Characteristics of Nonpoint Source Pollution and Relationship between Land Use and Nutrient Concentrations in the Han River Watershed

Nonpoint source pollution has become a concern for water quality in the Han River system, especially during the high runoff events during the monsoon season. The patterns in nonpoint source runoff the relationships with land use, rainfall intensity, and stream nutrients concentrations were surveyed in 19 streams in the Han River watershed. The results show that the magnitude of NPS inputs of nutrients and sediment in the Han River watershed are of a serious concern. In the South Han River watershed, event mean concentrations (EMC) for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), suspended sediment (SS), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved total phosphorus (DTP), total nitrogen (TN) Nitrate ($NO_3$-N) and total phosphorus (TP) were $1.94mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;251mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;2.75mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;0.076mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;2.82mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;2.40mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and $0.232mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, respectively. In the North Han River watershed, EMCs for BOD, SS, DOC, DTP, TN, $NO_3$-N and TP were $1.34mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;172mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;2.63mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;0.032mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;1.97mg{\cdot}L^{-1},\;1.55mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and $0.148mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, respectively. The specific export coefficients of nutrient and sediments were much higher than those of other reports. Our study also found that the proportion of agricultural field area was significantly correlated with the EMCs for nutrients. Therefore, efforts to reduce NPS loading must focus on agricultural practices in the watershed. The relationships between land use and nutrient and sediment export found in this study can be used to derive estimates of runoff coefficients for agricultural field and as input data for modeling works and to develop total maximum daily load and best management practices in the Han River watershed.

강우시 한강유역에서의 비점오염원 유출 특성과 토지이용도와의 관계