Hi!! Everyone!! Welcome back!!

Last month, I introduced two main summits which were Earth Summit 2012 and Seoul Nuclear Summit 2012.  The first one was already held in Seoul and the other one is planned to be held in Seoul.

On June, I would like to return back to the types of pollution happening in Seoul.  This article will mainly deal about soil pollution in Seoul. 

Let?s look at the basic information about soil pollution. Soil contamination is caused by the presence of human made chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment.  This type of contamination typically arises from the failure caused by corrosion of underground storage tanks, application of pesticides,   oil and fuel dumping, and direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil.  Ground pollution is correlated with the degree of industrialization and intensities of chemical usage.  The concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health risks, direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapors from the contaminants, and from secondary contamination of water supplies within and underlying the soil.  Many different situations depict the seriousness of soil contamination occurring in Seoul.

First, soil pollution was found near US base located in Korea.  The team examined 44 spots of the 71,700 square meters US military base area and found that 14 of them had oil and heavy-metal contamination exceeding the permissible level.  At 11, the total petroleum hydrocarbon contamination exceeded the permissible level of 500 milligrams per kilogram of soil. At certain spots, contamination was 15 times the permissible level at 7,656 mg/kg.  Heavy metal components such as lead and zinc were also found to exceed the permissible levels at around twice that allowable.  Dioxin was also found in 28 spots.  To make the matters worse, three of the four spots that were investigated in the area neighboring Sangoknam Elementary School near the park had three times the permissible level of TPH at 1,346 mg/kg.

Moreover, serious ground pollution was reported in asbestos mines.  The Ministry of Environment has found that soil near three closed asbestos mines is contaminated with the cancer-causing material. The ministry said Monday that asbestos was detected in 42 percent of the soil around the mines.  Out of the 2,512 hectares investigated, 1,058, or 42.12 percent, are contaminated with asbestos. And 28.1 hectares, or 1.12 percent, are in need of a soil cleanup, with the density of asbestos detected exceeding 1 percent.  In Sindeok, a 3.5 percent maximum density of tremolite asbestos was detected and in Bibong and Yangsa, a 1.5 percent density was recorded. 

Finally, another phenomenon shows the current status quo in Seoul.  Statistics show that one in three gas stations older than 15 years is seriously polluting soil on the site. Industry observers point out that some of these gas stations urgently require institutional measure as they are found to have caused combined pollution.  The Ministry of Environment said on May 17 that it found 6 oil stations out of 21 facilities eligible for survey exceeded worrisome level of soil pollution in an environmental survey on obsolete gas stations and industrial facilities located near residential areas in Guro-gu and Gangseo-gu in Seoul.  The survey result showed that 6 gas stations and oil storage facilities, or 28.6%, of 21 facilities exceeded worrisome level of soil pollution. Polluted space and pollution volume reached 287.1? and 478.5?, respectively.  All of these 6 facilities that exceeded pollution criteria were found to be gas stations that are eligible for certain soil pollution management based on the Soil Environment Conservation Act.

These were the current statistics and findings about ground pollution which is continuously rising as a main problem in Seoul.