KJC Korea
Journal Central

The pollution status of heavy metals in the soils of children’s playground was investigated for a sustainable soil environment in urban parks of Seoul. As sampling sites, 281 locations were selected from a 7 districts in the Seoul city. The overall mean concentrations of the heavy metals (Cd 0.21 mg/kg, Cu 5.97 mg/kg, As 2.40 mg/kg, Pb 7.55 mg/kg, Zn 34.08 mg/kg, Ni 4.22 mg/kg, Hg 0.02 mg/kg and Cr6+ not detected.) in the soils of the palygrounds were lower than the worrisome level in criteria for area 1 in Korea soil environment conservation act. In addition, when the soil pollution grade (SPC) was evaluated as an average value, it was found to be less than 100, the first grade, at all points in the seven autonomous districts, indicating that the soil was in good soil condition. However, when evaluated as the maximum value, some of the five districts showed values of 100 or more. Therefore, it was found that continuous management and interest of the local government, which is the management body of children’s playgrounds, is necessary for a safe soil environment.

Recently, as wind farms using wind power as new and renewable energy have been installed nationwide, noise problems have emerged. The environmental impact assessment and postenvironmental impact assessment also require the measurement of background noise and lowfrequency noise for wind farms, especially by applying the living noise measurement method according to the low-frequency noise management guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment in 2018. Due to the nature of wind power generators that generate loud noise in high winds, noise measurement should be made at high winds, but when wind speed increases, wind noise increases and living noise and low-frequency noise are not properly evaluated. Therefore, the type of noise generated by wind power generators was confirmed, and matters to be considered when measuring wind noise such as wind noise were confirmed.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become an increasing concern in terms of human health risks as well as aesthetic impairment due to their toxicity. The reduction of water pollutants, especially nutrients from non-point sources in a reservoir watershed, is fundamental for HABs prevention. We investigated the pollutant removal efficiencies of a constructed wetland to evaluate its feasibility as a method for controlling non-point sources located in the Annaecheon stream within the Daecheong Reservoir watershed. The overall removal efficiencies of pollutants were as follows: BOD 14.3%, COD 17.9%, SS 50.0%, T-N 19.0%, and T-P 35.4%. These results indicate that constructed wetlands are effective in controlling pollutants from non-point sources. The seasonal variation in removal efficiency depended on the specific pollutants. The removal efficiencies of BOD, COD, and T-N were stable throughout the year, except during winter, which might have been influenced by lower microorganism activity. In contrast, T-P showed a consistent removal efficiency even during the winter season, suggesting that the wetland can reduce external phosphorus loading to the reservoir.Regarding the effects of pollutant loadings on removal efficiency, the effluent concentrations of all pollutants were significantly decreased compared to those in the influent in case of middle and high loadings. This demonstrates that constructed wetlands can handle high pollutant loads, including the initial runoff during rainfall, to prevent reservoir eutrophication. Despite the various strengths of wetland water purification, there are limitations as passive treatment. Therefore, more case studies should be conducted to suggest optimum operational conditions for constructed wetlands, taking into consideration reservoir-specific characteristics.

This study suggested a citizen science based model to enhance the efficacy of the managing invasive alien plants and examined whose applicability in 3 Wetland Protected Areas (Jangrok of Gwangju metropolitan city, Madongho of Goseong in South Gyeongsang Province, and Ungok of Gochang in North Jeolla Province). The process consists of (a) collecting citizen scientist including local residents of 3 protected areas and piling up information on the 4 species of invasive alien plants (Sicyos angulatus L., Solanum carolinense L., Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. and Solidago altissima L) in a information platform Ecological Information Bank (EcoBank) from September 18th to October 31th, (b) constructing distribution map containing the location and density (3 phases: individualpopulation-community) of target plants, (c) providing distribution map to Environment Agency and local government who is principal agent of managing invasive alien plants in 3 protected areas, and from whom (d) surveying applications of the distribution map and opinion for future supplement. As a result, citizen science based monitoring should be continued to complement the nationwide information for the field management of invasive alien plants with the expansion of target species (total 17 plants species that Ministry of Environment in South Korea designated) and period of monitoring in a year to increase the usability of surveyed information from citizen science. In the long run, effectiveness of the management of invasive alien species applied by citizen science should be reviewed including efficacy of field management process from citizen’s participating in elimination project of invasive alien plants and time series distribution followed by the management of the species.

