• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.30-39
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• 2018

Soil contamination survey was conducted during March - July, 2017 to obtain soil contamination profile of 16 organic and inorganic contaminants in Hanam industrial complex located in Gwangju, Korea. The concentrations of all surveyed contaminants except Cd showed were within 0.3~1.5 times of their natural background levels. Cd showed concentrations as high as 6.9 times of the background level, signifying the influence of the metal processing facilities in the complex. The concentrations of Zn, Pb and Hg in areas nearby industrial facilities were 1.3~5.5 times higher than those within the facility and green area. The concentration of Cu in the green area was 1.4~2.9 times higher than in other areas. The Soil Pollution Index (SPI) analysis revealed 54% of the total area belong to first-grade soil, 43% to second-grade, and 3% to third-grade. The Enrichment Factor (EF) of Zn, Pb, and Cd were 9.2, 15.6, and 88.5, respectively, indicating high accumulation and contamination of the soil with Cd.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2017

This study was investigated on pH, heavy metals, oils and solvents in 34 surface soil samples and the samples are collected at two times for 17 farmland sites around 7 industrial areas in Northern Gyeonggi Province. As a result of pH for soil contamination monitoring network, the range of pH showed 4.4~8.4 and average was 6.3. The range of pH for Agricultural land around industrial area was 6.7~7.5 and average indicated 7.1 that mostly showed neutral condition in this area. he average concentrations of Cu, Pb, Ni, As and $Cr^{6+}$ are lower than Korea soil contamination worrisome levels at region 1 and the mean levels of farmland from the soil quality monitoring network. The average concentrations of Zn, Cd and Hg didn't exceed the soil contamination worrisome levels at region 1 but slightly higher than the mean levels of farmland from the soil quality monitoring network. The heavy metal levels of all samples are within Korea soil contamination worrisome levels at region 1. The results showed that the detected heavy metal concentrations ranged from N.D. to ~32.7% of Korea soil contamination worrisome levels at region 1. BTEX, TPH, TCE and PCE were not detected in all samples and thus the farmland around the industrial areas were free from oils and solvents contamination.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.391-396
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the level of community environmental perception of older adults and to identify the association between environmental perception and subjective health status among older persons. Methods: Analyses are based on data from Statistics Korea 2016 Social Survey. This study analyzed a total of 8,193 older adults aged 65 and over, and examined the association between environmental perception on air, water, soil, noise and vibration, and subjective health status using multiple regression analysis. Results: Study findings shown that environmental perception on water and soil had significant association with subjective health status of older adults. Specifically, older adults reported worse health status when they had more negative perceptions of water and soil environments in their communities. Conclusions: Results of this study suggested that efforts to enhance safety of drinking water and soil environments, and continuous research to identify relationship between environment and elderly health shoud be needed.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 2020

Object: The purpose of this study was to select priority points for soil management using the location of groundwater and to suggest this method for soil contamination surveys. Method: Groundwater impact range was set to an area of 100 to 500 meters from the center point of agricultural groundwater wells. Data on industrial complex and factory areas, areas of stored or used ores and scrap metals, areas associated with waste and recycling, and traffic-related facilities areas were collected and checked for whether they fall within the groundwater impact range. Longitude and latitude coordinates of these data were mapped on the groundwater impact range using QGIS (Quantum Geographic Information System). Results: Considering the groundwater impact range, the points were selected as follows: 589 points were selected from 6,811 factories and 259 points were selected from 1,511 recycling business points. Traffic-related facility areas were divided between gas stations, bus depots, and auto mechanics. Thirty-four points were selected from 149 bus depots and 573 points were selected from 6,013 auto mechanic points. From the 2,409 gas station points, 323 were selected. Conclusion: Contaminated soil influences groundwater and crops, which can harm human health. However, soil pollution is not easily identified, so it is difficult to determine what has occurred. Pollution must be prevented beforehand and contaminated soil found. By selecting and investigating soil contamination survey points in consideration of the location of groundwater wells, we can safely manage water resources by preventing groundwater contamination in advance.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.36-46
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• 2021

The Soil Health Index (SHI) developed by Park et al. (2021) is used to evaluate soil health on remediated soils collected from several remediation project sites and monitored the changes of SHI during the remediation process of land farming, soil washing, and thermal desorption. In the case of land farming, the soils remediated below a legal standard didn't show any significant changes in indices of SHI except the downgrade of available phosphate from medium to a low level. The SHI scores were ranged from 52 to 56 in the contaminated soil and 54 to 57 in the remediated soil. With soil washing, bulk density changed from high to a low level, and available phosphate was lowered from medium to low level. As the SHI scores were evaluated as 58 to 63 for contaminated soil and 38 to 42 for remediated soils. For thermal desorption, soil respiration rate was reduced from high to low level and SHI was scored as 50 to 51 for contaminated soils and 43 to 47 for remediated soils. Even though any abrupt changes of the SHI in remediated soils were not identified in the soils used in this study, it is expected that soil in different conditions such as types and concentrations of contaminant and soil characteristics would result in distinguished changes of the SHI. There is a room for more studies collect diverse information on SHI across the country.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.4 s.85
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• pp.280-286
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• 2005

