Relationship Between Non-Point Source Pollution and Korean Green Factor

Abstract

In determining the relationship between the rational event mean concentration (REMC) which is a volume-weighted mean of event mean concentrations (EMCs) as a non-point source (NPS) pollution indicator and the green factor (GF) as a low impact development (LID) land use planning indicator, we constructed at runoff database containing 1483 rainfall events collected from 107 different experimental catchments from 19 references in Korea. The collected data showed that EMCs were not correlated with storm factors whereas they showed significant differences according to the land use types. The calculated REMCs for BOD, COD, TSS, TN, and TP showed negative correlations with the GFs. However, even though the GFs of the agricultural area were concentrated in values of 80 like the green areas, the REMCs for TSS, TN, and TP were especially high. There were few differences in REMC runoff characteristics according to the GFs such as recreational facilities areas in suburbs and highways and trunk roads that connect to major roads between major cities. Except for those areas, the REMCs for BOD and COD were significantly related to the GFs. The REMCs for BOD and COD decreased when the rate of natural green area increased. On the other hand, some of the REMCs for TSS, TN, and TP were still high where the catchments encountered mixed land use patterns, especially public facility areas with bare ground and artificial grassland areas. The GF could therefore be used as a major planning indicator when establishing land use planning aimed at sustainable development with NPS management in urban areas if the weighted GF values will be improved.

Assessing Non-Point Source Pollution Models: a Review

“…Recent studies have established the impact of NPS pollutants in water environments. Lee et al [21] observed that NPS contaminants constituted 69.3% of the total pollution loads discharged from 4 major watersheds in Korea in 2010. Hu and Huang [22] monitored NPS from an agricultural watershed in southern China.…”