The groundwater quality through livestock excreta survey based on “Act of the management and use of livestock excreta” was investigated by selecting sampling sites within 1 km of the farmland without considering hydrogeological units. However, these sites can be affected by various pollution sources such as chemical fertilizers and livestock excretions. Additionally, the effects of pollution sources on groundwater quality in the sites cannot be clearly distinguished from naturally occurring backgrounds. In this study, a method was developed to select the sampling sites for groundwater quality through livestock excreta survey in order to understand the effects of pollution sources especially livestock excreta. First, the concentrations of nitrate within the radius of 200 m, 300 m, 500 m and 750 m, respectively, from the farms regarded as pollution sources in hydrogeological units were compared in 2016-2017. All the nitrate concentrations at 200 - 500 m from the farms exceeded a background concentration, 13.3 mg/L. Those at 750 m and the background concentrations measured by the Ministry of Environment were comparable. Therefore, the appropriate radius was suggested as 500 m for livestock excretions survey. In this study, the areas within 500 m from the farms could be considered under the influence of livestock excretions, while those beyond 500 from the pollution sources as background in hydrogeological units. The developed method was validated by applying it to the sites selected based on both administrative divisions and watersheds for livestock excretion survey. The average densities for the developed method were 0.82 and 0.39 points/km2, respectively, which were considered as appropriate levels according to those of the European Environmental Agency.

This study aimed to assess the impact of livestock excreta discharged from an Intensive Livestock Farming Area (ILFA) on river water quality during a rainfall event. The Bangcho River, which is one of the 7 tributaries in the Cheongmi River watershed, was the study site. The Cheongmi River watershed is the second largest area for livestock excreta discharge in Korea. Our results clearly showed that, during the rainfall event, the water quality of the Bangcho River was severely deteriorated due to the COD, NH4-N, T-N, PO4-P, T-P, and heavy metals (Cu, Zn, and Mn) in the run-off from nearby farmlands, where the soil comprised composted manure and unmanaged livestock excreta. In addition, stable isotope analysis revealed that most of nitrogen (NH4-N and NO3-N) in the run-off was from the ammonium and nitrate in the livestock excreta. The values of δ15NNH4 and δ15NNO3 for the Bangcho River water sample, which was obtained from the downstream of mixing zone for run-off water, were lower than those for the run-off water. This indicates that there were other nitrogen sources upstream river in the river. It was assumed from δ15NNH4 and δ15NNO3 stable isotope analyses that these other nitrogen sources were naturally occurring soil nitrogen, nitrogen from chemical fertilizers, sewage, and livestock excreta. Therefore, the use of physicochemical characteristics and nitrogen stable isotopes in the water quality impact assessment enabled more effective analysis of nitrogen pollution from an ILFA during rainfall events.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential and major nutrient for both plants and animals. However, anthropogenic P in the environment may cause severe problems such as the deterioration of water quality. Therefore, it is essential for the Korean government to manage P in the agricultural sector. The annual P budget for Korea was 46 kg P ha-1 in 2013, placing Korea in second among Organication for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. P surplus and deficiency in agricultural lands can be estimated according to the P budget, which is one of the OECD agri-environment indicators. In the P budget, it is important to ensure consistency in the input-output data sources, in order to apply national and regional policies for the environmentally sound management of agricultural P. This study examines the impacts on the input-output data sources in the regional P budget in Korea. P budgets were between 99-145 kg-P/ha, depending on different data sources. We suggest two recommended data combinations (DC 1 and DC 2) for reliability of the data. P budgets calculated using DC 1 and DC 2 were 128 kg-P/ha and 97 kg-P/ha, respectively. According to the results, one of the core factors affecting P budgets was crop production. In this study, DC 2 was recommended rather than DC 1 in order to consider the cultivated areas for various crops. It is also necessary to analyze the sensitivity of the coefficients used in P budget in the future.

This study evaluated the feasibility of recovering and recycling nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from livestock excreta as struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) in South Korea. Our experimental results showed that struvite precipitation was a very effective way to recover N and P from livestock excreta. Moreover, our study demonstrated that struvite precipitates from livestock excreta (SPL) contain higher concentrations of N, P, and magnesium (Mg) as compared to compost and liquid manure from livestock excreta. In addition, although SPL contain high concentrations of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), they meet the fertilizer criteria for concentrations of heavy metals. In South Korea, SPL cannot currently be used as a fertilizer due to legal constraints. Legal permission for SPL use would offer greater choice in livestock excreta management. In conclusion, recovery and recycling of N and P from livestock excreta as struvite can be an effective tool for managing nutrients in livestock excreta.

The purposes of this study were to suggest the methodology to select prior areas in the environmental pollution survey for livestock excreta (EPSLE) as well as to elucidate the validity of the methodology. In this study, the prior areas in the EPSLE were determined by examining the number of compost facilities categorized according to the three levels of size including the basin, the sub-basin and the watershed, respectively, based on the data from “Annual Nation-wide Pollution Sources Survey (2012)”. The results suggested that the list of prior basins were Nakdong, Geum, Youngsan and Han river basins in order. Also, it was examined that the prior sub-basins in the four river basins including Nakdong, Geum, Youngsan and Han rivers were Naesung Stream, Geumgang Gongju, Juam Dam and Namhan Downstream, respectively. The prior watersheds in the sub-basins of Naesung stream, Geumgang Gongju, Juam Dam and Namhan Downstream were Seocheon Downstream, Geum Stream, Gyeombaek Suwipyo and Yanghwa Stream, respectively. The validity of the methodology used in this study was elucidated by analyzing the correlation of the number of compost facilities with the concentrations of T-N and T-P observed in the end-points of sub-basins. The results of correlation analysis showed that the concentrations of T-N and T-P increased with the number of compost facilities. Specifically, there was the stronger correlation between the number of compost facilities and the concentrations of T-N than that for T-P. Consequently, it was proved that the methodology used in this work was valid and rational for the selection of prior areas in environmental pollution survey for EPSLE.