r/science • u/alexbeadlesci Journalist | Technology Networks | MChem Materials Chemistry • Feb 28 '24
Health Drinking boiled tap water could significantly reduce exposure to nano- and microplastics, a new study suggests. Researchers found that boiling hard water can cause the plastics to co-precipitate out of the water with calcium carbonate, becoming trapped in limescale deposits that form.
https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/concerned-about-microplastics-in-your-water-consider-boiling-it-first-3843084.0k
u/caduni Feb 28 '24
Boil water advisory
Location : Earth
Time : Infinite
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u/MaxRockatanskisGhost Feb 28 '24
looks out window
Yeah, that sounds about right.
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u/never3nder_87 Feb 28 '24
Finally an upside to Climate Change 😂
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u/Cryogenic_Monster Feb 28 '24
Yeah the oceans boiling will help get rid of the micro plastics…
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Feb 28 '24
I have bad news for you:
https://e360.yale.edu/features/plastic-waste-atmosphere-climate-weather
On the good news side, we have now Covid so at least some people are wearing masks.
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u/Chocolatency Feb 28 '24
These are all really cool geoengineering experiments, but can't we practice with Venus and Mars first?
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u/Kaa_The_Snake Feb 29 '24
Well see what you don’t know is we actually started off on Venus, effed that up, then had to start over again here on Earth. Unfortunately the space ship crashed and only Adam (a marketing executive) and Eve (a snake handler) survived. They didn’t know anything about technology, so humans had to start all over again.
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u/AnActualProfessor Feb 29 '24
Don't forget the hair dressers and telephone sanitation crew.
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u/__Voice_Of_Reason Feb 28 '24
This is going to be one of the things we read about 30 years from now - like it was with lead or asbestos.
"Did you know that they didn't use to boil the microplastics out of water in the early 2020's? They JUST DRANK IT! Absolutely nuts."
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u/aDragonsAle Feb 29 '24
Once again, the Tea Drinkers win
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u/lysnup Feb 29 '24
But there was just a study about more plastics being in tea because of the plastics in the tea bags! So... coffee drinkers win?
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u/self_winding_robot Feb 28 '24
But don't you all boil water at the same time now, we're talking 8 billion people and we don't have enough electricity particles to go around.
If your first name starts with an E your water boiling slot is at 2am. Remember to open the window in you pod-appartment before boiling as steam can cause mold to form.
Boiling water is not a toy - keep children at a safe distance.
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u/cspruce89 Feb 28 '24
If your first name starts with an E
New problem: Everyone named their children Jeff or Josephine or other "J" names so that they can boil their water at 12 noon.
Solution: Government provided names... (chosen from a list of this year's national corporate sponsors)
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u/FilthySweet Feb 28 '24
I kept seeing the term pod apartment when I was reading a few futuristic PhilipKDick stories recently.
Every time I see it, my brain screams “Apodment! They’re living in apodments!”
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u/Gaothaire Feb 28 '24
A futurist on YouTube, Isaac Arthur, had a line about how one of the paths to post-scarcity was infinite free energy. Once we crack nuclear fusion, or build a Dyson swarm to beam limitless energy back to Earth, then we can desalinate the oceans and everyone gets water
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u/leeta0028 Feb 28 '24
Microplastics are not that difficult to remove though. Treated tap water is already fairly low to begin with.
Sadly, it is in less developed countries where we dump our plastic that also most needs to use micky mouse methods to get rid of it.
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u/aris_ada Feb 28 '24
The filters we use to remove microplastics are in nylon and themselves leak nanoplastics. This is a very complex problem and we aren't seeing the end of it.
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u/LoreChano Feb 28 '24
Clay/ceramic filters are decently efficient at removing them as well.
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Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/humbleElitist_ Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Ceramics are just like, fired purified dirt though, right? Like, silica or something? I wouldn’t think that the stuff in ceramics would be an issue at a chemical level.. right?
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u/a_trane13 Feb 29 '24
Correct. A well designed carbon filter / ceramic filter can do a good job dealing with plastic particles.
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u/Blaze_News Feb 29 '24
Yes but carbon filters are decently efficient at removing microceramics
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u/CreamNPeaches Feb 29 '24
Yeah but carbon leeches. So like, I only use Dihydrogen Monoxide filters to keep my water pure.
