Abstract
One of the major issues related to the environment in the 21st century is sustainable development. The innovative economic growth policy has supported relatively successful economic development, but poor environmental conservation efforts, have consequently resulted in serious water quality pollution issues. Hence, assessments of water quality and health are fundamental processes towards conserving and restoring aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we characterized spatial and temporal changes in water quality (specifically physico-chemical variables plus priority and non-priority pollutants) of discharges from industrial complexes on a national scale in Korea. The data were provided by the Water Quality Monitoring Program operated by the Ministry of Environment, Korea and were measured from 1989 to 2008 on a monthly basis at 61 effluent monitoring sites located at industrial complexes. Analysis of monthly and annual changes in water quality, using the seasonal Mann-Kendall test, indicated an improvement in water quality, which was inferred from a continuous increase in dissolved oxygen and decrease in other water quality factors. A Self-Organizing Map, which is an unsupervised artificial neural network, also indicated an improvement of effluent water quality, by showing spatial and temporal differences in the effluent water quality as well as in the occurrence of priority pollutants. Finally, our results suggested that continued long-term monitoring is necessary to establish plans and policies for wastewater management and health assessment.
Highlights
Water is one of the most essential natural resources, in both quantity and quality, for living organisms, including human beings
Social concerns and the requirement for environmental conservation have increased across the World, with rising economic standards, which has led to the establishment of wastewater treatment facilities near the industrial complexes for the efficient control of wastewater
Among 33 water quality factors in the database, we selected 20 factors based on the survey period and measuring frequency: eight physico-chemical factors, including pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphate (TP), and total coliform (TC); nine priority pollutants, including cadmium (Cd), cyan (Cy), lead (Pb), chromium (VI) (Cr6+), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and phenol; and three non-priority pollutants, including manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), and n-hexane (Table 2)
Summary
Water is one of the most essential natural resources, in both quantity and quality, for living organisms, including human beings. Water resources are important for the operation of machines and facilities in industries. This natural resource is important in our economic and social development process [1]. Rapid industrial development, economic growth, and population growth have intensified the requirements for a vast number of materials and products, leading to an increase in the number of factories in various places across the World. Available water resources have been reduced, while the environmental pollution of open water systems has increased. Social concerns and the requirement for environmental conservation have increased across the World, with rising economic standards, which has led to the establishment of wastewater treatment facilities near the industrial complexes for the efficient control of wastewater
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