• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.57-65
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• 2006

In this study, WASP6 was used to predict the water quality of the reservoir and the lake. This can help the managers make the right choice of water quality policy. The results through studying are below. Raw pollutant load caused by the tourists in pollutant load of the study area takes 91.66% and 92.75% in total amount T-N, T-P. It showed high value when compared to raw pollutant load by land and stock farm and it seems that the main contamination is the population of tourists. From the result of the prediction model, BOD will increase about 1.5 times, T-N and T-P will be 1.5 times in 2012. It means that some counter plan is needed to reduce pollutant load. Enviroment grade of Suokjeong reserver is in I~II grade which is in good condition comparatively. However, the water contamination will be in poor as the year passes. when considering T-N T-P, which are the nutrients to control eutrophication, the concentrated administration about contamination sources is in urgent.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.379-394
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• 2002

This study was initiated to identify groundwater quality and contamination at present in the 'A' section of Seoul Metropolitan Subway. Groundwater samples were collected at 21 boreholes along the 'A' section and appeared to show mainly $Ca-HCO_3$ type. In 20 samples, concentration of $SO_4$, Cd, Pb, Fe, Mn, Al, F and $NO_3-N$ were higher than those of Korean drinking water quality standards. From chemical data and saturation Indices, contaminant sources of individual chemical elements were inferred to be buried wastes and surface sediments over the study area. The result of factor analysis suggested that the pollution factor should account for about 47% of data variation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.472-472
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• 2004

Numerous studies on urban groundwater have been carried out in many other countries. Urban groundwater shows a unique hydrologic system because of complex urban characteristics such as road pavement, sewers and public water supply systems. These urban facilities may change the characteristics of groundwater recharge but contaminate its quality as well. There have been several researches on urban groundwater in Seoul. Seoul has been industrialized very rapidly so that the city has large population. The recent population in Seoul amounts to more than ten millions, corresponding to a very high density of about 17, 000 people/km$^2$. Therefore, many factors affect the groundwater quality and quantity in Seoul. Nowadays, groundwater in Seoul is being extracted for construction, industrial use, and drinking and so on. There are 15, 714 wells in Seoul and its annual usage is 41, 425, 977m$^3$(in 2001). Therefore, systematic studies are needed to properly manage and use the groundwater in Seoul. The purposes of this study in progress are to identify geochemical characteristics of groundwater in Seoul and to determine the extent of groundwater contamination and its relationship with urban characteristics. For this study, groundwater was sampled from more than 400 preexisting wells that were randomly selected throughout the Seoul area. For all samples, major cations together with Si, Al, Fe, Pb, Hg For 200 samples among them, TCE, PCE, BTEX were also analyzed by GC. Our study shows that groundwater types of Seoul are distributed broadly from Ca-HCO$_3$ type to Ca-Cl＋NO$_3$ type. The latter type indicates anthropogenic contamination. Among cations, Ca is generally high in most samples. In some samples, Na and K are dominant. The dominant anions change widely from HCO$_3$ to Cl＋NO$_3$. The anion composition is considered to effectively indicate the contribution of distinct anthropogenic sources. In addition, major ions are positively proportional to total dissolved solid (TDS) except K and NO$_3$. Thus, we consider that TDS may be used as an effective indicator of the extent of pollution. However, the increase of TDS may result from increased water-rock interaction. To determine the extent of groundwater contamination, it is needed to figure out the baseline water quality in Seoul. Furthermore, detailed geochemical studies are required to find out pollution sources and their corresponding hydrochemical parameters.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.99-106
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• 2015

