• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.673-682
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• 2016

In this study, we investigated influent and effluent water pollutants in 53 Public Sewage Treatment Works (PSTWs) where industrial wastewater or landfill leachate is combined four times for two years from 2014 to 2015. Also, we analyzed the characteristics of heavy metals and volatile organic carbons at influent and effluent of these PSTWs caused by sewage treatment combined with industrial wastewater or landfill leachate. As a result, six heavy metals such as barium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc, and four volatile organic carbons (VOCs) including phenols, di(2-)ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), formaldehyde and toluene were observed above detection limits in most of PSTWs. Also, it was revealed that six heavy metals such as hexavalent chromium, mercury, cadmium, chromium, nickel and selenium, and four VOCs including 1,1-dichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, naphthalene, and epichlorohydrin were observed more frequently according to precipitation. As a result of reviewing the monitoring data on "Water Quality Monitoring Networks" in lower watersheds of PSTWs, both heavy metals and VOCs were below detection limits, indicating that the effluent water had little influence on the watershed. Nevertheless for the better management of influent and effluent pollutants in PSTWs, it is necessary to establish the advanced management plans for water pollutants in PSTWs, which include a list of priority substances management, monitoring plans, and guidelines for industrial wastewater and landfill leachate combined in PSTWs.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.947-956
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• 2018

Trains have been a major means of transport in Korea during these past decades. However, train facilities such as stations and repair shops are contaminated with organic and inorganic substances. There is a high probability of train facility contamination with polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This study evaluated the PAH and heavy metal contamination of soil near railroads in the Kyungpook area. A total of 18 soil samples were collected from the railroads and analyzed for 16 PAHs and 6 heavy metal species. The contamination level of the top soil was found to be slightly higher than that of the subsoil for contamination with PAHs. The ratio of carcinogenic PAH concentration to the total PAH concentration was relatively high, with a maximum of 0.9. The toxicity equivalent (TEQ) of the PAHs were 500.6 ng/kg in the topsoil and 355.5 ng/kg in the subsoil. The ratio of low molecular PAHs (LPAHs) to high molecular PAHs (LPAHs) ranged from 6.7 to 29.5; this shows that contamination is primarily due to combustion of fuel rather than due to petroleum. The ratio of phenanthrene to anthracene and the ratio of fluoranthene to pyrene also show that contamination occurred due to combustion for transportation. The heavy metal contamination level was lower than the Korean standard, but higher than the background concentration; this indicates that the soil was affected by the operation of the railways.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.200-200
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• 2021

