Optimum management scheme to control nonpoint pollution in Korea

Abstract

Comprehensive measures to control nonpoint source were developed by the Office of the Prime Minister, Korea in March 2004. These management measures present the government's policies and directions relating to nonpoint source management by 2020. However, the government has encountered difficulties since the government implemented such policies without preparing legal and institutional arrangements associated with nonpoint source management practices. Particularly, there was no legal system to manage the workplaces and construction sites that discharge the polluted runoff. To provide legal arrangements to achieve efficient implementation of the government's nonpoint source management policies, amendments to the "Water Quality Preservation Act" were proposed in the congress in March 2005 and took effect from April 2006. Subsequently, the nationally mandated nonpoint source control system was to be applied to such industries and construction sites. This paper attempts to propose the scope of the nonpoint source control system and effective strategies applied to the construction sites and industrial workplaces in Korea.