SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Scientists have made a surprising discovery in the Sierra snowpack – microplastics.
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Which could have implications for our water supply, so much of which comes from mountain snow.
Researchers with the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada have been collecting samples of the snow in the Sierra all winter.
In the snowpack, microplastics from synthetic clothing, tires, and packaging have been found.
According to Monica Arienzo, an associate professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute, these microplastics come from, "these small pieces of plastic can be found in our rain as well," she said, citing a University of Utah study.
"So this suggests that these small pieces of plastic are traveling in our air, in our atmosphere," she said,
"Then when it rains or snows, that those small particles come with the precipitation," said Arienzo.
Arienzo has identified plastic particles as large as a pencil eraser to those visible only with a microscope in her samples.
"The next phase of this study is going to be looking at how those plastics then move from our snow into our waterways," she said.
Microplastics are being found everywhere by scientists, even in the placenta of unborn babies, posing all kinds of possible health risks.
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