• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.99-106
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• 2010

We investigated springs in Seoul in 2009 to know the change of water quality according to storage method of spring water, the concentration of chemical compounds and their correlation. Even spring water that originally satisfied national standard for drinking water could be exceeded national standard for drinking water by storage method such as storage bottle, temperature and period; especially used PET bottles could affect the increase of total colony counts. Therefore, spring water is desirable to be consumed on the spot, or to be stored in sterilized bottles in refrigerator rather than room temperature at home, and also to be consumed shortly not exceeding 24 hours. Total colony counts, coliform, yersinia, $F^-$, $Cl^-$, $NO_3^--N$, hardness, total Solids, pH, color and Al were exceeded national standard for drinking water at some springs. The result of correlation analysis shows that hardness and total solids, which are caused by several ionic compounds, had relatively high correlations with other chemical compounds.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.186-195
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• 2021

In Korea, groundwater quality is monitored through National Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network (NGQMN) administered by Ministry of Environment. For a given contaminant, compliance to groundwater quality standards is assessed on a annual basis by monitoring the number of incidents that concentration exceeds the regulatory limit. However, this approach provides only a fractional information about groundwater quality degradation, and more crucial information such as location and severity of the contamination cannot be obtained. For better groundwater quality management on a watershed, a more spatially informative and intuitive method is required. This study presents two statistical methods to convert point-wise monitoring data into information on groundwater quality status of a watershed by using a proposed grading scale. The proposed grading system is based on readily available reference standards that classify the water quality into 4 grades. The methods were evaluated with NO₃^-, Cl^-, and total coliform data in Geum River basin. The analyses revealed that groundwater in most watersheds of Geum River basin is good for domestic or/and drinking with no treatment. But, there was notable quality degradation in Bunam seawall and So-oak downstream standard watersheds contaminated by NO₃^- and Cl^-, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2004

20 groundwater samples in Sahagu Busan were analyzed to understand the characteristics of groundwater quality of the area. Using the data, physical and chemical property, mineral contents, water-rock reaction of the groundwater carried out. The water type in the area is Ca2+-HCO3- and Ca2+-(Cl-+SO42-). Average EC value of the groundwater is 540μS/cm, but in the case of several samples influenced by eawater, the value is up to 4,140μS/cm. Some samples are exceeding the drinking water tandard in NO3-N and NH4-N. On the other hand, contamination by heavy metal is not found.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.37-45
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• 2001

The characteristics of drinking groundwater quality was analyzed by investigating observed data during 1995-1997 in Daejeon city. As the analysis of observed data, the 30.1% of them were over the drinking water quality standards in Daejeon city and the unfit ratios of each region were 36.4% at Dong-Gu, 32.3% Daedeog-Gu, 31.2% Jung-Gu, 30.0% Seo-Gu and 25.2% at Yusoung-Gu. It was found that the items over the drinking water quality standards were 24 items and all of the mean concentration of water quality items were under the drinking water quality standard except Fe and Mn in 1997. The mean concentration of Fe was $1.31mg/{\ell}$ over the water quality at Daedeog-Gu and that of Mn was $0.53mg/{\ell}$ at Jung-Gu. The concentrations of $NH_3$-N, Mn, Fe, Al and F were increased rapidly in 1997, so that the cause of increasing also must be examined closely. It was found that the rainfall and unfit ratio(unfit frequency/test frequency) of E-coli and bacteria had the hydrologic persistance. The coefficient of correlation between them was 0.525. On the rainfall over 100mm, it was 0.673 and on the rainfall over 150mm, it was 0.641. The correlation between E-coli and rainfall was higher than that between bacteria and rainfall.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.67-73
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• 2011

Groundwaters were sampled from 730 wells being used for drinking purposes during 2007-2009. These samples were analysed using a gas-flow type GPC (Gas Proportional Counter) according to the USEPA method (900.0). We obtained a gross-alpha counting TDS (total dissolved solid) efficiency curve (Y = 0.0017X2 - 0.3122X + 19.165, X = TDS, Y = efficiency, $R^2$ = 0.9734) using natural uranium standard to get gross ${\alpha}$ value of the samples. The gross alpha values ranged from MDA (minimum detectable activity) to 14.88 pCi/L and 429 samples showed values higher than MDA (< 0.9 pCi/L). Correlations of the uranium values with the total alpha values and the gross-alpha values indicate that uranium values have high impacts on gross-alpha values. Groundwater samples of study areas were classified into four regions according to the rock types; plutonic (granite) rock region (427 areas), metamorphic rock region (181 aeras), sedimentary rock region (70 areas), volcanic rock region (52 areas). Groundwater of Cretaceous granite presented the highest gross-alpha value. Gross alpha in groundwaters showed no relationship with uranium in terms of the geological ages, rocks and minerals.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.356-365
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• 2021

