sherri mason. i'm a chemist and currently the director of sustainability at the erie campus of penn state. when many think of plastic pollution as an issue, they think of mass collections of debris in the oceans. while oceans are certainly important, science has made it clear over the past decade that this is not an oceans only problem. it is a water problem. my research group was among the first to study plastic pollution and freshwater ecosystems. our study formed the basis of the science upon which the microbeads free water act of 2015 was based. years later, we would also be the first research lab to examine wastewater treatment plant effluent as well as tap water and bottled water. while our results were surprising, just last month, we learned that bottled water has even higher concentrations of even smaller particles called nanoplastics. my work in this field of research started in the great lakes, the largest freshwater ecosystem on the planet, holding 90% of the united states freshwater sup