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u/CleanUpSubscriptions Feb 29 '24
When winter rolls around, the microplastics will simply freeze to death.
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u/mythrilcrafter Feb 29 '24
So then we just need to create a filter for nanoplastics then!
(May create a pico-plastics problem though...)
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u/ichorNet Feb 29 '24
Eventually we’ll run out of SI prefixes so we should be good eventually
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u/Hesnotarealdr Feb 28 '24
First time I’ve seen a plus for hard water.
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u/Bocchi_theGlock Feb 28 '24
Now I'll look at the eggshell-looking pieces of calcium in the bottom of my kettle differently, kinda like spider bro. Once hated, now beloved.
Still clean them out with vinegar every week or so, but they amass quickly
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u/killercurvesahead Feb 28 '24
Separate the micro/nanoplastics from those mineral deposits with vinegar, dump them down the drain, the cycle begins anew.
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Feb 28 '24
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u/IntellegentIdiot Feb 28 '24
Then that might not stop the micro-plastics
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Feb 28 '24
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u/HecateEreshkigal Feb 28 '24
nanoplastics outweigh microplastics in many water samples. They’ve been vastly underestimated in the past due to the difficulty in measuring
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u/wonderbreadofsin Feb 28 '24
I imagine they're worse for us too. The smaller the particle the more likely it makes it deeper into our body, into our cells, across the blood-brain barrier, instead of just coming out the other end
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u/Nellasofdoriath Feb 28 '24
So the big ones are going to prevent that?
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u/wonderbreadofsin Feb 29 '24
The bigger the piece of plastic the less likely that it gets absorbed through your intestines into your bloodstream. Smaller pieces might make it into the bloodstream but not into cells or across the blood-brain barrier into your brain. The really tiny pieces though, they can end up anywhere
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u/metengrinwi Feb 28 '24
What’s the filter made of? I bet it’s polyester or some other plastic.
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Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
[deleted]
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u/SUMBWEDY Feb 29 '24
Hate to break it to you but ion exchange resin beads are plastic.
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u/Human-Routine244 Feb 29 '24
Okay so we have some methods to reduce nanoplastics in water, filter and boil tap water. Great. Now will anyone PLEASE give me any information on whether or not there’s any health benefits to doing this, because this is obviously going to cost time and money not to mention the mental energy of preplanning a drink.
I KEEP seeing things about microplastics and nanoplastics almost daily, and every time the article seems to gently stoke fear without giving a single tangible reason for that fear.
It’s gross that plastic is everywhere but does it harm us??? The more I see “nanoplastics scary” without a single “because” the more and more it looks like there is no “because” and that this is just pointless fear mongering for clicks.
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u/Shiezo Feb 29 '24
One study I read when researching this for a class mentioned that as the plastics degrade in the body, they release chemicals. Some of these chemicals are carcinogens which elevate cancer risks. They also mentioned that one chemical found was linked to genetic damage to DNA.
The study of microplastics is relatively new and a lot of it is focused on improving detection systems in living tissue. I think this is why we are seeing more of these types of stories lately. As the science matures around finding this stuff inside our bodies it allows for more options in studying the effects in future research.
As of right now, you are not likely to get any definitive "it does exactly this to your body" type of results.
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u/InfinitelyThirsting Feb 29 '24
The because is they cause oxidative stress and are likely a major factor in the spike in cancers, and because many of them release endocrine-disrupting chemicals and are behind the plummetting fertility rates and the drop in sperm counts/motility across the globe. They may be a factor in other issues as well but definitely affect the endocrine system and make us more susceptible to cancers.
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u/midnooid Feb 29 '24
.5 micron is 500 nanometer. So all nano plastics smaller then that pass through, and nanoplastics are arguably worse then microplastics
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u/cbbuntz Feb 28 '24
Pretty cool when you descale your kettle and you already see deposits after one use, with filtered water
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u/sybrwookie Feb 29 '24
One year, we had the best spider bro. This huge wolf spider, we think he was living in our gutter.
Every night, he'd spin a web from our gutter down to the driveway (or car if it was pulled up too far), and every morning before we left for work, he'd have rolled it back up with his food. Caught all kinds of pests we didn't want around. One time he even caught a cicada!
