THE OCCURENCE OF MICROPLASTICS IN WATER, SEDIMENT, AND FISH IN SEGMENTS I AND II OF THE CITARUM RIVER IN MAJALAYA DISTRICT, BANDUNG REGENCY

• Main Author: Rahmatunnisa Utami, Sholihah
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik saniter dan perkotaan; teknik perlindungan lingkungan
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/70895
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Global plastic production has continued to increase over the last few decades until it is recognized as a world phenomenon. Plastic waste then degrades into microplastics and disrupts aquatic ecosystems, as a vehicle for toxic chemicals that can disrupt the physiology of aquatic organisms. Thus, a study was carried out on the abundance and characterization of microplastics which was then analyzed for its relationship with the hepatosomatic index of fish to determine its toxicity. Samples were taken by bulk collection for water, grab for sediment, and fishing for fish. The samples then went through a series of microplastic extraction processes to obtain results which would be manually characterized using a microscope and analyzed for polymers with FT-IR. The results showed that the average abundance of microplastics in samples of water, sediment, fish gills, and fish liver were 466.7 particles/L, 344.8 particles/100g, 39.7 particles/0.1 g gills, and 47 particles/0.1 g of liver. The forms of microplastic that were identified in the samples were filaments, fragments, films, and pellets, while the sizes of microplastics found were divided into three classes, namely <25 ?m, 25-125 ?m, and >125 ?m. The order of the abundance of shapes and sizes from largest to smallest is: filaments, fragments, films, pellets; and >125 µm, 25-125 µm, and <25 µm. There was no significant correlation between all physical and chemical parameters of water and the abundance of microplastics in water and there was no significant correlation between the abundance of microplastics of different types of samples except between gills and fish liver samples. Based on the analysis of the fish hepatosomatic index, it cannot be concluded that there is a toxicological effect of microplastics on fish because there is no correlation between the abundance of microplastics and the hepatosomatic index.