical modelling
The regression models reinforced the correlations demonstrated by
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
Fig. 3. Grain size distribution, number of particles, and estimated mass concentration of urban sediments sampled in the (a, b, c) Django basin (industrial); (d, e, f)
Sathonay_CSO (heterogeneous); and (g, h, i) PB basin (agricultural). 0–50* indicates that the 50 μm threshold corresponds to a methodological limit below which
MPs are difficult to identify.
the Spearman matrix. For the regressions, we decided to remove vari­
ables representing the mass and average size of MPs, as they are
measured in the same manner as the abundance of MP; therefore,
endogeneity becomes a concern. As the sum of the land use proportions
was 1, one variable was removed to ensure multicollinearity between
these variables. We removed the variable representing the proportion of
the natural surface because these values were not homogeneous. This
variable is often equal to zero, except in some samples, where it is very
high. The models were tested using ordinary least squares and random
effects panel models. For each type of model, one equation was tested as
follows:
) means between the four groups, and the results showed that all groups
log (Nb kg− 1 + 1 = f(log(Dx50), OM, Urban area, Indus. area, Agri. area)
(1)
Both approaches show similar results for the OLS and random effects,
indicating that the results are robust and that the adjusted R2 values are
close. The first model showed that the abundance of MP tended to in­
crease as OM content increased. The abundance of MP increased as
urban, industrial, and agricultural areas increased (Table 1). The latter
result is intriguing because the correlation matrix illustrates a negative
correlation between the number of MP and proportion of agricultural
land. The statistically significant relationship shown by the regressions
concerning land use validates the hypothesis that anthropogenic areas
are more polluted with MPs than preserved areas. However, targeting
the mechanism behind the statistical link with the OM content is more
difficult.
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Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
4. Discussion
4.1. Land use and concentrations of MPs
The concentrations of MPs measured in the various samples were
very high in predominantly industrial basins, with levels varying be­
tween 250,000 and 1,700,000 MP kg−dw1. These concentrations were
predominantly followed by urban basins, which varied between 65,000
and 500,000 MP kg−dw1. The lowest concentrations were found in het­
erogeneous and agricultural basins, ranging from 0 to 32,000 MP kg−dw1
(Fig. 5). Dunn’s test was used to determine the significant difference in
were significantly different in pairs, except between the agricultural and
heterogeneous groups and urban and industrial groups.
Studies focusing on densely populated locations have also reported
high concentrations of MPs (Zhao et al., 2022). However, these studies
are difficult to compare because the methodology used and the MPs size
classes are rarely the same. Furthermore, few studies have examined the
presence of MPs in the sediments of stormwater management structures
that drain urban areas. The presence of MPs in predominantly urban
catchments located along highways was first investigated by Liu et al.
(2019b) in retention ponds. The highest concentration in this study was
127,986 MP kg− 1 in the size range of 10–2,000 μm. Two other studies
focusing on a single basin reported concentrations of 106 MP kg− 1 in the
10–500 μm (Olesen et al., 2019) and 44,343 MP kg− 1 in a stormwater
retention pond (Molazadeh et al., 2022). Except for the study by Olesen
et al. the concentrations measured in our study were much higher than
those reported in other studies. Goehler et al. (2022) studied a storm­
water detention reservoir in South America and measured a MP
contamination of 109,089 MP kg− 1 in urban sediments with a high
proportion of the size class ranging from 50 to 100 μm.
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
Other studies have attempted to investigate sedimentary matrices
that may be contaminated by urban areas. Yuan et al. (2023) highlighted
the presence of MPs in storm drain inlet sediments. The measured
concentrations varied according to the land use: agricultural, commer­
cial, and residential. They showing a significantly higher contamination
in commercial basins than in residential and agricultural area. Another
study showed that sediments from the Arvand River (Persian Gulf)
stored higher MPs levels in urban sections of the river compared to in­
dustrial and agricultural ones (Soltani et al., 2022). Haave et al. (2019)
conducted a study on urban fjords in Norway that focused on MPs within
the range 11–500 μm, and particles >500 μm. Their measured concen­
trations ranged from 12,000 to 200,000 MP kg− 1 and 95% of the MPs
found were <100 μm.
4.2. Identification of MPs sources
The results allowed us to complete other studies that highlight urban
sources as significant contributors to the presence of MPs in the envi­
ronment (Dhivert et al., 2024). However, they founded no significant
correlations between land use, size class, polymeric diversity, and MPs
concentrations. In contrast, links exist between OM content, hydraulic
conditions, and MPs concentrations (Liu et al., 2019b). Molazadeh et al.