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate removal efficiency of $NH_4-N$ using the soil column. Soil, oyster shell and natural zeolite were used as a supporting media of soil column. Removal efficiencies of $NH_4-N$ were $35.9\%,\;41\%\;and\;93.4\%$ for the soil column packed with soil, natural $zeolite(20\%)$ and oyster $shell(20\%)$ at HRT of 72 hours, respectively. The addition of $20\%$ oyster shell to the soil accelerated nitrification in soil column. The influent ammonia nitrogen was mostly converted to nitrate nitrogen in the soil column and little ammonia nitrogen was found in the effluent. When the influent $NH_4-N$ concentration was 200 mg/l, the NIL-N removal was decreased at HRT of 48 hours, while nitrification was significantly increased after mechanical aeration. It was suggested that nitrification from higher $NH_4-N$ concentration was more affected by aeration in soil column process. The number of nitrifiers was approximately in a level of about $10^6\;MPN/g{\cdot}soil$ in the soil column mixed with oyster shell ($20\%$).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2017

Objectives: The pollution status of heavy metals within the soil was investigated with an aim to establishing a sustainable soil environment within parks and amusement facilities installed in urban areas of Gyeonggi-do Province. Methods: As sampling sites, 14 locations were selected from a city with a number of factories near a residential area, a residential area, and a children's park in a city with mixed green areas. Seven kinds of heavy metals, including Cd, Pb, and Hg, and the pH of soil were analyzed three times by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Results: In this study, the pH of the samples from the residential park and industrial park showed 5.7-6.5 and 5.9-7.0, respectively. The overall mean concentration (mg/kg) of heavy metals was Zn (132.8), Ni (73.0), Cu (47.4), Pb (35.9), As (4.84), Cd (0.39), and Hg (0.07), indicating that these concentrations of heavy metals were lower than those for the area 1 standard of soil pollution concern criteria. In addition, the sampling sites in the residential area and the industrial area also showed the same tendency for concentration distribution. Conclusions: We found that the soil pollution class (SPC) of some spots were over 200, which are third and fourth classes. In order to manage a sustainable soil environment in a city park, it is suggested that local governments, the management bodies for these parks, need to manage, supervise, and investigate soil pollution and quickly replace contaminated soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.49-59
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• 2021

The effects of green manure crops, hairy vetch and sesban, supplemented with HS (humic substance) on biological soil health indicators was studied in a pot containing two kinds of reclaimed soil previously contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons; a soil remediated by land-farming (DDC) and another soil by low-temperature thermal desorption (YJ). Treatments include no plant (C), plants only (H), and plants+2% HS (PH), which were evaluated in a pot containing respective soil. Biological indicators include microbial community analysis as well as soil enzyme activities of dehydrogenase, 𝛽-glucosidase, N-acetyl-𝛽-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), acid/alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and urease. Results showed an increase of enzyme activities in pot soils with plants and even greater in soils with plants+HS. The enzyme activities of DDC soil with plants (DDC_P) and with plants+HS (DDC_PH) increased 1.6 and 3.9 times on average, respectively than those in the control. The enzyme activities YJ soil with plants (YJ_P) and with plant+HS (YJ_PH) increased 1.8 and 3.8 times on average, respectively than those in the control. According to microbial community analysis, the relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in DDC and YJ soil was increased from 1.5% to 7% and from 0 to 5%, respectively, after planting hairy vetch and sesban. This study showed that mixed planting of green manure crops with a supplement of humic substance is highly effective for the restoration of biological health indicators of reclaimed soils.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2017

Identification of radon in soil provides information on the areas at risk for high radon exposure. In this study, we measured uranium-238 and radon-222 concentrations in soil to assess their approximate levels in Seoul. A total of 246 soil samples were taken to analyze uranium with ICP-MS, and 120 measurements of radon in soil were conducted with an in-situ radon detector, Rad7 at a depth of 1-1.5 m. The data were statistically analyzed and mapped, layered with geological classification. The range of uranium in soil was from 0.0 to 8.5 mg/kg with a mean value of 2.2 mg/kg, and the range of radon in soil was from 1,887 to $87,320Bq/m^3$ with a mean value of $18,271Bq/m^3$. The geology had a distinctive relationship to the uranium and radon levels in soil, with the uranium and radon concentrations in soils overlying granite more than double those of soils overlying metamorphic rocks.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.249-253
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• 2006

This survey study was performed to evaluate the pollution level of playgrounds for children at 49 different sampling sites in Seoul metropolitan. Results were as follows. 1. Soil pH ranged from 6.0 to 9.2. 2. Average concentrations of heavy metals were 0.101 mg/kg of Cd, 4.470 mg/kg of Cu, 0.10 mg/kg of As, 5.35 mg/kg of Pb, 0.017 mg/kg of $Cr^{6+}$ 0.0051 mg/kg of Hg, which were lower than Korean soil precaution level. 3. The SPCs of all areas were below 100, which is 1st grade. In conclusion, the pollution level of playgrounds for children was safe.