The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between ecotoxicity and water quality items using Daphnia magna in public sewage treatment plant process and to obtain operational data to control ecotoxicity through research on removal efficiency. The average value of ecotoxicity was 1.39 TU in the influent, 1.50 TU in the grit chamber, and 0.84 TU in the primary settling tank and it was found that most organic matters, nitrogen, and phosphorus were removed through biological treatment in the bioreactor. Using Pearson’s correlation analysis, the positive correlation was confirmed in the order of ecotoxicity and water quality items TOC, BOD, T-N, NH3-N, SS, EC, and Cu. As a result of conducting a multilinear regression analysis with items representing positive correlation as independent variables, the regression model was found to be statistically significant, and the explanatory power of the regression model was about 81.6%. TOC was found to have a significant effect on ecotoxicity with B=0.009 (p<.001) and Cu with B=16.670 (p<.001), and since the B sign is positive (+), an increase of 1 in TOC increases the value of ecotoxicity by 0.009 and an increase in Cu by 1 increases the value of ecotoxicity by 16.670. TOC (β=0.789, p<.001) and Cu (β=0.209, p<.001) were found to have a significant positive effect on ecotoxicity. TOC and Cu have a great effect on ecotoxicity in the sewage treatment plant process, and it is judged that TOC and Cu should be considered preferentially and controlled in order to efficiently control ecotoxicity.

In the context of the Ministry of Environment’s 2022 Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Public Institutions, public sewage treatment plants are one of the important targets for climate change response aimed at sustainable water management. In this study, it is applied a modified methodology to four water regeneration centers (public sewage treatment facilities) in charge of sewage treatment in Seoul to analyze the impacts and risks of climate change and discuss priorities for adaptation measures. The results of the study showed that heavy rains, heat waves, and droughts will be the key impacts of climate change, and highlighted the need for measures to mitigate these risks, especially for facility managers.

The quantified analysis of damages to wastewater treatment plants by natural disasters is essential to maintain the stability of wastewater treatment systems. However, studies on the quantified analysis of natural disaster effects on wastewater treatment systems are very rare. In this study, a total disaster index (DI) was developed to quantify the various damages to wastewater treatment systems from natural disasters using two statistical methods (i.e., AHP: analytic hierarchy process and PCA: principal component analysis). Typhoons, heavy rain, and earthquakes are considered as three major natural disasters for the development of the DI. A total of 15 input variables from public open-source data (e.g., statistical yearbook of wastewater treatment system, meteorological data and financial status in local governments) were used for the development of a DI for 199 wastewater treatment plants in Korea. The total DI was calculated from the weighted sum of the disaster indices of the three natural disasters (i.e., TI for typhoon, RI for heavy rain, and EI for earthquake). The three disaster indices of each natural disaster were determined from four components, such as possibility of occurrence and expected damages. The relative weights of the four components to calculate the disaster indices (TI, RI and EI) for each of the three natural disasters were also determined from AHP. PCA was used to determine the relative weights of the input variables to calculate the four components. The relative weights of TI, RI and EI to calculate total DI were determined as 0.547, 0.306, and 0.147 respectively.

To remove phosphorus from the effluent of public wastewater treatment facilities, hundreds of enhanced phosphorus treatment processes have been introduced nationwide. However, these processes have a few problems including excessive maintenance cost and sludge production caused by inappropriate coagulant injection. Therefore, the optimal decision of coagulant dosage and automatic control of coagulant injection are essential. To overcome the drawbacks of conventional phosphorus removal processes, the integrated sedimentation and dissolved air flotation(SeDAF) process has been developed and a demonstration plant(capacity: 100 m3/d) has also been installed. In this study, various jar-tests(sedimentation and / or sedimentation·flotation) and multiple regression analyses have been performed. Particularly, we have highlighted the decision–making algorithms of optimal coagulant dosage to improve the applicability of the SeDAF process. As a result, the sedimentation jar-test could be a simple and reliable method for the decision of appropriate coagulant dosage in field condition of the SeDAF process. And, we have found that the SeDAF process can save 30 – 40% of coagulant dosage compared with conventional sedimentation processes to achieve total phosphorus (T-P) concentration below 0.2 mg/L of treated water, and it can also reduce same portion of sludge production.