Background: Concerns have been raised regarding the criteria of groundwater, in particular in Gwangwon-do Province where many residents drink groundwater due to the poor supply of tap water and a high nonconformity rate with water quality criteria nationwide. Objectives: Water quality monitoring and risk assessment were conducted for groundwater in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do Province. Methods: A total of 46 items required for meeting drinking water criteria were analyzed from 258 samples collected from March 2017 through August 2018 (152 sites in 2017 and 106 sites in 2018). Risk assessment was conducted for two non-carcinogens (F^- and NO₃-N), and one carcinogen (i.e., arsenic) based on their high nonconformity to water quality criteria. Results: Water quality analysis revealed that the total proportion of nonconformities was determined to be 27.9%. The nonconformity rate for each content item is as follows: total colony counts (1.6%), total coliform (6.2%), Escherichia coli (1.2%), F^- (8.1%), arsenic (4.7%), NO₃-N (8.1%), pH (1.2%), manganese (0.4%), and turbidity (5.8%). Risk assessment indicated that fluoride induced a hazard quotient greater than 1 with the 95% UCL (Upper Confidence Limit) concentration of the total 258 sites and average, median, and 95% UCL concentrations of nonconformity sites. For NO₃-N, there was no human health risk. For arsenic, the excess cancer risk exceeded the acceptable cancer risk of 1×10^-6 with the average and 95% UCL concentrations of total 258 sites and average, median, and 95% UCL concentrations of nonconformity sites. Conclusions: This study suggests that it is necessary to expand water quality monitoring of groundwater and conduct a more detailed risk assessment in order to establish a health care plan for the residents of Hoengseong, Gangwon-do Province.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.504-515
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• 2012

Groundwater is widely used as drinking water supplies around the world. However, microbial contamination of groundwater is a serious environmental problem that degrades drinking water quality and poses a great threat to human health. Among the pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, viruses are not readily removed during transport through soils, having high mobility in groundwater environment due to their smaller size compared to bacteria and protozoa. Studies regarding the fate and transport of viruses in soils and aquifers are necessary to determine the vulnerability of groundwater to microbial contamination and to secure safe drinking water sources. Also, these studies provide important information to establish the regulations and policies related to public health. This review paper presented the field and laboratory studies conducted for the fate and transport of viruses in subsurface environments. Also, the paper provided the factors affecting the fate and transport of viruses, the characteristics of bacteriophages used for virus studies, and virus transport model/colloid filtration theory. Based on this review work, future researches should be performed actively to set up the viral protection zone for the protection of groundwater from viral contamination sources. Especially, the researches should be focused on the development of mathematical models to calculate the setback distance and travel time for the viral protection zone along with the accumulation of information related to the model parameters.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.82-92
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• 2013

This study has investigated naturally occurring radioactive materials (N.O.R.M; $^{238}U$, $^{222}Rn$) for 353 drinking groundwater wells in metamorphic rock areas in Korea. Uranium concentrations ranged from N.D (not detected) to 563.56 ${\mu}g/L$ (median value, 0.68 ${\mu}g/L$) and radon concentrations ranged from 108 to 11,612 pCi/L (median value, 1,400 pCi/L). Uranium and radon concentrations in the groundwater generally are similar to USA with similar geological setting. Uranium concentrations in 9 wells (2.6%) exceeded 30 ${\mu}g/L$, which is the maximum contaminant level (MCL) by the US environmental protection agency (EPA), radon concentrations in 46 wells (13%) exceeded 4,000 pCi/L, which is the Alternative MCL (AMCL) by the US.EPA. The log-log correlation coefficient between uranium and radon was 0.32. The correlation coefficient between uranium and pH was 0.12 and the correlation coefficient between radon and temperature was -0.01. The correlation coefficient between uranium and $HCO_3$ was 0.09 and the correlation coefficient between uranium and Ca was 0.11. The median value of uranium was high Chung-Buk (1.78 ${\mu}g/L$), Gyeong-Buk (1.37 ${\mu}g/L$), In-Cheon (1.06 ${\mu}g/L$) for each province. On the other hand, the median value of radon was high In-Cheon (2,962 pCi/L), Chung-Buk (2,339 pCi/L), Jeon-Buk (2,165 pCi/L) for each province. Jeon-Buk for log-log correlation coefficient is the highest (0.63) among provinces.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.859-865
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• 1998

The analysis of groundwater quality in Kyungnam Province was conducted using monitoring results obtained during 1994. According to the analysis, most heavy metals and pesticides listed in Korean drinking water standards were not detected in Kyungnam Province groundwater, but arsonic and volatile organics such as TCE and PCE were detected. Four inorganic contaminants were detected and frequency of violating the standards was in order of $NO_3-N, F^-, As, NH_3-N$. Of organics, TCE and PCE were the only contaminants detected. TCE more frequently violated the standards than PCE. Correlation was investigated among contaminants detected in Kyungnam Province groundwater. The correlation results showed that high correlation existed among dissolved solids, hardness, and $SO_4^{2-}$.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2015

As the water supply system has been installed over the country, the management of drinking water could be easier and controlled by experts. This helps to supply safe water to public. However, in rural area, small scale water treatment systems or groundwater haves been used as drinking water supplier. The drinking water including groundwater contains various contaminants. Private or small scale water treatment system can be contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, selenium and strontium which are usually originated from natural source. Arsenic, selenium and strontium have been determined from the goundwater, small scale water treatment system in the Kyungpook area. The results have been compared with the Korean and international standards. The results were analyzed on the geological characteristics of the area. Among the total of 1,412 samples, 76 samples showed higher concentration of arsenic than WHO guideline and the Korean drinking water standard. Total 4 samples had higher contents of selenium than WHO guideline which was $10{\mu}g/L$. In the analysis of geological characteristics, arsenic was highly released from a few area and which are in order of biotite granodiorite > biotite granite > daegu formation. Selenium has been highly released from biotite granite > black shale > diluvium.