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Microplastic pollution on bathing beaches threatens the health of human beings and coastal organisms. There is a lack of assessment on the level of microplastic pollution and the health risk associated with plastics. As one of the earliest open bathing beaches in China, Liandao is well known as the two high-quality beaches. However, little is known about the extent of microplastic pollution on these bathing beaches. Based on the analysis of microplastic pollution abundance, distribution, shape, size, color, and composition at the Liandao bathing beaches, this study puts forward a novel approach to comprehensively evaluate the microplastic pollution level and risk level by using the Nemerow pollution index (NPI) and polymer hazard index (PHI). The results show that the average abundance of microplastics on the Liandao bathing beaches is 135.42 ± 49.58 items/kg; the main shapes are fibers, fragments, and granules. Most of the microplastics are transparent, brown, and black, accounting for 71.54%, and they have an average particle size of 0.63 ± 0.43 mm. The main components are PE, PP, PS, PET, and nylon, of which nylon appears in the highest proportion (54.77%). The microplastic NPI and PHI values are 0.38 and 74.81, respectively, indicating that the pollution level and health risk index of microplastics on the Liandao bathing beaches are both low. With the increase in population and per capita consumption, plastic waste generated on land will continue to increase. Finally, this study puts forward some suggestions regarding microplastic monitoring, plastic waste management, and environmental attitudes and behavior.

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OBJECTIVE: To understand the health status and influencing factors of people in bathing beach after bathing. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted among the beach tourists in Hebei, Shandong and Shanghai Provinces from May to September, 2019-2020, including personal basic information, seawater/beach exposure in the last 7 days, beach activities, personal protective measures, physical health, related symptoms or diseases after bathing, etc. The seawater samples and sand of the three bathing beaches were sampled and detected. RESULTS: A total of 1222 valid questionnaires were collected. Skin infection(26. 19%), nasal congestion(12. 36%) and eye infection(8. 18%) were the most common symptoms of the tourist after seawater bath. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that previous physical discomfort(OR=0. 08-140. 73, 95%CI 0. 04-443. 64) was the common factor of all symptoms(P& lt; 0. 05), the risk factors of stomach cramps, eye infection, nasal congestion and sore throat were no wear of turbinate(OR=4. 65, 95% CI 1. 53-14. 08) and goggles(OR=541. 52, 95% CI 121. 58-2411. 85), swallowing seawater(OR=2. 29-79. 78, 95%CI 19. 83-296. 78) respectively(P& lt; 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Personal protective measures and physical conditions affect people& apos; s symptoms and diseases after bathing. There is microbial pollution in beach water and sand.

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Marine litter is one of the most pressing problems of our time and a major threat to ocean health; much of it comes from land-based sources, including from beachgoer activities. This study investigates how product design could influence littering behaviors of beachgoers when applied to beach trash cans (TCs). Over the course of six weeks three differently designed TCs were placed on a Mediterranean Sea tourist beach in Israel while observers tracked the behavior of 536 nearby groups ("entities") of beachgoers. Researchers analyzed: a) entities' locational choices; b) materials discarded in the TCs; and c) littering behaviors around the TCs. Based on the data collected, a "motivating" TC design performed best, encouraging the highest level of beachgoer interaction. Further research is needed in more and varied beach contexts, but this type of initial interdisciplinary research suggests how the design discipline could contribute to preventing marine litter from land-based sources.

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Microplastics (MPs, plastic fibers, debris, or particles that are generally smaller than 5 mm in diameter) can serve as carriers for hazardous substances, which are ingested by organisms in the ocean and can affect their growth and metabolism. Moreover, MPs will spread with ocean currents, and MP pollution has become a global problem. In this study, the MP abundance distribution of four typical beaches near the coast of Qingdao was studied by the combination of ordinary microscope and fluorescence microscope methods. In addition, the distribution of MPs collected from various beaches in different particle size ranges, shapes, and chemical compositions was discussed. Abundances on the sea surface varied between 5.05×103 particles·m-3 and 1.25×104 particles·m-3, and the concentration of MPs in sand varied between 1.91×103 particles·m-2 and 4.35×103 particles·m-2, with no significant differences detected among the four beaches examined. The results show the pervasiveness of MP pollution in coastal environments of Qingdao. The size of particles found in this study ranged from 5 mm to 50 µm, and increases in abundance were detected with the decreasing particle size. Polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), 96% polystyrene+4% butadiene copolymer (SB), polymethyl acrylate (PMA), and polyamide (PA) were present in seawater in coastal environments of Qingdao, and compared with the seawater samples, no PA or PMA were found in sand. Research results indicated that fiber was dominant in seawater and sand. MPs in the sand were similar to those in seawater in terms of the particle size, shape, and composition, thus indicating that the seawater and sand of the bathing beaches in Qingdao may have the same pollution sources, e. g., the packaging industry, clothing textile industry, and tourism. This paper studies the distribution and sources of MPs in the bathing beaches of Qingdao, and it provides basic data for research and supervision of environmental MP pollution in Chinese coastal zones.

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Objective To investigate the environmental quality and water quality of bathing beach in Haikou,Hainan province and the effects on human health.Methods The investigation of the bathing beach environment and the water quality were conducted according to Bathing Beach Monitoring Regulations(2002).The water samples were collected at PM 3:00-5.00 on May 28th to June 3th in 2007 from three sampling sites,No.1(easily be polluted),No.2(crowded),No.3(less pollution).The questionnaire survey was conducted on the present day and 7 days later,the items included the respiratory,digestive systems infection and eye,ear,nose and skin inflammation,the survey was completed in two days.Results The environment survey of bathing beach suggested that non-point source pollution caused by domestic wastewater emerged on raining days,the salinity was 31‰-33‰,clarity exceeded 30 centimeter and no heat pollution was found.The pH value,chroma,dissolved oxygen,nitrate nitrogen,chemical oxygen demand,inorganic nitrogen,fecal coli group was 8.01-8.10,11.42-15.00 NTU,5.60-6.71 mg/L,0.16- 0.17mg/L,2.70-3.40mg/L,0.19-0.21 mg/L and 35.0-36.0/L respectively.Four hundred and eight questionnaires were eligible, the response rate was over 90%.The results demonstrated that the swimmers were facing to the increased illness risk from the water quality,such as skin pruritus,gastrointestinal allergies,throat sore,eye and ear and nose infections.There was distinct higher proportion in the participants with water contact and complained one or more symptoms than those without water contact(P

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Objective To know the present sanitary status of bathing beach in Haikou,and provide the scientific data for improving the assessment of microorganisms contamination of bathing beach. Methods The routine water quality data and related meteorological data of the bathing beach were collected from 2007 to 2009. In July 8th-10th 2009,a high grade bathing beach and an ordinary one were selected,four sampling sites were selected where the contamination by feces were often seen,the number of swimmers was the largest,the samples were collected from the deep-water areas and sand beach respectively,and fecal coliform and enterococcus were examined. Results The concentration of fecal coliform was(1 085.8?538.8)cfu/L in water and(120 000.0?32 659.9)cfu/1 000 g in sand,and the E.faecalis was(32.5?19.1)cfu/L in water and(2 425.0?689.8)cfu/1 000 g in sand. The numbers of the two kinds of bacteria in water decreased with the increase of distance from the land. The concentration of bacteria was positively correlated to the day's rainfall(P