In this paper, the current water management organization of the Korean government and those of foreign countries were analyzed to draw out a plan to build a more rational water management organization. And then, the two organization reform alternatives were discussed on which alternatives can effectively manage the water. Through the analysis, deployment of three divisions including the water policy, the wastewater policy and the division of water industries and business are the best alternative in terms of water equality, sustainability and efficiency, which are the three main goals of the new Water Management Act, Water Management Basic Act. With much efforts, the Korea has come to the era of One Water Management. The water management paradigm proposed in this opinion is expected to become a new engine of economical growth of the nation.
The algal blooms in stagnant streams and lakes have caused many problems. Excessive algae leads to disturbance of ecosystem and overload of water treatment processes. Therefore, phosphorus(P), source of algal blooms, should be controlled. In this study, a filtration trench has been developed to convert dissolved phosphorus into hydroxyapatite(HAP) so that it could be crystallized on the surface of ‘phosphorus removal granular material’; and residual particulate phosphorus could be removed by additional precipitation and filtration. The front and rear parts of filtration trench consisted of ‘phosphorus removal granular material contact bed’ and ‘limestone filtration bed’, respectively. As a result of the column test using phosphorus removal granular material and limestone serially, PO4-P was removed more than 90% when EBCT(empty bed contact time) of the contact bed was over 20 minutes; and T-P represented 60% of removal efficiency when total EBCT was over 1.5 hours. The results of column tests to figure out the sedimentation characteristics showed that more than 90% of particulate phosphorus could be removed within 24 hours. It was necessary to optimize the filtration part in order to increase removal efficiency of T-P additionally. Also, it was confirmed through the simulation of Visual MINTEQ that most of particulate phosphorus in the column tests is the form of HAP. Based on the results of the study, it could be suggested that the design parameters are over 0.5 hour of EBCT for phosphorus removal granular material contact bed and over 1.5 hours of EBCT for limestone filtration bed.
This study developed prediction models of chlorine bulk decay coefficient by each condition of water quality, measuring chlorine bulk decay coefficients of the water and water quality by water purification processes. The second-reaction order of chlorine were selected as the optimal reaction order of research area because the decay of chlorine was best represented. Chlorine bulk decay coefficients of the water in conventional processes, advanced processes before rechlorination was respectively 5.9072 (mg/L)-1d-1 and 3.3974 (mg/L)-1d-1, and 1.2522 (mg/L)-1d-1 and 1.1998 (mg/L)-1d-1 after rechlorination. As a result, the reduction of organic material concentration during the retention time has greatly changed the chlorine bulk decay coefficient. All the coefficients of determination were higher than 0.8 in the developed models of the chlorine bulk decay coefficient, considering the drawn chlorine bulk decay coefficient and several parameters of water quality and statistically significant. Thus, it was judged that models that could express the actual values, properly were developed. In the meantime, the chlorine bulk decay coefficient was in proportion to the initial residual chlorine concentration and the concentration of rechlorination; however, it may greatly vary depending on rechlorination. Thus, it is judged that it is necessary to set a plan for the management of residual chlorine concentration after experimentally assessing this change, utilizing the methodology proposed in this study in the actual fields. The prediction models in this study would simulate the reduction of residual chlorine concentration according to the conditions of the operation of water purification plants and the introduction of rechlorination facilities, more reasonably considering water purification process and the time of chlorination. In addition, utilizing the prediction models, the reduction of residual chlorine concentration in the supply areas can be predicted, and it is judged that this can be utilized in setting plans for the management of residual chlorine concentration.
Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are toxic carcinogenic compounds found in wastewater. VOCs require rapid removal because they are easily volatilized during wastewater treatment. Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes(EAOPs) are considered efficient for VOC removal, based on their fast and versatile anodic electrochemical oxidation of pollutants. Many studies have reported the efficiency of removal of various types of pollutants using different anodes, but few studies have examined volatilization of VOCs during EAOPs. This study examined the removal efficiency for VOCs (chloroform, benzene, trichloroethylene and toluene) by oxidization and volatilization under a static stirred, aerated condition and an EAOP to compare the volatility of each compound. The removal efficiency of the optimum anode was determined by comparing the smallest volatilization ratio and the largest oxidization ratio for four different dimensionally stable anodes(DSA): Pt/Ti, IrO2/Ti, IrO2/Ti, and IrO2-Ru-Pd/Ti. EAOP was operated under same current density (25 mA/cm2) and electrolyte concentration (0.05 M, as NaCl). The high volatility of the VOCs resulted in removal of more than 90% within 30 min under aerated conditions. For EAOP, the IrO2-Ru/Ti anode exhibited the highest VOC removal efficiency, at over 98% in 1 h, and the lowest VOC volatilization (less than 5%). Chloroform was the most recalcitrant VOC due to its high volatility and chemical stability, but it was oxidized 99.2% by IrO2-Ru/Ti, 90.2% by IrO2-Ru-Pd/Ti, 78% by IrO2/Ti, and 75.4% by Pt/Ti anodes The oxidation and volatilization ratios of the VOCs indicate that the IrO2-Ru/Ti anode has superior electrochemical properties for VOC treatment due to its rapid oxidation process and its prevention of bubbling and volatilization of VOCs.