하천은 용수공급, 관개, 친수활동, 산업활동 등 인간의 활동에 중요한 역할을 한다. 이에 따라 수질관리는 필수적이며 유기물, 중금속, 화학물질 등의 용존물질들은 수질문제에 직접적으로 영향을 미친다. 따라서 하천에서의 용존물질의 혼합 거동을 파악하기 위한 연구가 지난 수십년간 이루어지고 있다. 하천 흐름에 따른 오염물질의 이동 및 확산 거동을 예측하기 위하여 1차원 추적모형이 활용되는데, 그 중 하천저장대 모형(Transient Storage Model, TSM)은 자연하천의 복잡하고 불규칙한 수리·지형적인 특성을 단순하게 반영할 수 있다는 장점때문에 가장 많이 사용된다. 하지만 TSM은 매개변수에 대한 의존성과 불확도가 크며, TSM의 저장대에서의 농도분포에 대한 지수함수형태의 모델링이 하상간극수역(Hyporheic zone)에서의 저장대 특성을 반영하기에 구조적으로 부정확하다는 단점이 제기되고 있다. 최근 이러한 TSM의 단점을 보완하고 하천에서의 저장대 메커니즘을 보다 정확하게 구현하고자 체류시간분포(residence time distribution)를 이용한 확률론적 저장대 모델링 프레임워크가 등장하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 본류대와 저장대에서의 오염물질의 체류시간분포를 분리하여 해석하고 이를 전달함수(transfer function)를 이용한 합성곱으로 결합한 형태의 프레임워크를 적용하여 모델링하였다. 상기의 모형을 검증하기 위하여 2019년 감천의 4.85km 구간에서 추적자 실험을 실시하였다. 실험 당시 유량은 12.9 m³/s로 풍수기에 해당되며 평균 유속은 약 0.6 m/s로 측정되었다. 모형의 매개변수는 추적자 실험으로부터 최적화 기법을 통해 역모델링기법으로 결정하였다. 제안된 모형에 의한 모의 결과를 추적자 실험에서의 농도측정자료와 비교한 결과, 평균 0.988의 결정계수를 보여 매우 높은 정확도를 보이고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 저장대특성을 나타내는 농도곡선의 꼬리부에 대하여 같은 조건에서 1차원 이송-분산(ADE) 모형, TSM의 모의결과와도 비교한 결과 본 모형은 추적자 실험 농도측정 결과와 평균 0.195의 오차율을 보이며, 이는 ADE 모형과 TSM의 오차율인 14.03과 1.866에 비해 매우 정확한 것으로 나타났다.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the physical and chemical properties for environmental assessment of water system affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) from coal mining activities in the Youngwol, Jungseon and Pyungchang areas in Korea. During November 2000 to July 2002, 6 times of water samples were collected season-ally from acid mine drainage and nearby streams at 13 coal mines in the study area. The physical and chemical properties including pH, Eh, TDS, salinity, bicarbonates and DO were measured in the field. Eighteen cations includ-ing Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn and Zn, and 6 anions including nitrates and sulfates were also analyzed by ICP-AES and If, respectively. Acid water from the Jungam coal mine has typical characteristics of AMD with very low pH(3∼4) and high TDS(1,000∼5,000 mg/1). Relatively high concentrations(mg/kg) of heavy meals, especially for Al(380), Fe(80), Mn(44) and Zn(8), were found in water samples from the Jungam coal mine area. Water samples from the Seojin, Sebang and Sungjin coal mines also contained over 50 mg/l of Al, >100 mg/1 of Fe and )10 mg/1 of Mn. In addition to anioins, over 1,000 mg/l of sulfate was found in several water samples. Seasonally, the concentrations of metals and sulfates varied; wet season samples were relatively higher in metals and sulfates than dry season samples. It is needed to establish the proper remediation and environmental monitoring of the AMD continuously.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.258-263
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• 2016

The risks of sanitary indicative bacteria, heavy metals and chlorinated derivatives in 94 cases of sanitary wet towels used in food services (39 from sanitary wet towel treatment business, 55 from food services) were assessed in the present study. Lead was detected in the range of N.D.~0.41 mg/kg (75 cases were not detected), N.D.~0.25 mg/kg of arsenic (93 cases were not detected), N.D.~0.01 mg/kg of cadmium (7 cases were lower than limit of quantitation; 87 cases were not detected), 0.003 mg/kg ~ 0.09 mg/kg of mercury. And chromium (VI) was not detected from all samples. The level of lead was the highest among the tested heavy metals, and the highest concentration of lead was 0.41 mg/kg. However, it was only 2.1% of legal limit (less than 20 mg/kg). The average moisture content of the samples was 61.9% (50.0% ~ 77.0%) and it showed no relevance to the detection of bacterial counts. Escherichia coli was not detected. Bacterial counts were detected 43 cases and among them, 24 cases were exceeded the legal limit. It was verified that the packaging conditions of sanitary wet towel (whether it is packed by a piece or not and sealed or not) are critical factors to cause the germ contamination and cross contamination in the wet towels. The chlorinated derivatives (chlorites and chlorates) were detected in 17 (19.3%) out of 88 cases. The results would be used as preliminary information to establish the programs of "Safety education for manufacturers and public policy of safety".

