Monitoring the water quality of the Wangsukcheon river over a two-year period

Abstract

Water is essential for living things, and thus international regulations or standards are set to reduce and prevent pollution. The purpose of this study was to evaluate water quality and to compare the concentration by variables over a two-year period. Sampling was conducted for one month at five sites along the Wangsukcheon river in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. General measurements (dissolved oxygen, DO), pH, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC) were taken using a YSI 556. The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and suspended solids (SSs) were analyzed manually according to the standard method. The concentration of most elements was lower in 2013 than in 2012. Most of the time, the patterns of concentration for the five sites increased from summer to winter. In addition, the levels of COD, BOD, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and EC at site E were higher than at the other sites. In the correlation analysis results, TN and EC were positively correlated, but DO and temperature (TEM) were negatively correlated. Therefore, this study suggests that some management is required to clean the water and improve the quality at downriver locations in the winter season.