In the Geumho River, 4-nitrophenol has been detected, thus it is necessary to investigate the contamination sources in order to prevent the release of this compound. However, the research to estimate the potential source is regarded as complicated research. In this study, the distributions of 4-nitrophenol were simulated and the contribution of the potential sources was estimated using a numerical model(HydroGeoSphere; HGS) and the measuring data of 4-nitrophenol from 2013 to 2017. The altitude data, the land cover data, the flow rates of the tributaries and wastewater treatment plants, and the decay rate of 4-nitrophenol was used as the input data. The results of this research showed that the contribution rates of potential contamination sources in the upstream area were higher than that of the downstream area. Most of the upstream area is the agricultural area, it seemed that 4-nitrophenol was originated from the pesticides. In order to achieve more specific location of sources, an intensive investigation in the upstream is required.
The respirometric technique has been used to analyze the nitrification process in a sequencing batch reactor(SBR) treating municipal wastewater. Especially the profile of the respiration rate very well expressed the reaction characteristics of nitrification. As the nitrification process required a significant amount of oxygen for nitrogen oxidation, the respiration rate due to nitrification was high. The maximum nitrification respiration rate, which was about 50 mg O2/L・h under the period of sufficient nitrification, was related directly to the nitrification reaction rate and showed the nitrifiers activity. The growth rate of nitrifiers is the most critical parameter in the design of the biological nutrient removal systems. On the basis of nitrification kinetics, the maximum specific growth rate of nitrifiers in the SBR was estimated as 0.91 d-1 at 20℃, and the active biomass of nitrifiers was calculated as 23 mg VSS/L and it was about 2% of total biomass.
Traditional wastewater research mainly focuses on 1) estimating the amount of waste entering sewage treatment facilities, 2) evaluating the treatment efficiency of sewage facilities, 3) investigating the role of sewage treatment effluent as a point source, and 4) designing and managing sewage treatment facilities. However, since wastewater contains a variety of chemical and biological substances due to the discharge of human excreta and material used for daily living into it, the collective constituents of wastewater are likely a reflection of a community’s status. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), an emerging and promising field of study that involves the analysis of substances in wastewater, can be applied to monitor the state of a defined community. WBE provides opportunities for exploiting indicators in wastewater to fulfill various objectives. The data analyzed under WBE are those pertaining to selected natural and anthropogenic substances in wastewater that are a result of the discharge of metabolic excreta, illicit or legal drugs, and infectious pathogens into the wastewater. This paper reviews recent progress in WBE and addresses current challenges in the field. It primarily discusses several representative applications including the investigation of drug consumption across different communities and the management of community disease and health. Finally, it summarizes established indicators for WBE.
In order to measure the filtration characteristics of a cotton ball shape filter, the experiments of suspended solids(SS) surrogate material selection and filtration performance have been carried out in this study. Between the two materials of powdered activated carbon(PAC) and powdered red-clay, PAC is more suitable surrogate material in terms of experimental criteria and particle size distribution in the non-point source pollutants removal system. As a result of the filtration experiments with the cotton ball shape filter, the initial headloss was about 8 cm, and the headloss slightly increased over filtration time. The Kozeny-Carman equation was used to analyze the changes of pressure and porosity during the filtration. The initial porosity was calculated as 0.945 and it decreased to 0.936 at the end of design filtration time. As the filtration continued, the SS concentration of the filtered water gradually increased and the SS removal rate gradually decreased. When the SS target removal efficiency is assumed to be 80%, the cumulative SS removal capacity is expected as 28.8 kg/m2. This means the volume loading rate of the cotton ball shape filter can be 115 m3/m2 when the typical SS concentration of non-point source water pollution is assumed as 250 mg/L.