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Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) released into drinking water from transmission pipes can pose a potential health risk to consumers. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of PE and PVC pipes after long-term operation in drinking water distribution networks, which confirmed that degradable polymers can be a significant source of MPs. Both plastics age relatively quickly, and the degree of damage to the pipe surface depends on the time and operating conditions. During aging, polymer chains deteriorate, leading to a weakening of the structure and increased amorphousness of the plastics. As a result, the surfaces of PE and PVC crack and peel, resulting in the formation of particles with sizes corresponding to NP and MP with high potential for release into water. The magnitude of the phenomenon increases as the diameter of the pipes decreases, indicating that the most vulnerable customers are those at the ends of the network to which drinking water is supplied through small-diameter pipes. Aging PE and PVC pipes should be considered a real and very important source of MPs and NPs in drinking water, and water quality in this aspect should be monitored by manufacturers.
the number of nano- and microplastic particles with high release potential into the water increased as the diameter of the pipes decreased
unquantified particle release and confounded diameter comparisons, with PE microscopy reporting the opposite direction
Therefore, aging PE and PVC pipes should be considered a real and very important source of micro- and nanoplastics in tap water
surface characterization without water sampling or release measurements cannot establish source importance
Investigations of PE and PVC distribution pipe sections, operated for a long time in working DWSN, confirmed that both plastics are gradually degrading, causing increasing damage to their inner walls.
complementary surface and spectroscopic observations support degradation within a narrow cross-sectional repair-derived sample
Both plastics age relatively quickly, and the degree of damage to the pipe surface depends on the time and operating conditions.
cross-sectional confounding and an unestimated PVC degradation rate prevent a resolved ageing trajectory
Derived from the full evaluation — not a separate score.
Strengths
The study examines PE and PVC sections recovered from a working distribution network across service lives of 4–45 years, adding field-based surface observations.
↳ Introduction, final paragraph; Methods §2.1; Table 1
SEM, ATR-FTIR, carbonyl index, contact-angle measurements, and EDS provide different views of morphology, oxidation, wettability, and elemental composition.
↳ Methods §§2.3–2.4; Results §§3.1–3.3
The Introduction links polymer degradation with disinfectants, migration, biofilms, and drinking-water microplastics, providing context for the operational-pipe observations.
↳ Introduction
Limitations
The Conclusions assign greater particle-release potential to smaller diameters for both plastics, whereas §3.2.1 assigns more intense PE damage and greater release potential to larger pipes. The asserted network-end vulnerability therefore does not follow consistently from the reported results.
↳ Results §3.2.1; Conclusions
No waterborne particle counts, release rates, or detachment tests establish how much material enters delivered water. The claim that pipes are a very important source exceeds the measured endpoint.
↳ Methods §§2.1–2.4; Results §§3.1–3.3; Conclusions
Undamaged portions were taken from parent pipes accessed during fault repairs in one network. This sampling frame and unresolved age, diameter, formulation, and hydraulic differences constrain generalization beyond the collected sections.
↳ Methods §§2.1–2.2; Table 1; Results §3.2
The combination of operational specimens and complementary characterization methods supports a bounded account of PE and PVC surface ageing. The broader conclusions depend on an unmeasured transition from attached fragments to consequential particle concentrations in delivered water. Removing locally damaged pipe portions does not remove selection of parent pipes through failures, and the single-network sample does not separate age, material, diameter, and hydraulic exposure. The interpretation also omits the direct-release limitation while treating unresolved hydraulic conditions as a basis for customer vulnerability. The opposing diameter directions in §3.2.1 and the Conclusions require correction before the network-end vulnerability claim can be relied upon.
Nabu’s assessment, alongside the field’s view.
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Limited2.4
Confidence mediumOperational PE and PVC specimens add descriptive field evidence to a literature characterized as predominantly model-based. The advance is surface characterization rather than a measurement of contamination entering drinking water.
The laboratory workflow is reconstructable, but failure-selected parent pipes, uncontrolled exposures, and broad generalization impose the stacked methodological ceiling. The opposing PE diameter statement is additionally surfaced through the Red reliability flag, not a reliability score cap.
The organization permits readers to follow the characterization methods and material-specific results. Central source and vulnerability language implies measured contamination and a consistent diameter pattern that the reported evidence does not establish.
The literature coverage situates oxidation, biofilms, and pipe ageing, but the missing direct-release limitation is not acknowledged. Separately, the conclusion overrides stated uncertainty about hydraulic conditions, producing two distinct serious limitation-handling failures.
Caveats4 of 4 checks
The PVC particle discussion contains a figure cross-reference error. Data availability on reasonable request is reported and is not treated as suspicious; ethics approval is not evidently required for this materials-only design.
Data availability: declared
72 references in manuscript 67 of 69 checkable references found in an index 3 have no canonical index record — counted, but not index-checkable 1 reference confirmed by manual review
No retraction or expression of concern found in Crossref (includes Retraction Watch).
Sources: Crossref (incl. Retraction Watch) ✓
Where this paper’s evidence sits on the path from initial observation to real-world use.
Real operational materials establish an early characterization stage rather than a validated monitoring or intervention tool. Release rates and delivered-water concentrations remain unmeasured.
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