| Title |
Proposed Water Quality Monitoring Frequency for Risk Assessment in Korean Rivers and Streams |
| Authors |
곽진일 ( Jin Il Kwak ) ; 윤성지 ( Sung Ji Yoon ) ; 남선화 ( Sun Hwa Nam ) ; 안윤주 ( Youn Joo An ) |
| Keywords |
Exposure assessment; Hazardous chemicals; Monitoring frequency; Risk assessment; Water quality monitoring |
| Abstract |
To protect human health and manage increasing hazardous chemicals in stream area, it is necessary to expand water quality hazardous items based on risk assessment with proper monitoring data. Also, it is essential to set up the suitable monitoring frequency to produce reliable exposure data to derive water quality guidelines. However, there has been no harmonized monitoring frequency for risk assessment in both domestic and international monitoring systems. In addition, the monitoring frequency for risk assessment has been selected as ``Research needs`` in the International Conference on Deriving Environmental Quality Standards for the Protection of Aquatic Ecosystems (EQSPAE) of 2011. In this study, Cases of UNEP/WHO, EU, European countries, USEPA, ANZECC/ARMCANZ, CCME, Japan, and Korea were analyzed to propose the monitoring frequency for risk assessment. Monitoring frequencies depending on environmental conditions, monitoring object, measurement parameters, and monitoring duration were extensively collected. We observed that a monthly monitoring has been applied at most of organizations including EU, USEPA, and UNEP/WHO. In this study, monitoring frequency of minimum 6 times during 3 years were proposed to conduct the risk assessment based on the current domestic status. However, it is necessary to make agreements among interested parties, and perform additional studies about optimal monitoring frequency to protect the aquatic ecosystem and human health in Korean rivers and streams. |