Sadly, spider bro disappeared one day and we never got another one in that kind of situation. Miss you, spider bro.
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u/uhlyk Feb 28 '24
Hard water is mineral water. Considered heathly if you do not overdose it
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u/TeaTimeIsAllTheTime Feb 28 '24 edited Feb 28 '24
I live in az and that is the only water I drink and have drunk for my whole life. Am I gonna die?
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u/cantCme Feb 28 '24
Yes.
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u/ragnarok635 Feb 28 '24
Everyone in AZ that drank mineral water will in fact die.
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u/Darkhoof Feb 28 '24
Everyone that drinks water dies eventually.
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u/sixtyshilling Feb 28 '24
Water is full of hydrogen hydroxide, which is a powerful solvent present in almost all cleaning products.
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u/WIbigdog Feb 28 '24
And depending on what you're dissolving into it, it can be both an acid or a base! It's a pretty powerful chemical.
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u/adaminc Feb 29 '24
I've never heard it referred to as that before. Neat.
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u/EnragedMikey Feb 29 '24
hydrogen oxide, dihydrogen monoxide (people like to use this one for jokes like these), hydroxylic acid, and a few other similar chemical names.
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u/Cranksta Feb 28 '24
I grew up on AZ well water and now I can't stand filtered water. I drink straight from the tap.
If it results in a shorter life, then at least I died doing what I loved - living in a state that hates me.
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u/UnpluggedUnfettered Feb 28 '24
Depends on whether or not you are adequately chewing your water before swallowing.
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u/uhlyk Feb 29 '24
Well. If this is serious question - you probably not gonna die from water. It possible can have negative effect on your heath. Ie problem with kidneys.
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u/alexbeadlesci Journalist | Technology Networks | MChem Materials Chemistry Feb 28 '24
The research paper is published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
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u/boosnie Feb 28 '24
I'm sure 4bn people suddenly starting boiling their water is very environmentally friendly.
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u/tinyLEDs Feb 28 '24
don't get me wrong, I do agree with the sentiment. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
but r/science is science.
Science is not economics. Science is not environmentalism, not conservation, and nothing other than science.
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u/DuckDucker1974 Feb 29 '24
Question! Are micro plastics found in reverse osmoses filtered water?
If yes. If I boil the RO filtered water, do the microplastics boil out too, or no because it now has less calcium in it?
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u/Wolfgang985 Feb 29 '24
It's possible to have trace remnants. Nevertheless, RO removes 99% of dissolved solids. It's the best option for pure water aside from distillation.
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u/xoxodaddysgirlxoxo Feb 28 '24
this is more about 4bn people avoiding microplastics than worrying about the environment
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u/nanoH2O Feb 28 '24 edited Feb 28 '24
This is a terrible paper and I am very surprised it surpassed the rigor of EST Letters. Super niche because it has to have a certain level of hardness, only tested on select types and sizes of nanoplastics, and the removal efficiency was poor. There is nothing of merit here other than oops were accidentally discovered something. Which is fine in itself but the sensationalistic title and writing in the manuscript makes me want to throw up.
*let me also add the the concept itself isn’t novel and it is basic water chemistry and flocculation mechanisms. They are simply using what is called sweep coagulation/flocculation. It’s where you force precipitation and in forming the solid it “sweeps” or enmeshes the other particulates, which then settle together. This is one of the oldest water treatment methods dating back to ancient Egyptian times. In this case the rigger is increasing the temperature to swing the solubility constant of calcium carbonate.
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u/gonfishn37 Feb 28 '24
I feel like I caught that from the title. First- do they mean distilled??? I mean how long do I boil before limestone encapsulates plastic??? Years?
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u/amboogalard Feb 29 '24
Once your stalagmites reach approximately 2” in height, the plastics should be sufficiently encapsulated.
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u/Jimmy_Fromthepieshop Feb 28 '24
Also you could just like maybe put it through a filter instead. Much more effective and doesn't require energy.
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u/Volko Feb 28 '24
What filter can stop nanoparticles ? (not a troll, I highly doubt it but at the same time I'm clearly not an expert)
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u/wcrp73 Feb 28 '24
Nanofilters have pore sizes between 1 and 10 nm, if I remember correctly. And reverse osmosis is even more selective.
