Progress of Water Environment
Governance in Korea
Tae‐Jin Park
National Institute of Environmental Research

The 14th WEPA Annual Meeting
22 February 2019
Tokyo1

ContentsFramework of water environment law
National water quality monitoring
Status of domestic & industrial wastewater
Future targets & plans2

Framework of water environment law
Environment Policy Framework Act‐ The primary law governing environment in Korea‐ Purpose: to prevent environmental pollution, to protect environment appropriately
and to keep the environment sustainable, resulting in letting people enjoy
the healthy and amiable environment.
‐ The basis for regulations

Water Environment Conservation Act‐ Purpose: to protect people from water pollution, to manange the quality of streams, rivers
and lakes appropriately, resulting in the benefit from the water environment
managed well.
‐ Regulation of wastewater from the effluent
3

Environment Policy Framework ActAir

RiversStandard forprotecting
humanhealthEnvironmental
standard forlivingNoiseLakes

Standard forprotecting
humanhealthEnvironmental
standard forlivingWater

Groundwater

Based on the managementof drinking water act andwater supply andwaterworks installation act

SeawaterStandardfor
protecting
humanhealthEnvironmentalstandard forlivingMarinestandard
based onecology

pH, BOD, TOC, SS, DO,
TP, total coliform,
fecal coliform

pH, TOC, SS,DO, TP, TN,
Chl‐a, total coliform,
fecal coliform

Standard forprotecting
marine aquaticlife
4

Water quality standards
Water quality standard for protecting human health
As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb,PCBs, Organic
phosphorus, Total
mercury, Alkyl
mercury

As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb,PCBs, Hg, Organic
phosphorus, ABS,benzene, chloroform,DCM, Carbon
tetrachloride, 1,2‐
DCE, PCE

As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb,PCBs, Hg, Organic
phosphorus, ABS,benzene, chloroform,DCM, Carbon
tetrachloride, 1,2‐
DCE, PCE, Sb, DEHP

As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb,PCBs, Hg, Organic
phosphorus, ABS,benzene, chloroform,DCM, Carbon
tetrachloride, 1,2‐
DCE, PCE, Sb, DEHP,
1,4‐Dioxane,
Formaldehyde, HCB

30(plan)

9891978

1983

1991

15

1720062009

2020122025
5

History of water environment policy in Korea
Established Special Act on
4 river basin management
and introduced river basin
management system
Comprehensive
Measures on 4 Rivers
Water ManagementWater Quality
Conservation Act

HISTORY
1977
Environmental
Conservation Act

1990

Water Environment
Conservation Act

1998

1991
NakdongRiverphenol spillincident

1994
Volatile organic
pollutantsreleased into
Nakdong River

Public concern on waterpollution greatly increased

2018.1

2007
Water Quality
Improvement andAqua Ecosystem
Conservation Act
Pursue water quality
improvement andhealthy waterecosystemat the same time2018.6Integrated Water
Management“Water qualityand quantity
management”
possible!
6

WQS, NWQM & Effluent standard
Water qualitystandard

National water
quality monitoring

Environmental standard
for living

Temperature, pH, DO, BOD,COD, TOC, SS, TN, DTN, TP,
NH3‐N, DTP, PO4‐P, total
coliform, fecal coliform,conductivity, chlorophyll‐a,
As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb, PCB,Hg, Sb, organic
phosphorus, ABS, benzene,chloroform, DCM, carbon
tetrachloride, 1,2‐DCE, PCE,
DEHP, 1,4‐dioxane,
formaldehyde, phenols,TCE, hexachlorobenzene(39 items)

pH, BOD, TOC, SS, DO, TN, TP,
total coliform, fecal coliform(8 items)

Standard for protecting
human health
As, Cd, CN, Cr6+, Pb, PCB,Hg, Sb, organic phosphorus,ABS, benzene, chloroform,DCM, carbon tetrachloride,
1,2‐DCE, PCE, DEHP, 1,4‐
dioxane, formaldehyde,
hexachlorobenzene(20 items)