In this study, the fate and removal of 15 pharmaceuticals (including stimulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, etc.) in unit processes of a sewage treatment plant (STP) were investigated. Mass loads of pharmaceuticals were 2,598 g/d in the influent, 2,745 g/d in the primary effluent, 143 g/d in the secondary effluent, and 134 g/d in the effluent. The mass loads were reduced by 95% in the biological treatment process, but total phosphorous treatment did not show a significant effect on the removal of most pharmaceuticals. Also, mass balance analysis was performed to evaluate removal characteristics of pharmaceuticals in the biological treatment process. Acetaminophen, caffeine, acetylsalicylic acid, cefradine, and naproxen were efficiently removed in the biological treatment process mainly due to biodegradation. Removal efficiencies of gemfibrozil, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were not high, but their removal was related to sorption onto sludge. This study provides useful information on understanding removal characteristics of pharmaceuticals in unit processes in the STP.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of sewerage facilities through I/I analysis by rainfall by selecting areas where storm overflow diverging chamber is remained due to the non-maintenance drainage equipment when the sewerage system was reconstructed as a separate sewer system. Research has shown that wet weather flow(WWF) increased from 106.2% to 154.8% compared to dry weather flow(DWF) in intercepting sewers, and that the WWF increased from 122.4% to 257.6% in comparison to DWF in storm overflow diverging chamber. As a result, owing to storm overflow diverging chamber of partially separate sewer system with untreated tributary of sewage treatment plant, rainfall-derived infiltration/inflow(RDII) has been analyzed 2.7 times higher than the areas without storm overflow diverging chamber. Meanwhile, infiltration quantity of this study area was relatively higher than that of other study areas. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce infiltration quantity through sewer pipe maintenance nearby river. Drainage equipment maintenance should be performed not to operate storm overflow diverging chamber in order to handle the appropriate sewage treatment plant capacity for rainfall because it is also expected that RDII due to rain will occur after maintenance. In conclusion, it is necessary to recognize aRDII(allowance of rainfall-derived infiltration/inflow) and to be reflected it on sewage treatment plant capacity because aRDII can occur even after maintenance to the complete separate sewer system.

Total organic carbon(TOC) was introduced as the water quality index of the rivers and lakes in 2013. This paper evaluated factors affecting effluent TOC concentrations and treated and discharged loads of existing publicly owned treatment works(POTWs). For selected POTWs with greater treatment capacity than 500㎥/day, factorial analysis was used to consider effects of kinds of biological treatment processes, inflow of other types of wastewater(industrial, livestock, landfill leachate wastewater, etc.) with domestic wastewater, sewer separation rate, and effluent discharging zones in which different effluent criteria applied. As a result, those factors did not show significant effect on effluent TOC concentration of POTWs in effluent discharging zone Ⅰ and Ⅱ. However, In effluent discharging zone Ⅲ and Ⅳ, kinds of biological treatment processes, the inclusion of other waste in influent of domestic wastewater, and the sewer separation rate were significant factors. The treated TOC load in POTWs was also not affected significantly by the variables set in this study. On the other hand, those three factors influenced significantly on the TOC load discharged to water bodies. The sum of factorial effects and the contribution rate of three factors to the discharged TOC load was 60.23 and 41%, 59.57 and 41%, and 42.04 and 18%, respectively.

The aim of this study was to evaluate pretreatment methods for 27 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in various sewage samples using a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) and online solid-phase extraction with LC-MS/MS. Extraction efficiencies of PPCPs in the solid phase under different experimental conditions were evaluated, showing that the highest recoveries were obtained with the addition of sodium sulfate and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt dehydrate in acidified conditions. The recoveries of target compounds ranged from 91 to 117.2% for liquid samples and from 61.3 to 137.2% for solid samples, with a good precision. The methods under development were applied to sewage samples collected in two sewage treatment plants (STPs) to determine PPCPs in liquid and solid phases. Out of 27 PPCPs, more than 19 compounds were detected in liquid samples (i.e., influent and effluent) of two STPs, with concentration ranges of LOQ-33,152 ng/L in influents and LOQ-4,523 ng/L in effluents, respectively. In addition, some PPCPs such as acetylsalicylic acid, ibuprofen, and ofloxacin were detected at high concentrations in activated sludge as well as in excess sludge. This methodology was successfully applied to sewage samples for the determination of the target compounds in STPs.

