• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.243-250
• /
• 2018

BACKGROUND: Recently, the use of $^{131}I$ for diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer has been increasing, and the radionuclide is continuously released into aquatic ecosystem. This study was carried out to investigate the $^{131}I$ concentrations in mainstreams, tributaries, and sewage wastewater treatment plants (SWTPs) of the Yeongsan River Basin and to identify their origins from the assessment of behaviors in the rivers. METHODS AND RESULTS: The water samples were collected from 19 sites including mainstreams (13), tributaries (4) and SWTPs (2). The $^{131}I$ concentration was measured using a gamma-ray spectrometry with a HPGe detector. The $^{131}I$ in SWTPs was detected mostly in the discharged effluent at the sampling sites. However, from the surface water of the rivers, $^{131}I$ was found only at two sites from each sampling period of the first (MS4 and MS10) and the second half (MS4 and MS7) of the year 2017. The concentrations of $^{131}I$ in the effluent discharged from SWTPs were in the range of 0.0870 to 3.87 Bq/L for SWTP1, and $^{131}I$ in the river revealed that it was not detected in the upper streams of the mainstreams and tributaries, while continuous detection was found in the SWTPs and downstream sites affected by the effluent. However, the concentration of $^{131}I$ decreased downstream, eventually becoming undetectable. Such behavior was closely related to the behavior found in the SWTPs. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that medically-derived $^{131}I$ was discharged to the river via sewage effluent at the SWTPs. It is necessary to evaluate the influence of aquatic ecosystems through continuous monitoring in the future.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 1995

In former times the protection of our environment didn't play an important role due to the fact that emissions and effluents were not considered as serious impacts. However, opinions and scientific measurements meanwhile confirmed that the impacts are more serious than expected. Thus measures to protect our earth has to be taken into consideration. A part of these measures in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). One of the most important parts of the EIA is the collection of basic datas and the following evaluation. Experience out of the daily business of Gerling Consulting Group shows that the content of the EIA has to be revised and enlarged in certain fields. The historical development demonstrated that in areas in which the population and the industrial activities reached high concentration there is a high necessity to develop strict environmental laws and regulations. Maximum values of the concentration of hazardous materials were fixed concerning the emission into and water. Companies not following these regulations were punished. The total amount of environmental offences increased rapidly during the last decade, at least in Germany. During this development the public consciousness concerning environmental affairs increased as well in the industrialized countries. But it could clearly be seen that the development in the field of environmental protection went into the wrong direction. The technologies to protect the environment became more and more sophisticated and terms as: "state of the art" guided more and more to lower emissions, Filtertechnologies and wastewater treatment for example reached a high technical level-but all these sophisticated technologies has one and the same characteristic: they were end-of-the pipe solutions. A second effect was that this kind of environmental protection costs a lot of money. High investments are necessary to reduce the dust emission by another ppm! Could this be the correct way? In Germany the discussion started that the environmental laws reduce the attractivity to invest or to enlarge existing investments within the country. Other countries seem to be not so strict with controlling the environmental laws which means it's simply cheaper to produce in Portugal or Greece. Everybody however knows that this is not the correct way and does not solve the environmental problems. Meanwhile the general picture changes a little bit and we think it changes into the correct direction "End-of-the-pipe" solutions are still necessary but this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word especially in connection with environmental management and safety. Modern actual environmental management starts in a different way. Thoughts about emissions start in the very beginning of the production, they start with the design of the product and modification of traditional modes of production. Basis of these ideas are detailed analyses of products and processes. Due to the above mentioned facts that the public environmental consciousness changed dramatically a continous environmental improvement of each single production plant has to be guarantied. This question is already an important question of the EIA. But it was never really checked in a wholistic approach. Environmental risks have to be taken into considerations during the execution of an EIA. This means that the environmental risks have to be reduced down to a capable risk-level. Environmental risks have to be considered within the phase of planning, during the operation of a plant and after shut down. The experience shows that most of the environmental relevant accidents were and caused by human fault. Even in highly protected plants the human risk-factor can not be excluded during evaluation of the risk-potential. Thus the approach of an EIA has to regard technical evaluations as well as organizational thoughts and the human factor. An environmental risk is a threat to the environment. An analysis of the risk concerning the organizational and human aspect however never was properly executed during an EIA. A possible solution could be to use an instrument as the actual EMAS (Environmental Management System) of the EC for more accurate evaluation of the impact to the environment during an EIA. Organizations or investors could demonstrate by an approved EMAS or even by showing their installment of EMAS that not only the technical level of the planned investment meets the requested standards but as well the actual or planned management is able to reduce the environmental impact down to a bearable level.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.5-12
• /
• 2012

