• Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.185-195
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• 2014

Despite the enormous technical and economic efforts to improve environmental conditions, currently about 40% of the global population (or 2 billion people) are still lack access to safe water supply and adequate sanitation facilities. Pollution problems and transmission of water- related diseases will continue to proliferate. The rapid population growth and industrialization will lead to a reduction of arable land, thus exacerbating the food shortage problems and threatening environmental sustainability. Natural systems in this context are a transdisciplinary approach which employs the activities of microbes, soil and/or plants in waste stabilisation and resource recovery without the aid of mechanical or energy-intensive equipments. Examples of these natural systems are: waste stabilisation ponds, aquatic weed ponds, constructed wetlands and land treatment processes. Although they require relatively large land areas, the natural systems could achieve a high degree of waste stabilisation and at the same time, yield potentials for waste recycling through the production of algal protein, fish, crops, and plant biomass. Because of the complex interactions occurring in the natural systems, the existing design procedures are based mainly on empirical or field experience approaches. An integrated kinetic model encompassing the activities of both suspended and biofilm bacteria and some important engineering parameters has been developed which could predict the organic matter degradation in the natural systems satisfactorily.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 1991

The object of this stduy was to investigate the pollution of Pb in paddy field soil with different distance from roadside and to find out the relationship between the ratio of chemical fractions of total Pb and soil characteristics. Lead from automobiles is exhausted as particulates composed primarily of halide compounds (PbBrCl, $PbBr_2$, $PbCl_2$). The samples of soil were collected directly from the paddy fields with different distance from the roadside of highway and expressway which are located in Kyungpook province. A sequential extraction procedure was used to fractionate Pb in paddy field soil into the disignated forms of water soluable, exchangeable, organically bounded, carbonate, sulfide, and residual Pb. Results obtained are summerized as follows. 1. The content of Pb in paddy field soil was the highest in Chungdo, 30.0 ppm, the lowest in Koryung, 14.8 ppm, and the total average content was 21.9 ppm. The effect of traffic volume was not clear, but a slight difference according to the order of opened year of roads was showed. 2. The effect of distance from roadside was not clear. The content of Pb in paddy field soil with different distance from roadside was 22.2 ppm within l0m, 22.1 ppm in 10∼30m, 22.2 ppm in 30∼50m. and 21.3 ppm beyond 50m. 3. The distribution of Pb fractions in soil showed a wide difference depending on soil properties. The average content of exchangeable. organically bounded, carbonate, sulfide, and residual Pb was 8.6%, 33.6%, 29.8%, 21.5%, and 6.7%, of total Pb in the soil, respectively. 4. The content of organically bounded Pb in soil showed highly positive correlation with organic matter and CEC, while the content of exchangeable Pb was highly negative correlation. 5. With higher soil organic matter and CEC, organically bounded Pb fraction tend to be higher but exchangeable Pb fraction tend to be lower. Other forms of Pb showed no difference with soil organic matter contend and CEC. The distribution of Pb fraction related to CEC showed similiar tendency with that of organic matter content.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.682-688
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• 2009

A plane field and a sloped field located at low-land plane and alpine areas, respectively, were monitored with respect to runoff, water quality and fertilizer uses from March to December, 2008. Runoff volume and Non-Point Source (NPS) loads were estimated and analyzed with respect to fertilizer uses. Total TN and TP loads from the sloped field were higher than those from plane field because of larger chemical uses in the alpine field than in the plane field. Organic matter load from plane field was higher than that from sloped field because more organic compost was applied to plane field than to sloped field. Event Mean Concentration (EMC) of measured water quality indices were relatively higher in both fields. Organic matter load per 1 mm rainfall were higher in plane field and TN and TP loads per 1 mm rainfall were higher in sloped field than those in respective comparing field. It was concluded that the type and application method of fertilizer could play an important role in the estimation of NPS pollution loads and the development of Best Management Practices (BMPs). However, it was recommended that long-term monitoring is necessary to better describe the relationship between fertilizer uses and water quality from agricultural fields because numerous natural and management factors other than fertilizer also affect runoff quality.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• 제15권11호
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• pp.1011-1016
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• 2006