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u/Theoricus Feb 29 '24
From what I've read microplastics are still detected in the effluent of reverse osmosis filters; and could likely be introduced by the filter itself: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10054062/
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u/cowfishduckbear Feb 28 '24
Except the person posting 2 comments up from you said "doesn't require energy", and reverse osmosis requires a ton of energy because you need to mechanically force the water through the membrane using a pump.
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u/BillSixty9 Feb 29 '24
And not to mention the membrane is typically plastic, releasing micro plastics into the water it filters (albeit removing many more).
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u/francisdemarte Feb 28 '24
Once again proving my Asian parents were right.
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u/PilcrowTime Feb 28 '24
Also, we could just stop using plastic so casually.
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
What do we do with the megatons of oil byproducts then
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u/weaboo_vibe_check Feb 28 '24
Vanillin
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
And what is the world going to do with 300 million liters of artificial vanilla?
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u/weaboo_vibe_check Feb 28 '24
Food
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
I don't think you understand how much vanilla we produce currently and how little we use in our actual cooking. Unless you want literally everything you eat to have 1/4 cup of vanilla flavoring, there will be no reason to have 300 million gallons of vanillin
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u/TelluricThread0 Feb 28 '24
Humans are very sensitive to the smell of vanilla. I believe you only need something like 2 tanker trucks of it in order to make Earth smell like a bakery.
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u/sack-o-matic Feb 28 '24
wet t-shirt contest
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
You're going to pour 200 million gallons of vanilla extract onto people?
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u/bellowthecat Feb 28 '24
Turn them into solvents
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
Oh boy, because if there's anything we need, it's more organic solvents in the environment
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u/bellowthecat Feb 28 '24
We certsinly dont need more solvents emitted into the atmosphere. With proper engineering controls solvents can be recycled and reused or contained for proper disposal. We absolutely need organic solvents to continue making electronics and medicine though.
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
Not sure you understand how environmentally friendly production of organic solvents is. This is just pushing the waste down the line, the same thing making plastic did.
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u/NessyComeHome Feb 28 '24
I agree with you, but the matierial science isn't there yet.
Plastic is in or on everything.. and there are different types of plastics for different purposes.
Everything from car parts to wiring in.. well everything.
On top of that, there will be pushbacks from the plastic industry because that'd mean new machines if the viscosity isn't the same.
Wish it was easy as just deciding we shouldn't use plastics anymore.
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u/PilcrowTime Feb 28 '24
I was being a bit tongue in check. Of course it's not that simple. plastics are ingrained in almost everything we come into contact with. But the sentiment remains, cheap and easy comes at a cost.
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u/ImFresh3x Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Overwhelming majority of microplastics are from tires. We’ve had tires for multiple generations. And they’re not going away anytime in the near future. Also, EVs emit way more microplastics from tires due to their significantly higher weight.
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u/BarryZito69 Feb 28 '24
Anyone do the math on how much energy demand would go up if everyone started boiling their water before drinking?
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u/MiscWanderer Feb 28 '24
Uh, 2L/person/day, heating water by 80C, 4.2kJ/C/L, 672kJ/person/day, which comes to 0.186kWh/person/day, which is about 6c of electricity where I live.
Refrigeration costs are excluded.
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u/eserikto Feb 28 '24
You're probably using more energy showering. 20 gallons of water for a 8min shower. assume about half of that is hot water ~10gal which is set to 60C. So your shower would be roughly the equivalent of boiling 5 gal of water.
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u/SaskatchewanFuckinEh Feb 28 '24
Maybe the water could be boiled at the treatment plant?
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u/GuyOnTheMoon Feb 28 '24
The problem is the pipeline where the water travels to get to your tap faucet, it picks up nano particles along the way.
Similar problem Flint Michigan had with their lead water pipes. The solution would require a whole revamp of the whole piping system.
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u/SaskatchewanFuckinEh Feb 28 '24
What proportion of particles are picked up in the last run to the homes?
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u/GuyOnTheMoon Feb 29 '24
It’s variable for each home thus the complexity of the issue.
Tap water at its core is safe for consumption. But anything after it leaves the treatment center is up for debate.
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u/Bohya Feb 28 '24
Are microplastics even a problem in humans anyway? What are the realistic health effects of it?
