Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2014 Jan;21(1):86-94. doi: 10.1007/s11356-013-2093-z.
Korean water quality managers are required to promptly develop national assessment standards for freshwater sediment quality due to the Four Major River Restoration Project in Korea in 2009. We conducted this study to develop sediment management standards (SMSs), determining obviously and severely polluted sediment, which could have adverse impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystem. The SMSs values were derived from the 95th percentile of concentration distribution for organic matter and nutrients in sediment quality database. For the SMSs of metals, foreign sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were adopted. As a result, 13% for loss on ignition (LOI), 1,600 mg/kg for total phosphorus (TP), and 5,600 mg/kg for total nitrogen (TN) were set as the SMSs for freshwater sediment in Korea. These values were higher than the range of heavily polluted sediment from USEPA Region 5 guideline derived by the similar approaches for the Great Lakes harbor sediments, and similar or lower than the severe effect level (SEL) from provincial sediment quality guideline (PSQG) of Ontario, Canada by screening level concentration (SLC) approach. However, SMSs in the present study are appropriate considering the concentration ranges and the Korean SMSs’ definition for freshwater sediments in Korea. The Puget Sound marine sediment cleanup screening level (CSL) in Washington State, USA were adopted as the Korean SMSs for As (93 mg/kg), Cd (6.7 mg/kg), Cr (270 mg/kg), Cu (390 mg/kg), Pb (530 mg/kg), and Zn (960 mg/kg) in freshwater sediments. Hg concentration (0.59 mg/kg) of CSL was too low to determine the polluted freshwater sediments in Korea, and the SEL of Ontario, Canada for mercury concentration (2 mg/kg) was selected as the SMS for Hg. These values were found reasonable through the assessment of applicability with the datasets from locations directly affected by obvious point sources. These results indicate that SMSs for organic matter, nutrient, and metals derived within the present study can successfully determine obviously and severely polluted sediment in Korea. However, the SMSs have limits to specifically determine the effects of polluted sediment on water quality and aquatic ecosystem in Korea. Thus, we will revise and specify SMSs considering those effects and further sediment quality assessment framework in the near future.
韩国水质管理人员被要求及时制定淡水沉积物质量的国家评估标准，因为 2009 年韩国启动了四大河流恢复项目。我们进行这项研究是为了制定沉积物管理标准 (SMSs)，确定对水质和水生生态系统有不利影响的明显和严重污染的沉积物。SMSs 值是根据沉积物质量数据库中有机物和养分浓度分布的第 95 百分位得出的。对于金属的 SMSs，采用了国外的沉积物质量指南 (SQGs)。结果，韩国将 13%的灼烧损失 (LOI)、1600mg/kg 的总磷 (TP)和 5600mg/kg 的总氮 (TN)设定为淡水沉积物的 SMSs。这些值高于通过类似方法从美国环保局 5 区指南得出的大湖区港沉积物重度污染沉积物的范围，与加拿大安大略省省级沉积物质量指南 (PSQG)的筛选浓度 (SLC)方法确定的严重影响水平 (SEL)相似或更低。然而，考虑到浓度范围和韩国对淡水沉积物的 SMSs 定义，本研究中的 SMSs 是合适的。美国华盛顿州普吉特海湾海洋沉积物清理筛选水平 (CSL)被采用为韩国淡水沉积物中砷 (93mg/kg)、镉 (6.7mg/kg)、铬 (270mg/kg)、铜 (390mg/kg)、铅 (530mg/kg)和锌 (960mg/kg) 的 SMSs。CSL 的汞浓度 (0.59mg/kg) 太低，无法确定韩国受明显点源直接影响的地点的污染淡水沉积物，因此选择了加拿大安大略省的 SEL 作为汞的 SMS。通过对直接受明显点源影响的地点数据集的适用性评估，发现这些值是合理的。这些结果表明，本研究中得出的有机物质、养分和金属的 SMSs 能够成功地确定韩国明显和严重污染的沉积物。然而，SMSs 具有限制，无法具体确定受污染沉积物对韩国水质和水生生态系统的影响。因此，我们将在不久的将来修订和具体规定 SMSs，考虑到这些影响以及进一步的沉积物质量评估框架。