This study utilizes system dynamics to examine the effects of fine dustreduction policies on PM10 concentration and health. System dynamics has the advantage of modeling the dynamic and circularrelationship between PM10 emission sources,reduction policies, PM10 concentration, and health effect. The study created policy scenarios for Korea’s representative fine dust reduction policies – industrial PM10 emission control, diesel vehicle regulation, expansion of electric vehicles, and expansion of parks and green areas – and compared the results with the 2030 baseline if the current trend is maintained. The analysis showed that the policy of supporting electric vehicles reduced PM10 concentration by 0.21 μg/m3 and reduced the number of people with circulatory diseases by 494, and the effect was evenly distributed across the country. The industrial emissions regulation scenario resulted in the highest PM10 concentration reduction of 0.22 μg/m3 , but had a lower reduction in the number of people affected (358) than the EV support strategy, which could be attributed to the fact that this policy had a particularly high PM10 reduction effect in industrial areas such as Danyang-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, and Sahagu, Busan. As a policy implication, this study suggests that it is necessary to apply fine dust policies tailored to the characteristics of local emission sources.

As of 2019, Korea’s fine dust is the most severe among 38 OECD countries, and in the same year, 「the Framework on Disaster and Safety Management」 was revised to define fine dust as a social disaster. Currently, the government is working to achieve its emission reduction goals by preparing a comprehensive fine dust management plan (2022-2023) consisting of a total of five areas, 42 tasks, and 177 detailed tasks. However, it is necessary to come up with measures in consideration of the various spatial characteristics of the city, not just as a source of emission. Therefore, in this study, the shape of the city was classified using the LCZ (Local Climate Zone) classification system into 17 types by building type and land cover type in Busan, and the average annual PM10 and PM2.5 concentration were mapped using the IDW technique. In addition, Fragstats and Moving Window were used to quantify the LCZ classification system. Finally, correlation analysis and regression analysis were conducted to analyze the relationship between the LCZ classification system and PM10 and PM2.5. As a result, it was confirmed that the type of low height of the building and the type of green space with trees had a positive effect on the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5. Therefore, this study is expected to be used as basic data to establish fine dust reduction policies based on efficient spatial planning.

TOC, which can measure more than 90% of organic substances, can be measured quickly and easily,replacing BOD and COD, which were indicators of organic pollutants. According to water quality pollution control standards, when measuring TOC, if the inorganic carbon ratio in the sample is over 50%, the NPOC (Non-Purgeable Organic Carbon) method should be used. If volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are present at a certain concentration, the TC-IC (subtracting inorganic carbon from total carbon) method should be used. To validate the limitations of these analytical conditions, experiments were conducted by varying the ratio of TOC to IC in purified water and measuring the concentration of TOC in test solutions. The results showed no significant difference between the TCIC method and the NPOC method. When measuring samples with added VOC standard solutions, it was observed that the carbon loss due to purging was not significant when using the NPOC method. Therefore, it is concluded that the choice of analytical method does not lead to significant differences when VOCs are present in the sample. To account for potential variations in results based on water quality pollution control standards and regulations regarding the approval and testing of environmental measurement devices, a comparison of field sample concentration values was made using two widely used types of TOC analyzers in Korea. The results showed variations of 0.02 to 0.83 mg/L between methods depending on the manufacturer, highlighting the need for caution when selecting an instrument.

As the risk of biodiversity reduction and extinction becomes serious due to climate change and indiscriminate development, the importance of conservation of the natural environment and ecosystem is increasing. In this situation, Ireviewed that overseas cases of the ecological outlook and evaluation system aimed at providing information on natural resources and ecosystem change. As a results, other countries showed that various research institutes have been carrying on field surveys by classification group, but it was different from us that the investigated data are collected and managed in an integrated manner and repeatedly provided within a short period of time. In addition, it was analyzed that it was highly utilized in policy and environmental impact assessment by providing evaluation-based prediction and outlook information along with basic survey data. Based on this, the limitations of information use in our wildlife surveys and environmental impacts assessments were analyzed, and the estabilishment of a ecology outlook and evaluation system and policy support measures were considered. In addition, based on the proposed outlook and evaluation system preparation plan, a policy direction that can be effectively used in domestic natural ecosystem policies was proposed.