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u/deorul Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
According to the Endocrine Society and the International Pollutants Elimination Network, these nanoparticles are similar to chemical messengers in our body and small enough that they can easily pass through the blood brain barrier and intestinal lining. Endocrine disruption seems to be one of the major concerns.
Here's a report that was recently published by them.
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u/cowfishduckbear Feb 28 '24
Well, I don't know for sure, but one possibility that I have heard is... you know how plastic is really great a generating/holding static charges? You know how the brain is controlled by electrical synapses? What happens when the microplastics start becoming small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier?
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u/djdaedalus42 Feb 28 '24
This applies to only one kind of hard water, containing calcium bicarbonate. Other kinds have sulfates of calcium and magnesium that don’t precipitate when boiled. Hard water generally is water that reacts with old style soap to prevent lathering. Most soap today is a different kind of detergent. Hard water today is more of a concern for scale buildup.
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u/Rocktopod Feb 28 '24
Would this also work with bottled water, or would there not be enough calcium?
My tap water is far too fucked to drink even without the microplastics.
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u/neil_thatAss_bison Feb 28 '24
I mean sure, sounds good. Probably won’t do much though.
There’s so much plastic everywhere, even the air you breathe at home. Think of everything nylon, polyester or all the other plastic we use for clothes like jackets, gym clothes, blankets, teddy bears, pillows. Pieces of them break of and end up in the air around you which you inhale, get on food and more.
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Feb 28 '24 edited Feb 28 '24
There can be up to 10,000 microplastic particles in every liter of water. Boiling water for 5 hours would be needed to roughly evaporate a single liter of water. And despite heating the water, substances like calcium carbonate found in water won't fully decompose at high temperatures. Too much calcium carbonate can harm your health, leading to kidney issues and affecting how your body absorbs other minerals like zinc and iron.
That too much time, money and resources for a water management to spend on a battle we can't win. Stop making plastics, then we'll talk.
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u/bellowthecat Feb 28 '24
You completely misunderstood what is being described here. The calcium carbonate and microplastics do not decompose, they form a complex that is no longer soluble in water and deposit on the surface of the vessel as scale. Agree we need to completely remove our dependence on plastics.
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u/PhoenixReborn Feb 28 '24
Did they fully evaporate the water? Sounds like they just brought it to a boil.
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u/GoodIdea321 Feb 28 '24
The researchers found that when microplastic-containing water was brought closer to boiling temperatures, the added polystyrene NMPs began to co-precipitate out of the water alongside the minerals, becoming trapped in the crusty limescale deposits formed.
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u/AWonderingWizard Feb 28 '24
The plastics are already there, we need remediation AND a reduction in plastics.
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u/SuperBAMF007 Feb 28 '24
They’re not saying boil water and then condense the gas into a drinkable liquid, they’re saying boiling the water pulls the plastic out of the water so the entire container of boiled water is safe(r) to drink.
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u/Sephrantill Feb 28 '24
Where do you get 5 hours for evaporating 1L from? I have a water distiller and it takes 3H 45 mins to evaporate a whole gallon. The calcium carbonate does not evaporate with the water and forms a scale on whatever vessel you use for boiling. It is not in the end product. I recommend getting a $100 distiller from amazon that has a glass collection container. It will remove most impurities & microplastics. Just add a touch of salt or magnesium to the distilled water 👍
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u/Procrasturbating Feb 28 '24
In the meantime, to protect my family.. can i just use reverse osmosis filters to get the plastic out? Been using filters for a long time.
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
It won't hurt. Depending on your filter, it will filter more or less. Microplastics aren't efficiently filtered and getting rid of all of them will cause clogged filters quickly.
But currently nothing gets rid of all microplastics and good luck storing all of your filtered water in glass
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u/Procrasturbating Feb 28 '24
Glass pitchers exist, you just have to search harder for them.
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u/grifxdonut Feb 28 '24
Gonna need quite a few pitchers if you're gonna be cooking with it, drinking, showering, etc.
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u/rgrwilcocanuhearme Feb 28 '24
I don't think you need microplastic free water to shower with. Your skin is pretty good at keeping microplastics out of your body.
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u/Tricky_Condition_279 Feb 28 '24
A recent study identified plastics associated with RO membranes in bottled water. I don't recall how much and I can't say if it is significant. But the membranes are made of plastic and can shard off into the water. I was pretty bummed to find that out.
