The unique strength and resistance to water, shock, and electricity makes <i>plastic</i> a versatile material and has many valuable uses. As more the addiction towards minimal/single-use or disposable <i>plastic</i>s, the environment ends up with severe consequences. Microplastics (MP), plastic size &lt;5mm, elevates alarms about the ecological and health risks worldwide. Miserably, the massive practice of plastic goods and mismanagement of plastic waste disposal leads to the MP pollution in aquatic water bodies and their ecosystems. Similarly, the aquatic environment is contaminated with micropollutants that are sourced from industrial effluent, agricultural discharges and partially treated domestic wastewater. Even if MP doesn't cause acute fatal effects on living organisms, they can act as the carrier of these micropollutants, and cause root chronic toxicity, which is considered as a key issue in long-term exposure.  In this study, the soil sample was collected from Kandi Lake ecosystem, Kandi, Sangareddy Telangana, India and characterized for geotechnical and hydrodynamic properties. Continuous flow column experiments were conducted in one-dimensional column simulating the situation pertaining to the actual lake water infiltration and relative transport of microplastics and the selected micropollutant 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) to represent their movement from the lake to sediment and soil ecosystem. The flow rate and the varieties of the MP were considered as the study factors and the results were interpreted for the fate and transport of MP from the lake to the soil ecosystem. This study enlightens the fundamental knowledge of the behavior of microplastics and micropollutant in the soil ecosystem and gives deeper insights into the vector behavior of the microplastics. This study opens a door to the possible transport and co-transport mechanism involved in the transport of microplastics and micropollutants in the natural ecosystem.

Fate and transport of microplastics and micropollutant in soil environment

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