A Study on Water Quality Standard for the Protection of Human Health and Aquatic Life

인체의 위해성과 수생태계를 고려한 수질환경기준 설정에 관한 연구

  • Lee, Jae-Hyun (Finance and Policy Planning Office, Ministry of Environment) ;
  • Kim, Yoon-Shin (Institute of Environmental & Industrial Medicine, Hanyang University)
  • 이재현 (환경부 재정기획관) ;
  • 김윤신 (한양대학교 의과대학 산업의학교실)
  • Received : 2007.09.27
  • Accepted : 2007.10.12
  • Published : 2007.11.30

Abstract

There are about 40,000 chemicals used in Korea and 300 new types of chemicals are added to the list every year, influencing quality of air, soil and water. Water quality standards that serve as the basis for water quality management have been proved inefficient and insufficient compared to those of advanced countries. This study aims to improve the existing water quality standards. Most importantly, the water quality standards need to take into account not only protection of human health but also aquatic resources. To that end, water quality criteria need to be set by monitoring each watershed every year and conducting risk assessment. Criteria for human health are set at $10^{-6}$ cancer risk level, and for aquatic life at conservative level, adopting the methodology of the U.S. and Australia, respectively. After carrying out technical and economic feasibility studies, more conservative criteria will be used to decide final water quality standards. The development of this system to establish integrated water quality standards for both human health and aquatic resources protection is urgently needed.

Keywords

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