Effluent standard
BOD, COD, SS, pH, n‐hexane,phenols, pentachlorophenol,phenol, CN, Cr, Fe, Zn, Cu,Cd, Hg, Organic phosphorus,
As, Pb, Cr6+, Mn, F, PCB, total
coliform, color, temperature,
TN, TP, TCE, PCE, ABS,benzene, DCM, TU, Se, Ni,Ba, 1,1‐DCE, Carbon
tetrachloride,
1,2‐DCE, chloroform, 1,4‐
Dioxane, DEHP, vinyl
chloride, acrylonitrile,bromoform, naphthalene,
formaldehyde,epichlorohydrin, Sb, toluene,
xylene, styrene, perchlorate,acrylamide, DEHA
(55 items)
7National water quality monitoring program Objective
to comprehend the state of water quality andaquatic ecosystem in public water Start of operation : Since 1967
 Number of sampling site : total 6,625 sites‐ (River) 5,589 sites,‐ (lake) 368 sites‐ (Estuary) 668 sites
 Number of investigation institution‐ 29 institutions
 Related act‐ Environment Policy Framework Act‐ Water Environment Conservation Act8

National water quality monitoring program

Classification
Ministry ofEnvironment

National Institute ofEnvironmental Research

Manualmonitoring

TMDL
TMDL
monitoring(336)

Automaticmonitoring

Sediment
monitoring

Radioactive
material
monitoring

Aquatic life
monitoring

Nonpoint
sourcemonitoring‐ 1,936 sites‐ Since 1967

‐ 337 sites‐ Since 2004

‐ 70 sites‐ Since 1995

‐ 306 sites‐ Since 2012

‐ 90 sites‐ Since 2014

‐ 3,884 sites‐ Since 2016

‐ 2 sites‐ Since 20189

National water quality monitoring program
Manual monitoring Number of sampling sites
1,936 points cover most of the nation’s streams
and lakes Sampling interval
differs from points but mostly monthly for a general
purpose and weekly for important points or specific use
such as TMDL and water quality forecast

10Status of water quality in 4 major rivers in Korea
Water quality status

Good
81 %

Good88 %River and stream

Lake(BOD ≤ 3mg/L)(TOC ≤ 4mg/L)

Achievement rate

74 %

47 %

River and stream(BOD)

Lake(TOC)

This evaluation is based on data of 201711

Variation of water quality
4.0

BOD (mg/L)

Han river (Paldang)
Nakdong river (Mulgeum)
Geum river (Daecheong)
Yeongsan river (Juam)

3.010.0

COD (mg/L)

Han river (Paldang)
Nakdong river (Mulgeum)
Geum river (Daecheong)
Yeongsan river (Juam)

8.0
6.0

2.0
4.0
1.0

2.0
0.00.02008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

5.0TN (mg/L)

Han river (Paldang)
Nakdong river (Mulgeum)
Geum river (Daecheong)
Yeongsan river (Juam)

0.25

4.0

0.20

3.00.15

2.0

0.10

1.0

0.05

0.00.00
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

TP (mg/L)

Han river (Paldang)
Nakdong river (Mulgeum)
Geum river (Daecheong)
Yeongsan river (Juam)

122008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

25

5,000facilities

amount (million ton/d)

20
3613
3064

153774

3757

3907

3963

3363

3,000

2770
2262

4,000

2394

10

2,000

5

1,000

002007

Number of facilities*

Amount of domestic wastewater (Million ton/d)Current status of domestic wastewater

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

* This number does not include private treatment plants
13Current status of domestic wastewater

100180removal efficiency (%)

influent

effluent

160

BOD concentration (mg/L)

BOD removal efficiency (%)

95

140
120

90
100
80

96.6

96.9

97.6

85

94.1
92.2

60
89.4

40

86.0

80

82.6

20
0

75
1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

14

Current status of industrial wastewater8

industries

47155

46860

amount

46980

60000

effluent
48266

49201

50138

50819

50965

50375

50000

40000
6
30000
4
20000

2

10000

00
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

15

Number of industires

Amount of domestic wastewater (Million ton/d)

10

Future targets

PastBOD
COD
TN
TP
etc.

FuturePPCPs
Pesticides
microplastics
nanomaterials
POPs
Other micropollutants

100,000 chemicals in use yet
Poor quality data only available
For1000 – 5000 (1‐5%) of these16

Future plans

Improvingwater
environment

Increasing water
quality & effluent
standard

Strengthening water quality
monitoring

Finding solution
to relieve the resistancefrom industry
Finding robust evidence
in the water17Thank you for your attention!!!

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