Recently, volatile organic compound(VOC) has been noted as a main cause of air pollution. VOC, with its toxic and offensive odor, is hazardous to health. Furthermore indoor, underground and hish-rise buildings are preferable living spaces. People spend more than 80% of the day indoor, so indoor air pollution is a matter of importance. In Korea, from 2004, 10 types of indoor pollutants in public facilities have been identified. However, there is no standard for individual VOC, so the regulation has not yet effectively been carried out. In this study, we have studied on the diffusion of Benzene in a room using a numerical analysis for various air-controlled conditions consisted of door, window and ventilation system. This study investigates spatial concentration distribution and time-history of room-averaged benzene concentration for several cases. The results of this study show that when the room is ventilated by a small fan only for 30 minutes, the average concentration of benzene is decreased a very little, thus the impact to human body would be serious compared to the case of natural ventilation by window and door, In the case of natural ventilation by window and door, if the wind speed is higher than 0.5m/s, it takes small than 4 minutes for benzene to spread to the target concentration of $1.2mg/m^3$.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.205-209
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• 2011

Organic pollution causes eutrophication and dystrophication, which occur when excessive amounts of organic matter enters seawater. Eutrophication can contaminate sediment and harm aquaculture. Polychaeta species have been shown to restore eutrophic sediment. In this study, we used peptone to simulate a eutrophic environment and detect the levels at which eutrophication became toxic to the polychaete Perinereis aibuhitensis. Peptone concentrations were 0, 100, 200, and 500 mg/L. The median lethal concentrations were 950.35 mg/L at 48 h, 340.34 mg/L at 72 h, and 120.22 mg/L at 96 h, which are much higher than those of other aquatic species. Polychaeta species are highly tolerant of eutrophication. During the 15-day long-term experiment, sediment loss on ignition, as well as seawater total organic carbon and total nitrogen all decreased significantly (P<0.05). However, $NH_4^+$ concentration increased with time. Perinereis aibuhitensis slowed the increment of $NH_4^+$ but could not prevent its increase. Our results indicate that this polychaete is helpful in the recovery of seawater and sediment from eutrophication.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.150-158
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• 2006

Over the past few years, many studies have been conducted on the flow, sediment movement, pollution transportation and scour etc. However, very few attempts have been made at the hydraulic studies reflecting upon the ecological function. The objective of this study is to examine the structures of the flow and turbulence in an open circular channel and their relationship to distribution of the organisms and chironomids. Under different flow conditions, the organic matter and some chironomids were injected into the channel. Using the obtained velocity data, the flow mechanisms and the turbulent shear stresses were analyzed. Organic matters and chironomids were distributed on the region that the velocity was slower and the turbulent shear stresses were smaller. Some habitat moved even though chironomids were inhabited. This phenomenon has relationship with the flow mechanism. Some chironomids have distributed around the habitat structure of a hemisphere. The secondary flow has affected the deposition of the organic matters and the distribution of chironomids.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.411-423
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• 2018

To investigate the distribution characteristics of grain size and organic matter of surface sediments from the Nakdong-Goryeong Mid-watershed, surface sediments were collected and analyzed. The samples were collected from six sited at four different times between May 2013 and May 2014. The were analyzed for grain size, water content, ignition loss, chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon and total nitrogen. The surface sediments were mainly composed of medium sand (mean 44.7%) and coarse sand (mean 32.8%) and became coarser in May 2014. Fine sediments at the site NG-2 were poorly sorted and positively skewed, and occur in a tributary environment that is relatively low-energy compared with the other sites. The water content at the studied sites (15.3 ~ 34.9%) averaged 20.25%, and ignition loss (0.4 ~ 5.8%) and total nitrogen (274 ~ 2493 mg/kg) averaged 1.33% and, 696 mg/kg, respectively. These values indicated that the sediments were not seriously contaminated when compared with the sediment pollution evaluation standard of the National Institute of Environmental Research. The chemical oxygen demand (mean 0.17%) was at the non-polluted level compared with United States Environmental Protection Agency sediment quality standards. The total organic carbon (mean 0.18%) at all sites except site NG-2 (lowest effect level) was the no effect level of the Ontario sediment quality guidelines. The COD/IL (0.02 ~ 0.20) and C/N (0.73 ~ 6.76) were less than 1 and 10, respectively. Organic matter in the study area produced naturally from aquatic organisms. Results of principal component analysis showed that fine sediments (very fine sand and silt) were significantly affected by organic matters (ignition loss, chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon and total nitrogen). In addition, the highest organic matters content in the study area occurred at the site with the finest sediments (NG-2).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.491-501
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• 2022

