Updates of Water Environment
Governance in Republic of Korea
Park Tae-Jin, Ph.DWater Environmental Engineering Research Division
National Institute of Environmental Research
Ministry of Environment, Korea
30 January, 2024
The 19th Annual Meeting in Hayama, Japan1

1. Goals of water environment
Legal structure2

1. Goals of water environment
The goals are set forth in the Environment Policy
Framework Act (1978)
Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) are set as the goalfor government to prevent environmental pollution,conserve environment appropriately, and allow people toenjoy a healthy and amiable environment.
◆ Environmental Quality Standard– Water Quality Standards (WQS) for protection of human health– Water Quality Standards (WQS) for living environment◆ Discharge Permits are set forth in Water Environment Conservation
Act since 1970

Discharge Permits regulate wastewater from specified factories/establishments to achieve
EQS and uniformly set in nationwide.
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1. Goals of water environment
Environment Policy Framework Act

4

1. Goals of water environment
Water Quality Standard for protecting human health51. Goals of water environment
Water Quality Standard for Living Environment (River)StandardGradeStatuspHBOD
(㎎/L)

TOC
(㎎/L)

SS
(㎎/L)

DO
(㎎/L)

TP(㎎/L)

Coliform
MPN/100mL
Total
Coliform

Fecal
Coliform

Very GoodIa

6.5∼8.5

≦1

≦2

≦ 25

≧ 7.5

≦ 0.02≦ 50≦ 10

GoodIb

6.5∼8.5

≦2

≦3

≦ 25

≧ 5.0

≦ 0.04

≦ 500

≦ 100

Fairly GoodII

6.5∼8.5

≦3

≦4

≦ 25

≧ 5.0

≦ 0.1

≦ 1,000≦ 200

FairIII

6.5∼8.5

≦5

≦5

≦ 25

≧ 5.0

≦ 0.2

≦ 5,000≦ 1,000

Fairly PoorIV

6.0∼8.5

≦8

≦5

≦ 100

≧ 2.0

≦ 0.3

--PoorV

6.0∼8.5≦10≦8-≧ 2.0≦ 0.5--

Very Poor

VI-> 10>8-≧ 2.0≦ 0.5-6

1. Goals of water environment

Water Quality Standard for Living Environment (Lake)
Standard
GradeStatus

pH

TOC
(㎎/L)

SS(㎎/L)

DO
(㎎/L)

TP
TN
Chl-a
(㎎/L) (㎎/L) (㎎/m3)

Coliform MPN/100mL
Total
ColiformFecal
Coliform

Very GoodIa

6.5∼8.5≦2≦1≧ 7.5 ≦ 0.01 ≦ 0.2

≦5

≦50

≦ 10GoodIb

6.5∼8.5≦3≦5≧ 5.0 ≦ 0.02 ≦ 0.3≦9≦500≦100

Fairly GoodII

6.5∼8.5

≦4

≦5

≧ 5.0

≦ 0.4

≦14≦ 1,000≦ 200

FairIII

6.5∼8.5

≦5

≦15

≧ 5.0

≦ 0.6

≦20

≦ 5,000≦ 1,000

Fairly PoorIV

6.0∼8.5

≦6

≦ 15

≧ 2.0

≦ 1.0

≦35-

-Poor

V

6.0∼8.5

≦8

≦ 1.5

≦70-

-

Very Poor

VI->8> 1.5>70--

No floating
waste-≧ 2.0-

< 2.0

≦
0.03
≦
0.05
≦
0.10
≦
0.15
> 0.157

1. Goals of water environment
Status of Water Quality in accordance with Grade
Grade
Very Good

Status of Water Quality• The ecosystem is in a pristine state with abundant dissolved oxygen and absence of pollutants

Ia • Domestic water use is suitable after simple water treatment processes such as filtration and disinfection

GoodIbFairly GoodIIFairIII

Fairly Poor

IVPoor

VVery Poor

• The ecosystem is in close proximity to a clean state with a high level of dissolved oxygen andminimal presence of pollutants.
• After common water treatment processes such as filtration, sedimentation, and disinfection, it canbe used as domestic water for daily living."• The ecosystem is in a relatively good state with a high level of dissolved oxygen, although there areslight traces of pollutants.
• After common water treatment processes such as filtration, sedimentation, and disinfection, it canbe used as domestic water or recreational water for activities such as swimming."• Due to typical pollutants leading to the consumption of dissolved oxygen, this general ecosystem
can be subjected to advanced water treatment processes such as filtration, sedimentation, activatedcarbon input, and disinfection.
• After high-level purification, the water can be utilized for domestic purposes or, following standard
water treatment, used for industrial purposes."• Due to a significant amount of pollutants leading to the consumption of dissolved oxygen, thisgeneral ecosystem can be subjected to advanced water treatment processes such as filtration,
sedimentation, activated carbon input, and disinfection.
• After high-level purification, the water can be used for industrial purposes."• The ecosystem, characterized by the depletion of dissolved oxygen due to a substantial amount ofpollutants, does not cause discomfort in the daily lives of the public, such as during walks.
• After specific water treatment processes like activated carbon input, reverse osmosis, and otheradvanced methods, the water can be used for industrial purposes."

