Heavy metals and VOCs contamination of urban Broundwaters in Seoul, Korea

We measured the concentrations of heavy metals and VOCs in groundwaters (N=38) in Seoul. The comparison of our data with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Maximum Contaminant Levels for Drinking Water and with the Korean Drinking Water Standards shows that most of the metals except for Fe and Mn do not exceed the levels. However, the concentrations of most heavy metals (esp., Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni) tend to increase in residential and industrialized areas. The examination of the metal speciation using Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV) and TOC analyzer Indicates that large amounts of Zn occur as labile metal fraction, whereas Cu occurs as non- labile forms at many sites, possibly due to its tendency to be adsorbed onto inorganic colloidal particles to form electroinactive species in groundwater. The most frequently existed VOCs in Seoul groundwaters are trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, especially in agricultural, industrial, and high traffic areas.