To estimate the effects of suspended sediments flowing into the Saemangeum Reservoir on the extent of contamination of the reservoir, the suspended sediments were collected with sediment traps, which were installed from the upstream of the Mankyung and Dongjin Rivers to estuary of the reservoir, respectively, and the sedimentation rates and the chemical characteristics of suspended sediments were analyzed. The sedimentation rates in the Mankyung and Dongjin Rivers were ranged from 0.01~5.06 and $0.01{\sim}8.75kg/m^2/day$, respectively. Those were higher to the upstream of rivers, and were mainly affected by flood events. The concentrations of organic matters were from 3.3 to 9.6 times higher than those in the stream sediments and were higher after flood season, indicating the contaminants come from the non-point sources on the basin. The concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the suspended sediments showed the same trend with the organic matters. These results indicate that the suspended sediments from the basin of the Mankyung and Dongjin Rivers are highly contaminated and the countermeasures to manage the sources of contamination on the basin are required to maintain the water quality of the Saemangeum Reservoir.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.240-253
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• 1997

The main problems contributing to food poisoning outbreaks in institutional settings and a home were reviewed and analyzed through the epidemiological investigations of food poisoning. The major documented factors included improper holding temperatures, inadequate cooking, poor personal hygiene, cross-contamination and contaminated equipment, food from unsafe sources, failure to follow food hygiene policies, and lack of education, training, monitoring and superivision. Usually more than one factor contributed to the development of an outbreak. (1) Use of improper holding temperatures was the single most important factor contributing to food poisoning. They included improper cooling, allowing a laps of time (12 hours or more) between preparing food and eating it, improper hot holding, and inadequate or improper thawing. Food thermometers were not used in most of the instances. (2) In inadequate cooking, the core temperature of food during and after cooking had not been measured, and routine monitoring was limited to recording the temperature of plated meals. Compared with conventional methods of cooking, microwave ovens did not protect against food poisoning as effectively. Centralized food preparation potentially increased the risk of food poisoning outbreaks. (3) Poor personal hygiene both at the individual level (improper handwashing and lack of proper hygienic practices) and at the institutional level (poor general sanitization) increased the risk of transmission. Person to person transmission of enteric pathogens through direct contact and via fomites has been noted in several instances. (4) Obtaining food from unsafe sources was a risk factor in outbreaks of food poisoning. Food risks were high when food was grown or harvested from contaminated areas. Possibilities included contamination in the field, in transport, at the retail site, or at the time it was prepared for serving. (5) Cross-contamination and inadequate cleaning/handling of equipment became potential vehicles of food poisoning. Failure to separate cooked food from raw food was also a risk factor. (6) Failure to follow food hygiene policies also provided opportunities for outbreaks of food poisoning. It included improper hygienic practices during food preparation, neglect of personnel policies (involvement of symptomatic workers in food preparation), poor results on routine inspections, and disregarding the results and recommendations of an inspection. (7) Lack of formal and in-service education, training, monitoring, and supervision of food handlers or supervisors were critical and perhaps neglected elements in occurrences of food poisoning.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.44-51
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• 2010

Contamination of groundwater from point and non-point sources is one of major problems of water resource manangement in Jeju island. This study characterized groundwater and soil contamination in Hallim area which is one of the areas of significantly contaminated soil and groundwater in Jeju Island. The amount of loaded contaminant (ALC) of Jeju area was estimated as 13,212 ton N/yr and 3,210 ton P/yr, The ALC of Hallim area was amounted to 2,895 ton N/yr and 1,102 ton P/yr, which accounted for 21.9% and 34.3% of the Jeju's ALC, respectively. The soil pH values (5.6-5.9) were not much different in land use areas. By contrat, average cation exchange capacity (CEC) of 14.1 $cmol^+/kg$ was high comparing to the nationwide range of 7.7-10.9 $cmol^+/kg$. Further, Sodium adsorption ratios (SARs) of horse ranch, pasture, and cultivating land for livestock were as high as 0.19, 0.17, and 0.16 respectively, comparing to the other landuse areas. Nitrate nitrogen at 22.2% of total groundwater wells exceeded 10 mg/L (the criteria of nitrate nitrogen for drinking water), averaginged 6.62 mg/L with maximum 28.95 mg/L. Groundwater types belonged to Mg-$HCO_3$, Na-$HCO_3$, Ca-$HCO_3$, and Na-Cl, among which Mg-$HCO_3$ type occupied more than 70% of the total samples, indicating the presence of anthropogenic sources. The concentration of nitrate nitrogen was negatively related to altitude and well depth, and positively related to the concentration of Ca, Mg, and $SO_4$ which might originate from chemical fertilizer. The ratio of nitrogen isotopes was estimated as an average of 8.10$^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$, and the maximum value of 17.9$^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$. According to the nitrogen isotope ratio, the most important nitrogen source was assessed as chemical fertilizer (52.6%) followed by sewage (26.3%) and livestock manures (21.1%).