(2022) showed positive correlations between the OM content, percent­
age of silt in the sample, and MP concentration. Brooks et al. (2023)
determined a significant positive correlation between impervious
drainage areas and MPs concentrations. Although not all study sites are
stormwater detention basins, Baraza et al. (2022) demonstrated a sta­
tistical relationship between the percentage of urban land use and MPs
concentrations measured in the Meramec River in Missouri, United
Fig. 4. Spearman’s rank correlation matrix for the selected parameters. Only
the rho coefficient for the significant correlations are presented. Abbreviations:
OM = organic matter, Indus. = Industrial, Agri. = Agricultural.
Table 1
OLS and random effects panel regression models. Significant p-value (.): 0.1, (*): 0.05, (**):0.01, (***):0.001.
OLS
Regressors Regressors coefficients P-value coefficients
Intercept − 2.24 0.50
Dx50 0.80 0.09 (.)
OM 16.5 0.01 (**)
Urban area 7.46 0.04 (*)
Indus. area 8.84 0.02 (*)
Agri. area 7.86 0.04 (*)
Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
States. Townsend et al. (2019) founded a positive correlation between
MP abundance and catchment urbanization in wetland sediments, more
specifically when land use was industrial. A study close to our study
area, the Ain River (France), showed a significant correlation between
urban area, number of nearby plastic industries, and MP pollution
(Dendievel et al., 2023). Several studies have attempted to demonstrate
the relationship between population density, industrial areas, proximity
to WWTPs, and MP pollution (Klein et al., 2015, Tibbets et al., 2018);
however, none of them have demonstrated a statistically significant
relationship. In both studies, it was assumed that the hydrodynamic
factors would overwhelm the other factors. Studies of MPs focusing on
rivers make it more difficult to link land use and MPs concentrations.
The relationships between land use and MPs concentrations in storm­
water management, such as detention basins, are easier to demonstrate.
The analysis also showed a strong negative correlation between OM
content and natural and agricultural areas; a very high OM content was
observed in detention basins originating from anthropogenic activities
rather than natural sources. Several studies have shown that OM levels
are higher in urbanized and industrial areas than in other areas (Hoque
et al., 2021; Jimenez Martinez et al., 2021). The study of OM in these
basins is highly complex, as some of it comes from anthropogenic ac­
tivities, notably road debris with particles emitted by heating, various
oils, or even vehicle combustion by-products, whereas the other part
comes from the plants and microflora that grow in these basins (Badin
et al., 2008). Consequently, understanding the causal link between the
OM content and MP concentration is challenging, particularly when
considering the strong correlation between the OM content and urban
areas.
Considering the sedimentary parameters, no link was identified be­
tween sample grain size and MP concentration. Moreover, the regression
models showed a positive relationship between agricultural area and MP
concentration, whereas the correlation matrix showed a negative cor­
relation. Therefore, this result was not entirely clear, certainly due to the
limitations of the regression models used. We can assume that agricul­
tural watersheds lead to an increase in MPs concentrations because of
anthropogenic activity in the area, but this increase remains low
compared with the contamination of watersheds with very high human
activities (industrial, commercial, and urban). This study failed to
establish a relationship between watershed size and MP contamination,
although the link may seem obvious. Furthermore, regressors in our
models that do not allow the measurement of the full relationship be­
tween the regressors and the number of MP were inevitably omitted.
These missing regressors could be the origin of errors in the models.
Moreover, the land use classifications were quite broad in our study;
perhaps a more detailed analysis with other parameters of the catchment
areas (network, type of activities, etc.) would provide more accurate
results regarding the links between land use and MP concentration.
In addition, the positive relationship between the average mass of
MP and MP contamination must be interpreted with caution, as the mass
estimates in this study remain approximate in view of their calculation
using micro-FTIR and simple software. To confirm this link, the mass of
MP must be measured using techniques such as gas chromatography
mass spectrometry and pyrolysis (Löder et al., 2015; Bouzid et al.,
2022).
Random effect, panel
2
Adjusted R Regressors coefficients P-value coefficients Adjusted R2
0.62 − 1.89 0.35 0.49
0.70 0.13
15.7 0.0005 (***)
7.76 0.006 (**)
9.09 0.001 (***)
7.96 0.0002 (***)
6
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
Fig. 5. Number of particles for each land use category. Different letters indicate
significant differences according to Dunn’s significance test.
4.3. Implications and recommendations
This study, conducted in one of the major French conurbations,
enabled the characterization and identification of MPs present in the
sediments of stormwater management infrastructure draining different
types of urban catchments. The proposed systemic approach not only
allowed the identification of key influencing parameters but also spec­
ified the sources of MP pollution in cities. Five key messages with rec­
ommendations for future research were drawn from the study.
