Author(s): Desmond Ndre Shiwomeh; Sameh A. Kantoush; Tetsuya Sumi; Binh Quang Nguyen; Arrah Takem

Linked Author(s): Shiwomeh Desmond Ndre

Keywords: Microplastics; Sediment Plastic Debris SPD; SPD Drivers; Waste Management; Plastic leakage potential

Abstract: With growing climate change and increasing stress on environmental resources, the need for sustainable management and mitigation strategies is even more pressing now than ever. Water scarcity in vulnerable slum communities is one major problem affecting these communities under these growing hydro-climatic challenges. In addition to the limited coverage of the potable water network, inadequacies in waste management further aggravate the already strained access to water by the local inhabitants who often resort to local underground water sources such as wells, springs, boreholes, and rivers. This paper considers the potential risk of microplastic contamination of 453 groundwater sources relative to mapped plastic hotspots in slum settlements in Yaounde-Cameroon. Our methodology integrates socio-environmental factors such as elevation, slopes, soil properties, aspects, rainfall, distance to river, and distance from hotspots to water sources which determine the potential risk of plastic transport and the level of protection at each water source. It follows from this that over 31.5% of considered water sources were at high risk of potentially being polluted by leaked plastics from hotspots, about 16% presented no risk of possible contamination from assessed hotspots, while the remaining 51% were considered to have a low level of risk from leaked plastic contamination. Thus, Sustainable measures are required to sufficiently protect these water sources from external microplastic contamination and improve garbage disposal (plastic wastes) to limit environmental spillage of plastic debris and hotspots. As a future perspective, we recommend a physicochemical analysis of sample water sources, integrating analysis of the emerging pollutant, microplastic, for more precise and efficient mitigation measures.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/978-90-835589-7-4_41WC-P2031-cd

Year: 2025