This study evaluated the contamination levels of inland pollution sources flowing into Taeanhaean National Park. The nutritional status of influents was assessed by analyzing water quality and trophic status index (TRIX) at 52 stations, and the contamination levels of sediments were evaluated by analyzing eutrophication cleanup index (CIET) and heavy metals at 36 stations. The results of the TRIX analysis showed that 26 of the 52 stations had influents with a TRIX value of 6-10 (poor water quality/very high trophic level), indicating atrocious water quality and high eutrophication levels. The results of the CIET analysis showed that 4 out of the 36 stations were highly contaminated with organic matter. Analysis of heavy metals showed that the copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) levels exceeded the threshold effects level (TEL) and probable effects levels (PEL) at several stations. In addition, the arsenic (As) level exceeded the threshold effects level at one station, and the levels of the other heavy metals (Cd, Cr⁶⁺, Ni, Pb, and Hg) were lower. Most inland pollution sources have been identified as small-scale, but long-term and continuous exposure can negatively affect the marine ecosystem; therefore, it necessary to prepare inland pollution source management standards and measures suitable for the characteristics of the coastal area.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.21-28
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• 2022

Benthic animals are important indicators in benthic environmental quality assessment. This study investigated the environmental characteristics and the distribution pattern of benthic animals, and assessed the benthic ecosystem using AMBI (AZTI's marine biotic index) and WQI (water quality index) in the subtidal zone of Muan bay. Samplings were collected from 10 stations in the subtidal zone of Muan bay on summer. In the upper area of Muan bay, grain size was finer and organic content was higher than those of in the lower area. The pollution indicator organism such as Musculista senhousia, Theora fragilis and Lumbrineris longifolia were dominant at some stations. The benthic community was distinguished into three groups of upper, center and lower area of Muan bay, and which were coincided with the results by correlation analysis between organic matter content and benthic health assessment (WQI and AMBI). As a result of this study, the health condition of the subtidal zone in Muan bay were good. However, from the results that benthic animals were not evenly distributed, and also the opportunistic species appeared, the load of organic matter in Muan bay seems to be increasing.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.421-430
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• 2015

This study was carried out to understand the ecological variations of macrobenthos communities by construction dikes in the subtidal zone of Chonsu Bay. This study analyzed the distribution of benthos, the dominant species, spatial and temporal changes of benthos communities and benthic pollutions in the subtidal zone of Chonsu Bay. A total of 252 species of subtidal macrobenthos with a density of $681ind./m^2$ were studied. In all the seasons, the species diversity was found to be higher near the mouth of the bay. For all the seasons of the year, Lumbrineris japonica was found to be the most dominant species. These dominant species were found to have positive correlations with species diversity and sedimentary parameters such as organic content in sediments. Dominant species of benthos as well as species composition and diversity showed spatial and temporal distribution patterns.Benthic Pollution Index (BPI) values estimated for the stations near the embankment were in the 4~5 levels, which indicates that the organic matter has been polluted. And as for the stations near the mouth of the bay, the BPI values were in the 1~3 levels, which indicates that the organic matter has been relatively less polluted. According to the SAB-curve analysis, the number of transitional point stations became less in the mouth of the bay.