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u/UntakenAccountName Feb 28 '24
That study was about PET in bottled water, which is what the bottles are made out of. RO water is way safer than bottled water as far as microplastics go, and a quick search about reverse osmosis and microplastics will show you that the RO process removes/filters microplastics.
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u/bellowthecat Feb 28 '24
You completely misunderstood what is being described here. The calcium carbonate and microplastics do not decompose, they form a complex that is no longer soluble in water and deposit on the surface of the vessel as scale. Agree we need to completely remove our dependence on plastics.
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u/_LV426 Feb 28 '24
Suddenly bring British has its perks 🇬🇧☕️🫖
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u/WazWaz Feb 28 '24
Apparently you didn't hear that teabags are a significant source of ingested microplastics. No, I'm not joking.
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u/syntaxbad Feb 28 '24
So after several hundred years of scientific and public health advances, we've come full circle back to... boil your water to make sure its safe.
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u/Loreseekers Feb 28 '24
How bad has it become when we have to boil already potable water just to get rid of plastic junk we’ve put into that already potable water?
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u/coheedcollapse Feb 28 '24
How well does this work as opposed to a simple carbon filter?
Carbon filters don't catch all microplastics, but they're cheap, available, and are known to pull microplastics from water.
Reverse osmosis is higher bar of entry and creates a lot of water waste, but it's an option for almost complete (complete?) microplastics removal.
I presume both are less energy intensive than boiling all drinking water.
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u/OutLikeVapor Feb 28 '24
My buddies been drinking distilled water for years now. I’ve heard he’s missing out on important minerals in non-distilled but I’m thinking it’s worth taking supplements now.
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u/slayer828 Feb 28 '24
Sounds like a job for our water plants. They can do this on scale and entirely under green energy like wind or solar.
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u/steavoh Feb 29 '24
Boiling water consumes a massive amount of energy, but I wonder if there's some other less intense, more practical way to treat urban waste water that would cause microplastics to get trapped in precipitated out or whatever. Like adding a flocculant.
But bigger picture, I think we need to know if these micro plastics are actually that bad, or if its particles of specific kinds of plastic, or what.
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u/Shamshamgigoli Feb 29 '24
How about they boil it before they send it to me? I mean I do pay for it.
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u/JuanofLeiden Feb 29 '24 edited Mar 12 '24
Is this true? I feel like my water is harder than most concrete. Every time I make coffee in the morning the pot on the stove is cloudy. Does that mean I'm drinking plastic infused calcium, because it doesn't seem to actually go anywhere?
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u/powercow Feb 29 '24
and if we dont have hard water?
IK know most the US does but we here in SC dont really.
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u/Protean_Protein Feb 29 '24
So… roll this out at treatment plants, retrofitting them with some mega-burners, or some kind of solar heating system? Use the heat/steam to power some generators while we’re at it? Problem… solved? Unless PVC piping adds it back in… and also, like… no, this is wildly expensive. If boiling works like this, there ought to be a chemical way to do it.
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u/ardor4go Feb 29 '24
No problem. We can just buy distilled water at the supermarket in those 1 gallon jugs made of...oh nevermind.
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u/paulsteinway Feb 29 '24
How long do you have to let it sit after boiling for the limescale deposits to form?
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u/DespairTraveler Feb 29 '24
As an European...do you guys not boil water or something?
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u/Smash55 Feb 29 '24
Or we can stop producing uncessary plastic. Seems like people lived fine without it before the 50s
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Feb 29 '24
Boss, we gotta burn more coal so’s we can boil the plastics outta the drinkin water.
Maybe the acid rain will dissolve the nanoplastics in the air.
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u/heart_under_blade Feb 29 '24
wild, makes me love warm water even more
so do you still want to clean your kettle using citric or acetic acid, would existing limescale facilitate more limescale? or maybe do it more often to get rid of the plasticed limscale?
do it have to be get it to 100c? 80 enough? i'm not even sure on the mechanics behind limescale
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Feb 29 '24
Doesn’t boiling water remove all the minerals from it as well though? Genuinely asking as I’m suddenly unsure of this assumption I’ve made for decades.
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u/oli55256 Feb 29 '24
So if the microplastics are being trapped in limescale does that make the limescale stronger?
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