New report outlines microplastic contamination in Susquehanna River

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WBNG) -- The Susquehanna River is littered with microplastic pollution. That was a finding in a new report from the Environmental New York Research & Policy Center.

The organization spent roughly 12 months testing the waters in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which begins in Otsego County and makes its way south through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Senior Policy Advisor David Masur said they found the tiny pieces of plastic, which they say can latch on to toxic chemicals.

“North and south, urban and rural, we collected over 90 water samples from these 15 sites spanning the four states I mentioned in Washington, D.C.,” Masur said. “We found microplastics, unfortunately, everywhere.”

The organization said these microplastics were found on all 15 testing sites stretching from Cooperstown down to Chesapeake Bay. It’s something Masur said can have damaging impacts both for us and the local ecosystem.

“They work their way up the food chain, and they can get into animals, fish that people eat,” Masur said. “It can get into our drinking water supply, and then that needs to be treated, and they need to be removed. As it breaks down, it even gets into the air we breathe.”

Masur said these problems could be solved with legislation to ban single-use plastics, expanding producer responsibility laws and more.

“Fundamentally, we need to cut plastic pollution off at the source and change the way that society deals with our waste,” Masur said. “If we want to protect our environment and our health from this threat.”

The types of microplastics found in the report include fibers, fragments, film and beads.