Antibiotics have been considered emerging compounds due to their continuous input and persistence in environment. Due to the limited biodegradability and widespread use of these antibiotics, an incomplete removal is attained in conventional wastewater treatment plants and relative large quantities are released into the environment. In this study, it was determined the adsorption and photocatalysis kinetics of antibiotics (Sulfamethoxazole, SMX) with various catalyst (Titanium dioxide; $TiO_2$, Hydroxyapatite; HAP) conditions under UV/$TiO_2$/HAP system. In addition, the statistical analysis of response surface methods (RSM) was used to determine the effects of operating parameters on UV/$TiO_2$/HAP system. $TiO_2$/HAP adsorbent were found to follow the pseudo second order reaction in the adsorption. In the result of applied intrapaticle diffusion model, the constants of reaction rate were $TiO_2$=$0.064min^{-1}$, HAP=$0.2866min^{-1}$ and $TiO_2$/HAP=$0.3708min^{-1}$, respectively.The result of RSM, term of regression analysis in analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significantly p-value (p<0.05) and high coefficients for determination values($R^2$=96.2%, $R^2_{Adj}$=89.3%) that allowed satisfactory prediction of second order regression model. And the estimated optimal conditions for Y(Sulfamethoxazole removal efficiency, %) were $x_1$(initial concentration of Sulfamethoxazole)=-0.7828, $x_2$(amount of catalyst)=0.9974 and $x_3$(reation time)=0.5738 by coded parameters, respectively. According to the result of intraparticle diffusion model and photocatalysis experiments, it was shown that the $TiO_2$/HAP was more effective system than conventional AOPs(advanced oxidation processes, UV/$TiO_2$ system).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.154-160
• /
• 2017

BACKGROUND:This study was carried out to establish an efficient sample preparation for the simultaneous determination of bisphenols (BPs) in river water samples using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sample preparation was examined with conventional extraction methods, such as solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), and their efficiency was compared with validation results, including linearity of calibration curve, method detection limit (MDL), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision. METHODS AND RESULTS:The BPs (bisphenol A, BPA; bisphenol B, BPB; bisphenol C, BPC; bisphenol E, BPE; bisphenol F, BPF; bisphenol S, BPS) were analyzed using GC-MS. The range of MDLs by SPE and LLE methods was $0.0005{\sim}0.0234{\mu}g/L$ and $0.0037{\sim}0.2034{\mu}g/L$, and that of LOQs was $0.0015{\sim}0.0744{\mu}g/L$ and $0.0117{\sim}0.6477{\mu}g/L$, respectively. The calibration curve obtained from standard solution of $0.004{\sim}4.0{\mu}g/L$ (SPE) and $0.016{\sim}16{\mu}g/L$ (LLE) showed good linearity with $r^2$ value of 0.9969 over. Accuracy was 93.2~108% and 97.4~120%, and precision was 1.7~4.6% and 0.7~6.5%, respectively. The values of MDL and LOQ resulted from the SPE method were higher than those from the LLE method, particularly those values of BPA were highest among the BPs. Based on the results, the SPE method was applied to determine the BPs in river water samples. Water samples were collected from mainstream, tributary and sewage wastewater treatment plants (SWTPs) in the Yeongsan river basin. The concentration of BPB, BPC, BPE, BPF and BPS were not detected in all sites, whereas BPA was ranged $0.0095{\sim}0.2583{\mu}g/L$, which was $0.0166{\sim}0.0810{\mu}g/L$ for mainstreams, $0.0095{\sim}0.2583{\mu}g/L$ for tributaries, $0.0352{\sim}0.1217{\mu}g/L$ for SWTPs. CONCLUSION: From these results, the SPE method was very effective for the simultaneous determination of BPs in river water samples using GC-MS. We provided that it is a convenient, reliable and sensitive method enough to monitor and understand the fate of the BPs in aquatic ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.39 no.1 s.115
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2006

The objective of this study was to analyze long-term temporal trends of water chemistry and spatial heterogeneity for 10 sampling sites of the Yeongsan River watershed using water quality dataset during 1995 to 2004 (obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Korea). The water quality, based on multi-parameters of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), conductivity, dissolved oxygen (Do), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and total suspended solids (TSS), largely varied depending on the sampling sites, seasons and years. Largest seasonal variabilities in most parameters occurred during the two months of July to August and these were closely associated with large spate of summmer monsoon rain. Conductivity, used as a key indicator for a ionic dilution during rainy season, and nutrients of TN and TP had an inverse function of precipitation (absolute r values> 0.32, P< 0.01, n= 119), whereas BOD and COD had no significant relations(P> 0.05, n= 119) with rainfall. Minimum values in conductivity, TN, and TP were observed during the summer monsoon, indicating an ionic and nutrient dilution of river water by the rainwater. In contrast, major inputs of total suspended solids (TSS) occurred during the period of summer monsoon. BOD values varied with seasons and the values was closely associated (r=0.592: P< 0.01) with COD, while variations of TN were had high correlations (r=0.529 : P< 0.01) with TP. Seasonal fluctuations of DO showed that maximum values were in the cold winter season and minimum values were in the summer seasons, indicating an inverse relation with water temperature. The spatial trend analyses of TP, TN, BOD, COD and TSS, except for conductivity, showed that the values were greater in the mid-river reach than in the headwater and down-river reaches. Conductivity was greater in the down-river sites than any other sites. Overall data of BOD, COD, and nutrients (TN, TP) showed that water quality was worst in the Site 4, compared to those of others sites. This was due to continuous effluents from the wastewater treatment plants within the urban area of Gwangju city. Based on the overall dataset, efficient water quality management is required in the urban area for better water quality.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.38 no.3 s.113
• /
• pp.341-351
• /
• 2005