(1) Sediments in detention basins are indeed “traps” that accumulate
and store MPs. These basins are designed to clean runoff water
containing micropollutants and anthropogenic particles (Lipeme
Kouyi et al., 2018). Large quantities of micropollutants, bacteria,
and MPs are stored in these structures via sedimentation. Given
their role as the primary pathway for MP transfer to the natural
environment, quantifying MPs in stormwater management
infrastructure is crucial for identifying the source areas of this
pollution.
(2) The quantities measured in this study are notably higher than
those reported previously. This disparity can be attributed to the
location of the study and protocol used (Wang et al., 2022). The
study showed that the sizes of MPs are mainly smaller than 100
μm, indicating a characteristic feature of urban sediments.
Therefore, an approach that can quantify small MPs (1 μm < MPs
<100 μm) must be developed, as concerns over the environ­
mental hazards of MPs have raised (Cui et al., 2024).
(3) This study highlighted the complexity surrounding the question
of MPs sources. Currently, the only international definition dis­
tinguishes between primary and secondary sources. In this study,
we considered the sources of anthropogenic activities that cause
pollution, with land use serving as the parameter that allows the
identification of these sources. Other parameters could also be
measured (population density, socio-economic context) to
explain these concentrations. Matrix effects such as OM content,
grain size, and other relevant parameters can further enhance the
presence of MP in the environment. Quantification of these fac­
tors is essential because they play a critical role in mitigating the
influence of the sources.
(4) In this study, we counted between three and 11 types of polymers
per sample. Although establishing a direct link between polymer
types and land use, is challenging, it could offer initial insights
into the nature of anthropogenic sources. While the study of
7
Environmental Pollution 348 (2024) 123882
shapes is often a first approach to classifying MP as primary and
secondary sources, it becomes complicated when studying MPs
<100 μm, thereby necessitating a methodology to identify
anthropogenic sources based on the plastics in urban catchments
at different scales with macro-, meso-, micro-, and nanoplastics.
(5) The study of transfer pathways carrying MPs into these detention
basins also needs to be considered, but it should not be confused
with the source. These infrastructures help restrict possible
transfer pathways such as stormwater, industrial effluents, and
atmospheric inputs. It would be appropriate to conduct a hy­
drological survey to identify the pathways of MPs that appear in
stormwater management infrastructures. For CSO, the main
challenge would be to distinguish what comes from wastewater
compared to stormwater inputs.
5. Conclusion
This study highlighted the extent of MP pollution in urban catch­
ments. Urban and anthropogenic signatures of MP pollution had varying
concentrations across different land use types. Very high concentrations
of MPs were observed, ranging from thousands to millions of particles
per kg of dry sediment. The selected sampling locations represent the
primary “sink” of MPs, making these results unsurprising. This study
showed that the type of land use, particularly urban or industrial, in­
fluences the presence of MPs; in addition, the surface area of the urban
catchment does not influence the MP concentration. Based on the
quantities measured in the basins, stormwater management structures
are indeed storage sites for MPs particles. The installation of detention
and stilling basins to collect runoff proved to be a viable solution for
trapping MPs in accumulated sediments and limiting their spread to the
receiving environment. The MPs concentrations found in these basins
are indicative of the levels at which urban stormwater is discharged into
rivers flowing through cities. These results can therefore be applied to
other regions in the world where socio-economic and urban planning
context, as well as stormwater management, are similar to European
conurbations.
Funding sources
This project was carried out as part of the Sedi-Plast research pro­
gram and supported by the French Research Agency (ANR-19-CE34-
0012). Zoé Iannuzzi’s thesis is funded by an academic grant from the
Lyon chemistry doctoral school (ED 206) as well as by ENTPE (National
School of Public Works of the State) and INSA Lyon (National Institute of
Applied Sciences of Lyon).
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zoé Iannuzzi: Writing – original draft, Methodology, Investigation,
Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Brice Mourier: Writing – original
draft, Supervision, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Conceptualiza­
tion. Thierry Winiarski: Writing – review & editing, Supervision.
Gislain Lipeme-Kouyi: Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Phil­
ippe Polomé: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Formal analysis.
Rémy Bayard: Writing – review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Z. Iannuzzi et al.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Grand Lyon for agreeing to let visit
the sites studied and also the OTHU more specifically Nicolas Walcker
and Serge Naltchayan for their help, particularly visiting and sampling
the Sathonay CSO. The authors would also like to thank Thérèse Bastide,
Daniel Donze (Univ. Lyon 1 and ENTPE, UMR CNRS 5023 LEHNA) and
Soline Lelay for their help in sampling the basins and extracting MPs.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123882.
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