There is only one way surfers can picture the ocean as an elemental and pure playground of freedom, to which they can escape.

But as we paddle out into the lineup, we may be facing a rather different scenario: one not of water and tube-spitting spray, but of microplastics, invisible toxins, and persistent pollutants.

New research underscores a dangerous paradox: when environmental monitoring fails, risks can go unseen.

The article “No data, no risk? How the monitoring of chemicals in the environment shapes the perception of risks” warns us that inadequate surveillance leads to a false sense of safety.

Surfers are uniquely positioned within this crisis. We swallow the sea, breathe the spray, and absorb what the water carries.

The collision between extreme human exposure and under-monitored pollution defines what may be the biggest threat to surfers’ health.

And that is an invisible tsunami.

How Much Ocean Water Do Surfers Swallow?

Few surfers pause to consider how much water – and what’s in it – they actually ingest.
A 2017 study found surfers swallow roughly ten times more seawater than swimmers.

A CDC review confirmed that surfing involves high accidental ingestion of water.

These repeated exposures through ingestion, inhalation of mist, and skin immersion create a unique profile of biological contact.

Every duck-dive, wipeout, and breath of sea spray carries with it particles and compounds invisible to the eye.

They can be fertilizers and industrial residues, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and microplastics.

Over time, the cumulative exposure is real.

“Surfers don’t just touch the ocean,” says a marine toxicologist at the University of Exeter. “They live in it. That makes them frontline witnesses to what’s really in our water.”

An Invisible Tsunami of Toxins

In 2025, the report “Toxicity: The Invisible Tsunami” by Deep Science Ventures (DSV) described chemical pollution as a global health emergency.

Here are some of the takeaways.

Over 350,000 synthetic chemicals are in global use, and most have never undergone long-term safety testing.

PFAS, also known as the “forever chemicals,” are detected in 99 percent of human blood samples worldwide.

Lastly, many of these chemicals are already toxic beyond the level of detection, in particular if they display synergistic actions.

Shockingly, the DSV authors argue that chemical toxicity may soon rival smoking in its health impact.

Surf zones – where land-based runoff meets the sea – are major entry points for these chemicals. Surfers, spending hours immersed nearshore, are among the highest-exposure groups.

And that should lead us to think and take action.

Microplastics Are the Ocean’s Hidden Dust

Plastic pollution is usually obvious on beaches; microplastic pollution is not.

Fragments under five millimeters, and nanoplastics much smaller, now saturate marine and riverine systems. They act as sponges for toxic chemicals and can penetrate biological barriers.

A 2025 study linked microplastic levels in coastal waters to elevated disability rates – including cognitive and mobility impairments – among local populations.

Another analysis in Science Advances documented nanoplastics crossing the blood-brain barrier.

Further reviews found microplastics trigger inflammation, immune dysfunction, and metabolic disruption.

A major Lancet-affiliated project on plastics and health warned that plastics and chemical additives now constitute a major under-recognized threat to human health.

For surfers and their long hours immersed in contaminated waters where microplastics concentrate, these findings represent exposure.

The Forgotten Frontline: River Surfers

You might not have thought about it, but while ocean surfers face broad environmental exposure, river surfers – riding standing waves in urban rivers – confront even more intense contamination.

Here are a few reasons why.

Rivers as Chemical Collectors

Every major watershed funnels agricultural chemicals, urban runoff, tire dust, microfibers, pharmaceuticals, and industrial effluent into rivers.

A Nature Communications study (2022) found river water quality is deteriorating globally, especially in industrial and urban regions.

Standing Still Means Stewing In It

River surf waves often form in the same body of flowing water with limited exchange.

Surfers may sit in one spot for 20-60 minutes, re-exposing themselves to the same chemical load repeatedly.

PFAS and Effluent Hotspots

A 2025 Science of the Total Environment study pointed to wastewater effluent as a major PFAS source in surface waters.

The Australian NHMRC warns that even “recreational exposure” to PFAS – from swimming or immersing – may impact liver, immune, and thyroid function.

“River surfers aren’t just riding waves,” says one environmental chemist. “They’re standing in the concentrated bloodstream of civilization.”

Exposure Pathways at a Glance

The Body as a Filter

Emerging research shows our bodies are recording the planet’s contamination. Here are a few testimonies:

• Frontiers in Toxicology (2025) found microplastics trigger oxidative stress and tissue inflammation;
• Lab Manager (2025) linked chronic microplastic exposure to metabolic and neurological disorders;
• BBC Future (2025) reported microplastics found in human lungs, blood, and placentas;
• The Lancet plastics/health project emphasised that many plastic additives remain untested and widespread;
• A recent article in the The Washington Post argues that pollution is driving early-onset cancer;
• A new report commissioned by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) warns that chemical pollution is fueling a growing men’s health crisis in Europe. Prostate and testicular cancers and infertility are on the rise. Mounting evidence links these trends to exposure to phthalates, PFAS, pesticides, and microplastics, with widespread contamination across all age groups. Alarmingly, exposure to these chemicals even before conception is associated with disorders in male offspring. The related health costs are estimated to be nearly €15 billion annually. 