VI • In water heavily polluted with virtually no dissolved oxygen, it becomes challenging for fish to survive. 8

1. Goals of water environment
The framework of Setting Water Quality Standard

92. Assess the status of water environment
Environmental Agencies
River Environmental Research Centers
Local government etc
Nationwide Water Quality Monitoring

Instruction/ guidance, notice, technicaladvice for WQ monitoring

National Institute of Environmental Research(Regulated pollutants) Compiling nationwide WQ data
Assessing the status of water quality in 4 river basins(Unregulated pollutants) Monitoring and deriving WQS

Ministry of Environment(Regulated pollutants) Development of improvement plan
(Unregulated pollutants) Legalizing unregulated pollutants as WQS

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2. Assess the status of water environment
Assessing water quality fromnationwide monitoring
about regulated pollutants○ Purpose• To evaluate the achievement of‘goal criteria’ nationwide- Goal criteria· River : BOD, TP· Lake : TOC, TP○ Sites• 115 river and streams in middle basin• 49 main lakes

Evaluation of nationwide water quality 112. Assess the status of water environment

115 river and streams in middle basin

49 main lakes

122. Assess the status of water environment
Achievement percentage of goal criteria in 2022

RiversLakes

Parameter

Total

Han
River

Nakdong
RiverGeumRiver

Youngsan
River

BOD

81/115
(70%)

25/29
(86%)

24/32
(75%)

16/21(76%)

16/33
(48%)

TP

61/115
(53%)

15/29
(52%)

20/32
(63%)

18/21(86%)

8/33
(24%)

TOC

24/49(49%)

9/13(69%)

4/14(29%)

8/10(80%)

3/12(25%)TP

9/49(18%)

1/13(8%)

4/14(29%)

3/10(30%)

1/12(8%)(Rivers) BOD 78%(`21) → 70%(`22),

TP 51%(`21) → 53%(`22)(Lakes)TP 18%(`21) → 18%(`22)

TOC 49%(`21) → 49%(`22),13

2. Assess the status of water environment
Monitoring unregulated micropollutants

STEP 1
Selection

STEP 2
PrioritizationSTEP 3
Monitoring

STEP 4
Ecotoxicit
ySTEP 5
Criteria

STEP 6WQS

STEP 1

STEP 4

Selecting population for candidate pollutants

Human health risk assessment & Ecotoxicity

STEP 2

STEP 5

Prioritizing the pollutants through CRS &Cost-benefit

analysis

preliminary investigation

drinking standards

STEP 3

STEP 6

Nationwide monitoring of 4 major rivers

Audit&comparison

with14

2. Assess the status of water environment
Framework ofmicorpollutant
Targetanalysismonitoring

1st yearSelectionsystem

2nd yearPremonitoring

Nontarget
analysisunregulated

4th year

Monitoring I

Yes
Suspect/Nontarget screening

3rd yearfor

5th year

Monitoring II

Updates

Confirmation/
Quantification?

No

Qualitative/
Trend monitoring15

3. Identify pollution sources(Regulated pollutants)● When some parameter exceeds WQS frequently, the areashould be designated as ‘special measures zone’ to protect
environment.
- Mitigation measures should be established.
- Following the measures, action such as compilation ofinventory of manufacturers and other point sources near thesite should be taken.
163. Identify pollution sources
Monitoring unregulated micorpollutants
Sampling sites

Sewerage (n=35)
Wastewater treatment (n=36)
The Han River
Livestock waste treatment(n=15)
Industry (n=15)
Non-point pollutant source (n=19)
Point pollutant source (n=9)

The Geum River

The Nakdong RiverThe Yeongsan River17

3. Identify pollution sources
Monitoring unregulated micropollutant (Pharmaceuticals)

Nakdong River

Han RiverYeongsan River

Geum River18

3. Identify pollution sources
Monitoring unregulated micropollutant (Pesticides)
Nakdong River

Han RiverYeongsan River

Geum River19

4. Implement measures to address issues(Regulated pollutants)● The related laws should be reviewed.
● When the goal criteria is not achieved, plans for measures
have to be established and if necessary, implemented.
(Unregulated pollutants)● When hot issues related to chemicals in rivers come out,
monitoring should be conducted to develop policy.
ex) PFAS, Microplastics etc

205. Evaluating outcomes and revising policies(Regulated pollutants)● To address nutrients in water, the related laws were revised.
- Effluent standard of sewage treatment plants was more strict.
(2.0 mg/L→ 0.2 mg/L in facilities >500m3/d)● When the reason is found, follow-up measures such as
TMDL have been implemented to keep WQS.
(Unregulated pollutants)● WQS or discharge permit is reviewed and if necessary,revised.
ex) The revision of the law to introduce PFAS in discharge
permit is currently under review.
216. Challenges and future plans
Challenges
 Not easy to increase the number of WQS due to dualized
legal system Need to introduce WQS to protect aquatic life Need to use more parameters to evaluate water quality
 Since there are many divisions related to water quality
management in MOE, it is hard to cooperate with each other,making it difficult to find some reasons why the water
quality is better or deteriorated
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6. Challenges and future plans
Future plans Increase the number of WQS to protect human health (HH)and aquatic life (AL) by 2025 (HH 20→30, AL 0 →8)
 Expand water quality monitoring centers nationwide by2026 to investigate unregulated micropollutants

Waegan Water Quality Analysis Center

Maeri Water Quality Analysis Center23

Thank you for your attention.

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