• 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 Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2009

This paper reviews the current status of mercury research on exposure and contamination, mercury emissions, emission limits and control technologies, long-range transport and deposition research, and mercury management policy in Korea. According to a monitoring of the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, blood mercury levels among Koreans are $5{\sim}8$ times higher than those of U.S. and Germany. The most dominant source of exposure to mercury is through dietary intake. Emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants are estimated 8.93 ton/year in 2004. Emissions of mercury from other important sources, such as waste incineration, steel and cement manufacturing and non-ferrous metal smelting operations are to be further investigated. A study on long-range transport of mercury suggests that the dry deposition flux over the Yellow Sea was much greater than those for other oceans. As a whole, the amounts of wet depositions of nitrogen and sulfur were 1.9 and 1.5 times larger than the amounts of dry depositions in each species, respectively. Substantial influence from China caused by high emissions in East China and westerly wind was possibly suggested. However, the influence from nitrogen emission in Korea was also confirmed. Korean Government has already adopted stringent emission limits on mercury for incinerators and boilers in 2005. However, emission limits for coal-fired power plants and non-ferrous metal smelters are rather relaxed. As the above mentioned two sources can be two most important sources of mercury emissions, control strategy for those sources are to be considered.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2013

Objectives Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful tool for assessing exposure in epidemiologic studies. We used GIS to determine the geographic extent of contamination by perfluorooctanoic acid, C8 (PFOA) that was released into the environment from the DuPont Washington Works Facility located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Methods Paper maps of pipe distribution networks were provided by six local public water districts participating in the community cross-sectional survey, the C8 Health Project. Residential histories were also collected in the survey and geocoded. We integrated the pipe networks and geocoded addresses to determine which addresses were serviced by one of the participating water districts. The GIS-based water district assignment was then compared to the participants' self-reported source of public drinking water. Results There were a total of 151,871 addresses provided by the 48,800 participants of the C8 Health Project that consented to geocoding. We were able to successfully geocode 139,067 (91.6%) addresses, and of these, 118,209 (85.0%) self-reported water sources were confirmed using the GIS-based method of water district assignment. Furthermore, the GIS-based method corrected 20,858 (15.0%) self-reported public drinking water sources. Over half (54%) the participants in the lowest GIS-based exposure group self-reported being in a higher exposed water district. Conclusions Not only were we able to correct erroneous self-reported water sources, we were also able to assign water districts to participants with unknown sources. Without the GIS-based method, the reliance on only self-reported data would have resulted in exposure misclassification.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.116-124
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• 2020

This study aims to identify the characteristics of organic matter and pollutant sources using water quality and stable isotope ratios (δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C) of the two inflow tributaries (Gulpo (GP) and Anyang (AY) streams). Water samples were analyzed in June and September 2018, and the results showed that the concentrations of nutrients, such as TN and NO₃-N, were increased at GP4, which is located at the downstream of sewage treatment facilities(STFs). TOC and TN ratios showed a strong positive correlation (R² = 0.77, p<0.01) at all points except for GP4. The results of GP's stable isotope ratio analysis do not appear to be a constant cluster compared to AY because GPs with large amounts of pollutants from the industry (metal processing companies, etc.) have less tributary, shorter waterway and significantly different external sources. This could be attributed to different sources of external inflow despite its smaller number of tributaries and shorter waterways than AY. In the first half of the year, the δ¹⁵5N of GP4 was affected by discharge of STFs, while AY3 seemed to have an influence of tributary than the discharge of STFs. Consequently, using water quality, stable isotope ratio and C/N, the sources of contamination in two streams with different contaminants were identified and origin was estimated.