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.97-108
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• 2005

Samples of water, soil, and sediment were taken from 10 streams near Andong, Korea in May 2004. To assess the degree of environmental pollution of each stream, chemical pollutants such as total notrogen (T-N), total phosphorus (T-P), chemical oxygen demand (COD), heavy metals, organophosphorus pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, and dioxin-like PCB congeners were analyzed by standard process tests or U.S. EPA methods. In addition, biomarkers originated from insect immune systems of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, were used to analysis of the environmental samples. Except Waya-chun stream showing T-N content of 9.12 mg/L, most streams were contaminated with relatively low levels of overall pollutants in terms of T-N, T-P, and COD, compared to their acceptable environmental levels designated by the Ministry of Environment. Contents of Pb and Cd in samples of each stream were much lower than environmentally permissible levels. However, several times higherconcentrations of Pb and Cd were found in locations at Mi-chun, Kilan-chun, and Hyunha-chun streams, in comparison with other streams. Diazinon, parathion, and phenthoate compounds among organophosphorus pesticides were detected as concentrations of 0.19, 0.40, and $1.13\;{\mu}g/g$, respectively, from soil sample collected in the vicinity of Mi-chun stream. On the other hand, 16 organochlorine pesticides and 12 dioxin-like PCB congeners, known as endocrine disrupting chemicals, selected in this study were not found above the limit of detection. Biomarker analyses using insect immune responses indicated that Waya-chun stream was suspected as exposure to environmental pollutants. Limitation and compensation of both environmental analysis techniques are discussed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2004

To choose a organic acid and in-organic acid composite which is the most effective in soil-flushing process cleaning lead-contaminated sites, lead removal rates were investigated in the experiments with some organic acids; 0.01M of EDTA showed the highest lead-extraction rate ($69.4\%$) compared to the other organic acids. Furthermore, the lead removal rates were measured with 0.01M of EDIA and 0.1M of in-organic acid ; a EDTA and boric acid composite showed the highest lead-extraction rate ($68.8\%$) at pH5 compared to the other composites. As the concentration of boric acid was increased from 0.1M to 0.4M in a 0.01M of EDTA and boric acid composite, lead removal rate was decreased from $68\%\;to\;45\%$. But as the concentration of EDTA was increased from 0.01M to 0.04M in a EDTA and 0.1M of boric acid composite, permeability was decreased from $6.98{\times}10^{-4}cm/sec$ (0.01M of EDTA) to $5.99{\times}10^{-4}cm/sec$ (0.04M of EDTA). However, permeability was increased from $4.41{\times}10^{-4}cm/sec$ (0.03M of EDTA) to $6.26{\times}10^{-4}cm/sec$ (0.03M of EDTA and 0.1M of boric acid composite). indicating EDTA could increase lead dissolution/extraction rate and decrease permeability. In this system, lead remediation rate is the function of lead dissolution rate from soils and permeability of the composite into soils, and the optimized [EDTA]/[Boric acid] ratio is [0.01M]/[0.1M].

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.217-235
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• 2012

We evaluated the geochemical characteristics and their potential pollution of Asian Dusts in Daejeon, Korea during spring 2007. Compared with the chemical compositions of soils in source area of Asian Dust, those of aerosols in Daejeon were enriched with trace elements (ten to hundred fold), inferring that pollutants from China have affected on local environment in adjoining country such as Korea. Chemical analysis of aerosols during Asian dust showed that fine particles ($PM_{2.5}$) contained high contents of trace elements such as Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, V, S, As, Cd, Co, Ni, Mo, Sb, Cs, Rb, Th, Sc and Y. In the case of TSP (Total Suspended Particle), Zr, Sr, Ba, Li, Th and U were contained much more than other trace elements. The contents of some elements (i.e. Li, Cs, Co, U, Cr, Ni, Rb, V, Th, Y, Sr and Sc) in aerosols collected in Asian Dust period, which are not likely enriched by air pollutants, were higher (2 - 4.2 fold) than those in Non Asian Dust period, indicating that these elements could be used as indicator elements for determining the occurrence of Asian Dust phenomena (especially, Sr, V, Cr & Li). In the case of Asian Dust coming through the big cities and/or industrial areas of China, the domestic aerosols had higher contents of trace elements (such as S, Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu, Mo and As) than those from Northeastern China via North Korea, indicating that the transportation courses of air mass are very important to determine the pollution degrees. Using the enrichment factors of trace elements in aerosols during Asian Dust and Non Asian Dust, we identified that some elements (i.e. S, Zn, Cu, Pb, As, Mo and Cd) were most problematic in terms of environmental hazard aspects, and these elements could affect adverse effects on human health as well as ecosystem and surface environment (soil and water) through long-lived precipitation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 1982

