This document establishes key principles for the investigation of microplastics in drinking water and water with low content of natural suspended solids using a microscopy technique coupled with vibrational spectroscopy.


This method is applicable to:


—    determine the size of microplastics [which range from 1 µm to 5 000 µm], count them and classify them by size range;


—    identify the chemical composition of microplastics, the main ones (most used in industry and most abundant in the environment) being: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamide (PA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polyurethane (PU);


This method is applicable to water with a low content of organic matter and other suspended matter as defined in ISO 6107 (1 mg/l to 100 mg/l or lower when interfering with the determination), i.e.,


—