황해에서 투기활동이 지속성유기오염물질의 환경분포에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Ocean dumping has been conducted since 1988 in Korea. Dumping activity is legally permitted at three regions within Korean waters, among which one, named ‘Byung’, is located in the Yellow Sea. In recent 15 years, the quantity of ocean dumping has steeply increased about ten times, mainly for sewage sludge and livestock waste. In order to assess the contamination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Yellow Sea and the consequence of dumping activity for environmental pollution, surface sediments and large volume of suspended particles in water column were intensively collected in the dumping zone and its outer part in the Yellow Sea. The overall concentrations of PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, CHLs, and HCB in the dumping zone were in the rage of 0.38 – 42.06 ng g-1, 0.08 – 199 ng g-1, 0.23 – 25.97 ng g-1, ND – 1.03 ng g-1, and 0.01 – 2.00 ng g-1, respectively. Among the sediment sampling sites, 3 or 4 sites showed PCBs, DDTs, and chlordane concentrations exceeding the effect range low (ERL) values for benthic organisms. All the sites above the ERL values are located in the dumping zone, implying that a dumping site could be a source of POPs in the Yellow Sea. The highest DDT and HCH concentrations observed at the dumping zone are higher than the concentrations recorded in the Korean coastal sediments. The enhanced signal of coprostanol and alkylphenols, representative sewage markers, were found in the bottom water, which is the apparent evidence of waste dumping. Additionally, the result implies anthropogenic chemicals adsorbed on the waste materials are suspended from the bottom sediment to the upper water column. Slight increase of PCBs, chlordnes, and nonylphenol was observed at the lower water column (a depth of 50m), their vertical profile did not show a bottom maximum. In conclusion, dumping activity can be one of pollution sources in the Yellow Sea.