The list of emerging evidence that polluted water constitutes a highly underappreciated risk increased almost daily, with studies showing the whole spectrum of fatal diseases as well as the impact on unborn life.

Climate Change Is Acting as A Force Multiplier

According to the Helmholtz Climate Initiative, climate change intensifies chemical pollution by altering rainfall patterns, increasing runoff, and accelerating plastic breakdown.

Flood events mobilize pollutants from land and infrastructure into rivers and coastal waters. Warmer waters degrade plastics faster, increasing nanoplastic formation and exposure risk.

In effect, climate instability is turbo-charging toxicity, and surfers are in a direct path.

The Economic Undercurrent

The health consequences of contaminated water carry economic costs. 

For instance, coastal recreation and tourism depend on clean conditions, so beaches closed due to pollution lose billions annually.

The global surf market – valued at roughly $4 billion – rests on the assumption that we’re all engaging in safe, clean waves. When it doesn’t happen, there’s no surf industry.

River surf parks, too, form part of urban renewal and recreation economies: contamination threatens their viability.

We need to address clean water not just as an environmental, but also as an economic asset.

Although this number accounts for all plastics-related damages to human health beyond water pollution, it might be worthwhile to mention which dimensions we are facing.

“World in $1.5 Trillion ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns” is the title of a recent story in The Guardian that discusses an analysis of the highly respected magazine The Lancet.

Pathways to Prevention

The crisis is real, but not hopeless. Here are key action areas:

• Upgrade Monitoring: Surf zones and river waves must be treated as high-exposure environments. Real-time testing for microplastics, PFAS, and pathogens is needed;
• Regulate Mixtures, Not Just Molecules: Current regulatory frameworks examine one chemical at a time. Human exposure is to complex cocktails; policy must reflect that;
• Modernize Infrastructures: Up-to-date wastewater treatment can remove microplastics and PFAS with high efficacy. Investment here safeguards public health;
• Push Gear Innovation: Surf gear manufacturers must accelerate the adoption of PFAS-free materials and biodegradable designs to reduce both exposure and release;
• Empower Citizen Science: Surfers are natural monitors of water quality. Peer-driven sampling programmes build data and advocacy capacity for change;
• Put Pressure on Legislators: All methods, toxin catalogues, as well as reference values regarding potential health risk are totally outdated around the world. This must change immediately, if we not only wish to protect our health but also stop the exponential health crisis we will face, which makes all current efforts of preventing disease redundant and ridiculous;

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is actively demonstrating the economic, environmental, and health advantages of safe chemicals and waste management.

Their goal is to encourage policies and investments that reduce risks to both human health and the environment.

Words by Dr. Thomas Wilckens, President of the Bavarian Surfing Association e.V.

References in Alphabetical Order

• Annual Review of Environment and Resources (2023). “Environmental Toxicology and Global Chemical Threats.”
• Arnold, B. F., et al. (2016). “The health implications of sewage in coastal waters: A review of the literature. Current Environmental Health Reports, 3(3), 264-272.”
• BBC Future (2025, July 23). “How Do the Microplastics in Our Bodies Affect Our Health?”
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). “Water Ingestion During Water Recreation.”
• Deep Science Ventures (2025). “Toxicity: The Invisible Tsunami.”
• Environmental Microbiology (2025). “Microplastic Transport and Biofilm Risk in Freshwaters.”
• EurekAlert! (2025). “No data, no risk? How the monitoring of chemicals in the environment shapes the perception of risks.”
• Frontiers in Toxicology (2025). “Microplastic Exposure and Human Health: Systemic Impacts.”
• Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), November 5, 2025: “Chemical pollution driving men’s health crisis – stronger EU action needed.”
• Helmholtz Climate Initiative (2025). “Climate Change and Water.”
• Lab Manager (2025). “New Evidence Links Microplastics with Chronic Disease.”
• Nature Communications Earth & Environment (2022). “Global River Water Quality Decline.”
• Oceanographic Magazine, November 18, 2025: “Ocean plastic kills marine life in ‘far smaller doses’ than we thought.”
• NHMRC (2024). “PFAS Guidance for Recreational Water: FAQs.”
• PR Newswire (2025, February 25). “Microplastics in Ocean Linked to Disabilities for Coastal Residents.”
• Science Advances (2024). “Nanoplastics and Biological Barrier Penetration.”
• Science of the Total Environment (2023). “Toxicological Impacts of Chemical Mixtures in Aquatic Systems.”
• Science of the Total Environment (2025). “Wastewater Effluent as a Major Source of PFAS and Organic Pollutants.”
• ScienceDirect (2017). “Water Ingestion During Recreational Surfing.”
• The American Heart Association Newsroom (2025). “Living Near an Ocean Polluted by Microplastics May Increase Cardiometabolic Disease Risk.”
• The Guardian. “World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns.”
• Medindia summary (2025). “Countdown to Crisis: Plastics, Pollution, and a Planet in Peril,” referencing The Lancet’s plastics/health initiative.
• World Economic Forum, February 2025. “Microplastics: Are we facing a new health crisis – and what can be done about it?”