Patna rainwater has a high concentration of hazardous microplastics, a 1st-of-its-kind IIT study.

Microplastics in the atmosphere can lead to lung inflammation and increase the chance of reproductive issues and cancer. A study by IIT Patna researchers was published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

It’s raining plastic in Patna, quite literally. A first-of-its-kind study in India conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna (IIT Patna), has found the presence of microplastics in rainwater samples from the city.

Microplastics (MPs) — minute plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in diameter — are significant environmental pollutants and usually result from the breakdown of larger plastic particles.

Subrata Hait, an associate professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at IIT Patna, and Neha Parashar, a doctoral research scholar at the institute, conducted the study, which was published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials on 19 June.

The researchers, who collected rain samples from urban and peri-urban areas of Patna, found that the metropolitan area had 1959 MPs per square metre each day — a number that, according to the study, was second only to Shanghai, China (2644 MPs/sq. m).

While such research has been conducted previously in countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, this is the first time it has been done in India.

“Studies have been conducted on microplastic presence in oceans and water bodies in India, but not in the atmosphere. Our research was aimed to fill this gap”, Hait told ThePrint.

According to the authors, the findings are also significant because they represent a larger problem in India. A study published in Science in 2015 showed that India ranked 12th among the countries with improper management of waste plastics and was projected to be ranked fifth by 2025.

On 1 July 2022, India banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items with “low utility and high littering potential”.

Microplastics in the atmosphere are a significant health hazard. Studies have shown that they can lead to lung inflammation and increase the possibility of reproductive issues, cancer, and genetic mutations. An important reason is that the immune system cannot flush them out quickly, causing long-term health problems.