The Nakdong River is a crucial water resource in South Korea, supplying water for various purposes such as potable water, irrigation, and recreation. However, the river is vulnerable to algal blooms due to the inflow of pollutants from multiple points and non-point sources. Monitoring chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations, a proxy for algal biomass is essential for assessing the trophic status of the river and managing its ecological health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo safeguard aquatic environments in and around the Han River watershed in South Korea, a multivariate statistical evaluation of trace elements, a trace element concentration analysis and source determination, and a human health risk assessment were conducted on 10 trace elements at 25 sites. The results demonstrated that the Han River watershed was mainly affected by anthropogenic activities (traffic/industrial activity). The range of concentrations was arranged in descending order: Fe (217.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman and veterinary pharmaceuticals are being increasingly used for disease treatment; hence, their distribution and factors influencing them in the aquatic environment need to be investigated. This study observed the effect of human and animal populations, usage, purchasing criteria (prescription vs. non-prescription), and land use to identify the spatio-temporal distribution of eight pharmaceuticals at twenty-four sites of the tributaries of the Han River watershed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2021
Lake Paldang is a complex water system with both fluvial and lacustrine characteristics and the largest artificial dam lake in South Korea. In this study, the different occurrence patterns and causes of the clear-water phase (CWP) were investigated using water quality and hydrological factors at four sites in Lake Paldang. Among the environmental and other factors associated with CWP occurrence, secchi depth and turbidity exhibited significant correlations with precipitation, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and individual and relative abundance (RA) of zooplankton (Cladocera) ( < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
April 2021
Since multilayered MXenes (TiCT, a new family of two-dimensional materials) were initially introduced by researchers at Drexel University in 2011, various MXene-based nanocomposites have received increased attention as photocatalysts owing to their exceptional properties (e.g., rich surface chemistry, adjustable bandgap structures, high electrical conductivity, hydrophilicity, thermal stability, and large specific surface area).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEight compounds from three categories of pharmaceuticals [5 antibiotics, 2 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and 1 anti-epileptics] were monitored at 24 sites in the tributaries of the Han River watershed in South Korea, 2016. The seasonal occurrence, temporal-spatial variation, potential compound source(s), and a risk assessment of this watershed, which is the largest drinking water source in the country, were investigated. Clarithromycin was detected most frequently (72.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Han River watershed is the largest and most important source of drinking water for the residents of the Seoul metropolitan area and the Gyeonggi province in South Korea. The tributaries of the watershed are vulnerable to contamination by effluents from nearby wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and non-point sources. In this study, a one-year monitoring study was performed to investigate the occurrence of 13 pharmaceuticals in 24 tributaries of the Han River watershed in October 2015.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng
August 2014
This study investigated the roles and optimum conditions of four independent variables [ultraviolet (UV) intensity, Fe(III), NO3 (-), and humic acid (HA) concentration] in the photolytic removal of naproxen (NPX) and ibuprofen (IBP) in water using a response surface method based on the Box-Behnken design. Lab-scale experiments used analysis of variance and t-test statistics to test the significance of independent variables and their interactions. Predicted levels of NPX and IBP removals were found to be in good agreement with experimental levels (R(2) = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUltrasonic (US) and single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)-catalyzed ultrasonic (US/SWNT) degradation of a pharmaceutical (PhAC) mixture of acetaminophen (AAP) and naproxen (NPX) used as analgesics was carried out in water. In the absence of SWNTs, maximum degradations of AAP and NPX occurred at a high frequency (1000 kHz) and under acidic conditions (pH 3) and different solution temperatures (25 °C at 28 kHz and 35 °C at 1000 kHz) during US reactions. Rapid degradation of PhACs occurred within 10 min at 28 kHz (44.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater Sci Technol
March 2013
This study investigates the effects of environmental parameters such as UV intensity (X(1), 2.1 ∼ 6.3 mW/cm(2)), Fe(III) (X(2), 0 ∼ 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the degradation of carbamazepine by photolysis/ultraviolet (UV)-C only and titanium dioxide photocatalysis. The degradation of carbamazepine by UV-only and titanium-dioxide-only (adsorption) reactions were inefficient, however, complete degradation of carbamazepine was observed by titanium dioxide photocatalysis within 30 min. The rate of degradation increased as initial carbamazepine concentration decreased, and the removal kinetics fit well with the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe discharge of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) was investigated for 15 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), comprising 25% of total domestic wastewater and 23% of total industrial wastewater produced in Korea. PFCs concentrations in influent, effluent, and sludge were greater in industrial wastewater than in the majority of domestic wastewater. Individual PFCs were found to have differing industrial sources, with perfluorocarboxylates used in fabric/textiles, paper-mill, and dyeing industries, and perfluoroalkylsulfonates occurring in oil/chemical and metal-plating/processing industries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the removal of perchlorate (0.016mM) using Fe(0)-only (325 mesh, 10g L(-1)) and Fe(0) (10g L(-1)) with UV (254nm) reactions were investigated under oxic and anoxic conditions (nitrogen purging). Under anoxic conditions, only 2% and 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the degradation mechanism of 1,4-dioxane using zero-valent iron (Fe0) in the presence of UV light was investigated kinetically. The degradation of 1,4-dioxane in Fe0-only, photolysis, and combined Fe0 and UV reactions followed the kinetics of a pseudo-first-order model. The degradation rate constant (19 x 10(-4)min(-1)) in the combined reaction with UV-C (4.
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