Total organic carbon (TOC) will replace chemical oxygen demand (CODMn) as an effluent water quality standard in public sewage treatment works (PSTWs) from 2021 in Korea. To ensure effective control of TOC in the effluent, investigation was carried out into TOC levels and sewage treatment operation factors in five target PSTWs using anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic (A2O) processes, media, membrane, and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technologies. TOC removal efficiencies appeared to be 93-96% on average. As a fraction of TOC, biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) was reduced from 64% in the influent to 9% in the effluent in these PSTWs. During the investigation, biological treatment processes were applied flexibly for operation factors such as HRT, SRT, MLSS, F/M ratios and BOD volume loads, based on the influent characteristics and design conditions. As a result, we suggest efficient operating conditions in PSTWs by evaluating relationships between TOC removal and operation factors.

As the issue of microplastics (MPs) detection in tap water was raised in other countries in 2017, monitoring of MPs in drinking and source water, and sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents was initiated. This study intends to look into other studies on MPs in STPs at home and abroad, and review the characteristics of MPs and their removal efficiencies in the STPs, the risk and effect of MPs on watersheds, and management practices in order to help better understand MPs in STPs. To manage MPs effectively in STPs, it is necessary to investigate the detection of MPs discharged from STPs, do research on human health risk and control measures, and build a monitoring system including standardized analytical methods.

The annual total phosphorus load caused by public wastewater, nightsoil and livestock manure treatment facilities in Korea has been examined macroscopically. Annual domestic average phosphorus (P) inflows through the income of phosphate rock for the last five years (2012 - 2016) were analyzed as 76,598 tons/year. As of the year 2015, the total loadings of phosphorus attributed to public wastewater treatment facilities, nightsoil treatment facilities and livestock wastewater were estimated as 30,269 tons/year, 1,909 tons/year and 18,138 tons/year, respectively. Considering the amount of phosphorus imports, the annual phosphorus load from wastewater, livestock wastewater and excretions is equivalent to 39.5%, 23.7%, 2.5% and totally 65.7%(39.5% + 23.7% + 2.5%). Therefore, the introduction of phosphorus recovery and recycling processes for the public wastewater and livestock manure treatment facilities has been found to be effective because it could reduce the import amount of phosphate rock by up to 60% or more.

In this study, we investigated influent and effluent water pollutants in 53 Public Sewage Treatment Works (PSTWs) where industrial wastewater or landfill leachate is combined four times for two years from 2014 to 2015. Also, we analyzed the characteristics of heavy metals and volatile organic carbons at influent and effluent of these PSTWs caused by sewage treatment combined with industrial wastewater or landfill leachate. As a result, six heavy metals such as barium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc, and four volatile organic carbons (VOCs) including phenols, di(2-)ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), formaldehyde and toluene were observed above detection limits in most of PSTWs. Also, it was revealed that six heavy metals such as hexavalent chromium, mercury, cadmium, chromium, nickel and selenium, and four VOCs including 1,1-dichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, naphthalene, and epichlorohydrin were observed more frequently according to precipitation. As a result of reviewing the monitoring data on “Water Quality Monitoring Networks” in lower watersheds of PSTWs, both heavy metals and VOCs were below detection limits, indicating that the effluent water had little influence on the watershed. Nevertheless for the better management of influent and effluent pollutants in PSTWs, it is necessary to establish the advanced management plans for water pollutants in PSTWs, which include a list of priority substances management, monitoring plans, and guidelines for industrial wastewater and landfill leachate combined in PSTWs.

Various kinds of processes are used in the Public Sewage Treatment Works(PSTWs) in order to achieve water quality criteria and TMDL in the watershed. The performance of the existing processes at PSTWs depends on influent characteristics, effluent quality target, amount of sludge production, power cost and other factors. In present, the Selection Guideline for the Available Treatment Process of PSTWs is used for a process decision in the country. But there are some problems regarding redundancy of assessment factors and complexity of assessment procedure in the guideline. In this study, we did a test application of AHP for process selection of PSTWs, which propose is to simplify assessment factors such as pollutant removal amount, sludge generation, electricity consumption, stability of operation, convenience of maintenance, easiness of existing process application, installation cost, and operating cost concerning of environmental factors, technical factors and economical factors. According to the study, the PSTWs selection procedure guideline can be improved using application of AHP method.

