A Gonzaga University student has made it his mission to work with a local group hoping to protect the Spokane River from pollution.
What they have found is worse than they expected.
Microplastics are a result of single-use plastics like bags and water bottles. They dissolve over time and find their way into our drinking water, the Spokane River and the wildlife that call the river home.
Paul Hurst is a biology and environmental studies student at Gonzaga University.
Hurst has been working with the Spokane Riverkeeper for about four months to measure and track down the source of microplastics in the Spokane River. Not much was known about microplastics in the Spokane River until the study began with another student last year.
Researchers, however, do know that microplastics can clog the digestive systems of animals and even put them at risk for cancer – consequences that Hurst is hoping to learn more about through research.
"I can actually make an impact in my local community," he said. "I grew up here, I really love the Spokane River, I've been playing on it my whole life and I really love that I can research and help the [Spokane] Riverkeeper get some great data if that will inform their decisions for the future."
The next steps in the study involve finding the source of these microplastics, working to see if there are peaks during different seasons and finally beginning a clean-up effort.
"There are much more microplastics in every sample than I ever thought," said Jule Schultz with the Spokane Riverkeeper. "When we started I didn't think we were going to get any microplastics in a one liter sample. We started by filtering massive quantities of water and now we simply take a liter of water and there is a microplastic in every one."
Schultz said there are things people can do to help the river and the environment, which include reducing your use of single-use plastics like plastic bags and water bottles and making sure to properly dispose of plastics.
Schultz also said plastic in the river has been such a huge problem that he wishes plastic bags were banned in the city and across the entire state.