Water quality of downstream of the Nagdong river, using for agricultural irrigation of the Gimhae plain, were observed. Water temperature, turbidity, residue, pH, BOD, COD, DO, hardness, chloride, sulphate, phosphate, inorganic nitrogenous compounds, sodium, general bacteria, E. coli and heavy metals of the water were investigated at Daejeo, Sikman, Bongrim, Noksan, Machal and Jangyou pumping stations in the Gimhae plain in May, July and October, 1981. The results obtained were as follows; 1) Average value of analyzed components of the water at all sampling sites were 7.8 pH, 6.3 ppm BOD, 6.5 ppm COD, 6.4 ppm DO, 231 ppm hardness, 582 ppm Cl-, 412 ppm $SO_4--$, 2.32 ppm $PO_4---$, 3.8 ppm $NH_4+,\;478\;ppm\;Na+$, 2964 No. /100 ml total coliform, 0.0040 ppm Cd, 0.0066 ppm Pb, respectively. 2) The most heavily polluted site of all investigated ones was Sikman. It seemed to be caused by the vast quantity of wastewater discharged from industrial district in Gimhae city. The next polluted sites were Bongrim, Daejeo and Noksan, and comparatively less polluted sites were Machal and Jangyou, judging from both appearance and physicochemical observation. 3) At Sikman, the most heavily polluted site, average value of components were 8.0 pH, 8.1 ppm BOD, 8.2 ppm COD. These values were close to the limit point of agricultural water quality standard of 8.0 ppm BOD (COD). 4) Any apparent variation was not observed by the sampling season in most components except DO and $NH_4+$. DO of October was higher than that of May or July but $NH_4+$ was low. 5) $NH_4+$ content was comparatively high in downstream of the Nagdong river of which water is used as the agricultural irrigation in the Gimhae plain. Therefore, fertilizer application on the farming land must make account of nitrogen content of the irrigation water 6) It was considered that chloride and sodium contents would not influence the crop cultivation in common season, but in dry season irrigation must be done carefully.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.424-431
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• 2018

Stormwater runoff containing considerable amounts of pollutants such as particulates, organics, nutrients, and heavy metals contaminate natural bodies of water. At present, best management practices (BMP) intended to reduce the volume and treat pollutants from stormwater runoff were devised to serve as cost-effective measures of stormwater management. However, improper design and lack of proper maintenance can lead to degradation of the facility, making it unable to perform its intended function. This study evaluated an infiltration trench (IT) that went through a series of maintenance operations. 41 monitored rainfall events from 2009 to 2016 were used to evaluate the pollutant removal capabilities of the IT. Assessment of the water quality and hydrological data revealed that the inflow volume was the most relative factor affecting the unit pollutant loads (UPL) entering the facility. Seasonal variations also affected the pollutant removal capabilities of the IT. During the summer season, the increased rainfall depths and runoff volumes diminished the pollutant removal efficiency (RE) of the facility due to increased volumes that washed off larger pollutant loads and caused the IT to overflow. Moreover, the system also exhibited reduced pollutant RE for the winter season due to frozen media layers and chemical-related mechanisms impacted by the low winter temperature. Maintenance operations also posed considerable effects of the performance of the IT. During the first two years of operation, the IT exhibited a decrease in pollutant RE due to aging and lack of proper maintenance. However, some events also showed reduced pollutant RE succeeding the maintenance as a result of disturbed sediments that were not removed from the geotextile. Ultimately, the presented effects of maintenance operations in relation to the pollutant RE of the system may lead to the optimization of maintenance schedules and procedures for BMP of same structure.