• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.99-102
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• 2000

There has been a steady increase in contaminated ground at municipal and industrial site. In this study, investigation and analysis on soil contamination at industrial site was carried out. Testing contaminated soils were sampled at this site. As a result of this study, the concentration of soil was investigated, and measured concentration was compared with related concentration criteria.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.85-88
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• 2001

Since mountainous area has access restrictions for field work, assessors need to establish a conceptual model of the contamination prior to the field investigation. In this study we established a conceptual model of the contamination based on site inspection and geological survey, followed by the field investigation for the petroleum spill site. In the conceptual model, we estimated that tile contamination should have spread by groundwater and topographical characteristics within the top soil layer. The spread of contamination through rock was not considered in the conceptual model due to impermeable characteristics of metasyenite. The contaminated environmental media of the petroleum spill site include soil and groundwater. According to the analysis result of the contamination, the volume of contaminated soil is estimated approximately 4, 150 cubic meters (7, 055 ton) with most contaminants existing along the groundwater flow within top soil layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.11-15
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• 2006

Attempts were made to increase an efficiency of soil contamination investigation systems (SCISs) including Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites in Korea. In order to increase low efficiencies resulting from inappropriate SCISs, possible policy suggestions are driven based on the results from problem findings of Korean policy and comparisons of policies on industrialized countries including United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. First, functions of Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA) on liability should be updated and reinforced to initiate a soil contamination investigation process for stakeholders including an owner(s) or a responsible party(ies) of the potentially soil contamination sites positively. Second, appropriate SCISs should be emerged for implementing the Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites properly. Stakeholders for the potentially contaminated sites should easily access and raise the soil contamination issues, and soil contamination investigation implemented by liable and profit environment (consulting) companies should be encouraged. Third, the soil contamination reporting system of SECA needs to change legally responsible. Further more, public announcement system showing soil quality of a site which exceeds a certain scale would be considerable. Fourth, liable environment (consulting) companies should legally execute Soil Environment Assessment of SECA.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2008

For a given soil-contaminated site, a level of soil contamination is characterized and decisions on risk may be made from the risk assessment. The study evaluated critical design factors for the determination of sample size in the sampling design plan and the assessment of soil contaminant- leaching to groundwater. Two variables, the minimum relative detectable difference (T) and coefficient of variation (CV) were evaluated for the sample size determination. The minimum number of samples can be appropriately determined by CV under a T value greater than or equal to 0.2. Soil-contaminant leaching to groundwater was evaluated by using the Soil Screening Level equation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Risk Based Screening Level equation of American Society for Testing and Materials, with the same input parameters. The groundwater concentrations estimated from soil contaminant concentrations were significantly affected by the Darcy velocity of groundwater and the organic content of soil.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.39-67
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• 2005

In order to properly define the terms such as soil, soil contamination, soil contamination site and remediation, which are the key terms under the Soil Environment Conservation Act(SECA) in Korea, we analyzed the legal definitions of the similar key words in legislations of the developed western countries. The selected countries were the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. The legal definitions of these keywords were very much diversified due to different levels of soil contamination, as well as different industrial, social, and legal backgrounds in each country. However, fair suggestions for definitions of the key terms in SECA were derived from the comparative analyses of these countries. First and foremost, SECA should provide a definition of 'soil' which includes a concept of the natural soil layer produced from soil mineralization processes. Groundwater and sublayer of the groundwater would. be excluded in the boundary of the soil with regards to the Groundwater Act of Korea. Definition of 'soil contamination' of SECA should include a concept of risk assessment(soil contaminants, pathway, and receptors), purpose of land use, and the acquired limitation levels of soil contaminants. Soil contamination activity either industrial or anthropogenic in SECA article2-1, could be substituted for a concept of soil risk assessment. Definition of 'soil contamination site' could derive from amalgamating the concepts of i) soil contamination in conjunction with contaminants, ii) risk assessment, iii) a concept of land use, and iv) knowing limitation of contamination site designation. Definition of 'remediation of contaminated site' should include the objective, intention, action, methodology and limit of the remediation. These suggested definitions would increase the efficacy of soil environment conservation policies, which includes the survey of the potentially contaminated area, remediation, and removal of the site.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2013