Ecological stream health, based on the index of biological integrity (IBI) , was evaluated at five sampling locations of Youdeung Stream during August-October 2004. For the study, we also analyzed spatial and temporal patterns of conventional water quality over tine period of 1995 ${\sim}$ 2004, using the water chemistry dataset, obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Korea. The water quality parameters used here were conductivity, total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand $(BOD_5)$, chemical oxygen demand $(COD_{mn})$, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). The multi-metric model values averaged 27.8 in the stream and ranged 24 ${\sim}$ 32. The health condition was judged as 'Fair' to 'Poor' conditions, according to the stream health criteria of US EPA (1993). Longitudinal variation occurred from the upstream to downstream reach; largest differences in all water quality variables occurred between Site 5 and the other sites. This was mainly attributed to the impacts of wastewater treatment plants near the locations. Also, relative proportions of tolerance and omnivore species increased in downstream reaches. The model values, however, did not match the values, based on water quality parameters. We assume that this may be associated with primarily reduced water volumn during dry season in the stream along with modified physical habitat conditions.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.53 no.12
• /
• pp.1081-1095
• /
• 2020

This study is to evaluate stream flow and water quality changes of Yeongsan river basin (3,371.4 km2) by inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) from Juam dam of Seomjin river basin using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The SWAT was established using inlet function for IBWT between donor and receiving basins. The SWAT was calibrated and validated with 14 years (2005 ~ 2018) data of 1 stream (MR) and 2 multi-functional weir (SCW, JSW) water level gauging stations, and 3 water quality stations (GJ2, NJ, and HP) including data of IBWT and effluent from wastewater treatment plants of Yeongsan river basin. For streamflow and weir inflows (MR, SCW, and JSW), the coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and percent bias (PBIAS) were 0.69 ~ 0.81, 0.61 ~ 0.70, 1.34 ~ 2.60 mm/day, and -8.3% ~ +7.6% respectively. In case of water quality, the R2 of SS, T-N, and T-P were 0.69 ~ 0.81, 0.61 ~ 0.70, and 0.54 ~ 0.63 respectively. The Yeongsan river basin average streamflow was 12.0 m3/sec and the average SS, T-N, and T-P were 110.5 mg/L, 4.4 mg/L, 0.18 mg/L respectively. Under the 130% scenario of IBWT amount, the streamflow, SS increased to 12.94 m3/sec (+7.8%), 111.26 mg/L (+0.7%) and the T-N, T-P decreased to 4.17 mg/L (-5.2%), 0.165 mg/L (-8.3%) respectively. Under the 70% scenario of IBWT amount, the streamflow, SS decreased to 11.07 m3/sec (-7.8%), 109.74 mg/L (-0.7%) and the T-N, T-P increased to 4.68 mg/L (+6.4%), 0.199 mg/L (+10.6%) respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.139-153
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to understand the spatiotemporal variations in nitrogen content in the Gyeongan stream along the main stream and at the discharge points of the sub-basins, and to identify the origin of the nitrogen. Field surveys and laboratory analyses, including chemical compositions and isotope ratios of nitrate and boron, were performed from November 2021 to November 2022. Based on the flow duration curve (FDC) derived for the Gyeongan stream, the dry season (mid-December 2021 to mid-June 2022) and wet season (mid-June to early November 2022) were established. In the dry season, most samples had the highest total nitrogen(T-N) concentrations, specifically in January and February, and the concentrations continued to decrease until May and June. However, after the flood season from July to September, the uppermost subbasin points (Group 1: MS-0, OS-0, GS-0) where T-N concentrations continually decreased were separated from the main stream and lower sub-basin points (Group 2: MS-1~8, OS-1, GS-1) where concentrations increased. Along the main stream, the T-N concentration showed an increasing trend from the upper to the lower reaches. However, it was affected by those of the Osan-cheon and Gonjiamcheon, the tributaries that flow into the main stream, resulting in respective increases or decreases in T-N concentration in the main stream. The nitrate and boron isotope ratios indicated that the nitrogen in all samples originated from manure. Mechanisms for nitrogen inflow from manure-related sources to the stream were suggested, including (1) manure from livestock wastes and rainfall runoff, (2) inflow through the discharge of wastewater treatment plants, and (3) inflow through the groundwater discharge (baseflow) of accumulated nitrogen during agricultural activities. Ultimately, water quality management of the Gyeongan stream basin requires pollution source management at the sub-basin level, including its tributaries, from a regional context. To manage the pollution load effectively, it is necessary to separate the hydrological components of the stream discharge and establish a monitoring system to track the flow and water quality of each component.