As the Enforcement Ordinance of Environmental Policy Act was revised in 2013, total organic carbon(TOC) was added as an indicative parameter for organic matter in Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Environmental Criteria. Under these imminent circumstances, a regulatory standard is needed to achieve the proposed TOC limitation control water quality from the public sewage treatment plants(PSTWs). This study purposes to present the determination method for TOC effluent limitation at the PSTWs. Therefore we investigate the TOC effluent limitation of foreign countries such as EU, Germany and USA, and analyse the effluent water qualities of PSTWs. In using these TOC data, we review apprehensively the statistics-based, the technology-based, and the region(water quality)-based determination method of TOC effluent limitation for PSTWs.

Evaluation and comparison for the performance on the contracting-out became possible after the introduction of the performance indicators(PIs) in 2012 in Korea, And local governments and private companies are utilizing them as evaluation data to enhance the performance of the contracting-out. Several revisions on performance indicator were carried out by expert group on contents validity of PIs, But the review of the composition validity of PIs was not sufficient. In this study, the applicability, distinction ability and composition validity of PIs is evaluated by statistical method. From the results, Improvement of indicator is required in order to increase the interrelationship among indicators to enhance the compostion validity of indicators related with operation, sludge and water reuse

In accordance with the Watershed Sewer System Maintenance Plan enforced on February 2, 2013, the different compliance concentration of effluent limit be applied to effluent discharged from public sewage treatment works(PSTWs) in each watershed on the basis of water quality thereof. With the introduction of watershed sewer system, it is necessary to set the compliance concentration of effluent limit for PSTWs situated in the watershed, by region and PSTW size, to achieve water quality criteria for regional watersheds or target water quality under TMDL program. Watershed Environmental Agencies establish the Watershed Sewer System Maintenance Plan and set the compliance concentrations of effluent limit for PSTWs under the plan. The agencies plan to apply tougher effluent BOD concentration limits in Class Ⅰ to Ⅳ areas. Effluent BOD concentration limits will be toughened from 5~10 mg/L to 3 mg/L in class Ⅱ~Ⅲ areas, from 10mg/L to 5mg/L in class Ⅳ areas. Uniform application of effluent BOD concentration limits to PSTWs in the watershed sewer system need to be complemented considering type of sewage treatment technology employed and watershed characteristics. Therefore, this study presents method to determine the compliance concentration of effluent limit from PSTWs in the watershed.

Under Korea’s Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on Environmental Policy amended in 2013, total organic carbon (TOC) is newly added as water quality parameter to assess organic pollution in the aquatic ecosystem. To meet the TOC requirement and improve quality of effluent discharged into public watershed, it is also necessary to develop standards for TOC in effluent from public sewage treatment works (PSTWs).In this study, we reviewed the characteristics and removal efficiency of TOC in influent and effluent of PSTWs. The study found that phosphorus treatment process removed not only soluble phosphorus but also a portion of TOC remaining after the secondary treatment process. TOC concentration in effluent from PSTWs operated in tandem with industrial wastewater treatment work was higher due to influx of insoluble substances from the industrial wastewater treatment work.In order to lay a foundation for the management of TOC from PSTWs, it is necessary to carry out research on TOC from different perspectives. For example, studies on the generation mechanism of TOC and the impact of TOC on drinking water resources, assessment of effluent qualities through monitoring, and development of measures to control TOC for the preservation of aquatic ecosystem are needed.

This research is carried out to investigate the odor emission characteristics in a sewage treatment plant. The plantwas divided into four areas (boundary areas, sewage treatment processes, sludge treatment processes and odortreatment plants), and measured around 27 sampling points. Odor characteristics from each areas were evaluatedby air dilution olfactory method and NH₃/SO₂/VOCs passive sampler, mainly in terms of spatial distribution. Themain odor emission sources were found out to be dewatering plant (S-4) of sludge, sludge transshipment place(S-5), and the outlet of odor treatment plant (B-2, B-3). The correlation between dilution number (OU) and ammoniaconcentration of passive sampler appeared to be low; correlation coefficient 0.49, but correlation coefficient for theresults of sulfur dioxide and toluene were very high, 0.95 and 0.93, respectively. These results indicate that odorcompounds form sewage treatment facility are mainly due to sulfur compounds and volatile organic compounds.