It is well known that uncertainty associated with soil sampling is bigger than that with analysis. In this research, uncertainties for soil sampling when assessing TPH and BTEX concentration in soils were quantified based on actual field data. It is almost impossible to assess exact contamination of the site regardless how carefully devised for sampling. Uncertainties associated with sample reduction for further chemical analysis were quantified approximately 10 times larger than those associated with core sampling on site. Bigger uncertainties occur when contamination level is low, sample quantity is small, and soil particle is coarse. To minimize the uncertainties on field, homogenization of soil sample is necessary and its procedures are proposed in this research as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.415-418
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• 2000

There has been a steady increase in geoenvironmental engineering projects where geotechnical engineering has been combined with environmental concerns. Many of these projects involve some investigation on contaminant around unplaned waste landfill. In this study, investigation and test on contamination characteristics of wastes dumped at municipal site were carried out. Testing wastes were sampled at this site. Sampled wastes were divided into waste itself and soil to analysis the characteristics of waste and soil. As a result of this study, the concentration of soil and waste were investigated. And measured concentration were compared with related concentration criteria.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2018

This paper is aimed at source tracking of soil heavy metal contamination at a site established by reusing construction wastes. The soil heavy metal concentration at the study site peaked at a depth range of 5-10 m. Column studies were conducted to investigate the possibility of the contamination scenario of infiltration of stormwater carrying heavy metals of ground origin followed by selective heavy metal accumulation at the 5-10 m depth range. Almost all amount of lead, zinc, cadmium, and nickel introduced to the columns each packed with 0-5 m or 5-10 m field soil were accumulated in the column. The very poor heavy metal mobility in spite of the weak association of the heavy metals with the soil (characterized by a sequential extraction procedure) can be attributed to the high pH (10-11) of the construction wastes. From the results, the heavy metal contamination of the subsurface soil by an external heavy metal source was determined to be very unlikely at the study site. The column study applied in the current study is expected to be a useful methodology to present direct evidence of the contaminant source tracking at soil contamination sites.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2014

Uncertainty associated with a sampling method is very high in evaluating the degree of site contamination; therefore, such uncertainty affects the reliability of precise investigation and remediation verification. In particular, in evaluating a site for a small-sized filling station, underground utilities, such as connection pipes and oil storage tanks, make grid-unit sampling impossible and the resulting increase in uncertainty is inevitable. Accordingly, this study quantified the uncertainty related to the evaluation of the degree of contamination by total petroleum hydrocarbon and by benzene, toluene, ethylene, and xylene. When planning a grid aimed at detecting a hot spot, major factors that influence the increase in uncertainty include grid interval and the size and shape of the hot spot. The current guideline for soil sampling prescribes that the grid interval increase in proportion to the area of the evaluated site, but this heightens the possibility that a hot spot will not be detected. In evaluating a site, therefore, it is crucial to estimate the size and shape of the hot spot in advance and to establish a sampling plan considering a diversity of scenarios.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.115-124
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• 2004

To utilize a closed municipal solid waste landfill site in environmentally secure conditions, it is necessary to verify the stabilization level of landfill leachate. To assess leachate stabilization of an open-dumping municipal solid waste landfill (Noeun Landfill) which is located at the upper drainage basin of Namhan River which flows into Lake Paldang utilized for Seoul Metropolitan water supplies, the surrounding characteristics of the landfill site was surveyed. After then, leachate, groundwater and soil samples from this landfill were chemically analyzed, and the analysis results were evaluated by "The Criteria of Landfill Waste Stabilization(CLWS)", "Discharge Criteria of Landfill Leachate", "The Criteria of Domestic Use in Groundwater Quality", and "Soil Contamination Criteria" promulgated by Korean Ministry of Environment. The closed open-dumping landfill was equipped with the final soil cover, 3 groundwater monitoring wells and poor landfill gas extraction devices for the post-closure management of the landfill. BOD/CODcr ratios in leachate were less than or slightly higher than 1/10. This results seemed to imply that the leachate stabilization level of this landfill based on the CLWS was almost completed. Qualities of groundwater sampled from monitoring wells located at outside of landfill were adequate for "The Criteria of Domestic Use in Groundwater Quality". Finally, concentrations of soil contaminants that were likely to be influenced by this landfill site were adequate to "Soil Contamination Criteria".