The management of contaminated sites in Korea has mainly been carried out on the basis of soil contamination and some groundwater contamination. However, given the pollutant spread between adjacent environmental media and the receptors affected by pol...
The management of contaminated sites in Korea has mainly been carried out on the basis of soil contamination and some groundwater contamination. However, given the pollutant spread between adjacent environmental media and the receptors affected by pollutants, the management of contaminated sites should be conducted in a linked management instead of individual media management. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a system that can integrate and manage the medias such as soil, groundwater, surface water, and atmosphere of contaminated sites escaping from the existing contaminated soil and groundwater management in accordance with individual media laws. Although many stakeholders are aware of the need for this, there is little detailed research on the specific situation regarding relevant policies under the existing media law and future direction. In this study, we reviewed the management status of contaminated sites in accordance with the laws of each environmental media in Korea and suggested ways to improve the system to solve the problems.We analyzed the current status of contamination control procedures such as investigation and remediation of contamination through the analysis of laws and cases by relevant environmental media that can be affected by contaminated soil. Although soil and groundwater are closely intertwined the most, contamination management is carried out under individual laws. Also, there is a lack of links between the statutes, resulting in blind spots in the management of the investigation, cleanup, etc. In case where the precise survey of soil and groundwater is conducted, the possible occurrence of contamination spreading to surrounding environmental media is subject to investigation. However, there is little legal basis regarding follow up on contamination found in surrounding environmental media. There is a problem that there are differences between the cause of contamination and the contaminant to be managed n accordance with each environmental media law, even if the contaminant is to be removed or managed. Even if the remediation is carried out, problems such as re-contamination due to differences in cleanup levels by environmental media laws may occur. In Washington, the USA, and Alberta, Canada, there are not only laws for each environmental media, but also an integrated law for managing contamination of each environmental media in contaminated sites, making this problem less likely to occur. There is a system to manage contaminated sites from a human and ecological risk perspective. Although there is a risk assessment system for soil contamination in Korea, it is not activated due to the systematic limitations on the application of risk assessment, risk assessment techniques and risk management procedures.Taking the aforementioned current status into account, four alternatives were proposed to resolve the problems and improve policies towards contaminated site management instead of individual environmental media. The first measure is to strengthen the linkage between soil and groundwater management. It complements the legal basis of each law related to contamination detection, investigation and remediation of the 「Soil Environment Conservation Act」 and the 「Groundwater Act」. In the same way as in the first case, the second plan is to strengthen the linkage between soil and groundwater management. In the 「Groundwater Act」, the contents related to the detection, investigation and remediation of groundwater contamination are transferred to the 「Soil Environment Conservation Act」 that enables integrated management of soil and groundwater to be realized. The third plan integrates contents related to the detection, investigation, remediation and management in individual laws on environmental media of contaminated sites such as soil, ground water, surface water, and air quality, and incorporates the contents into the new chapter on the management of contaminated sites in the 「Soil Environment Conservation Act」. The fourth plan is to establish a new 「Contaminated Site Management Act」. It is a plan to establish a law on contaminated site management by separating and integrating contents related to contamination detection, investigation, remediation and remediation responsibilities among relevant laws of individual environmental media such as 「Soil Environment Conservation Act」 and 「Groundwater Act」. This is the transition toward contaminated site management system focusing on the risk of the receptor. Considering the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of each alternative, the first alternative, which can solve problems on the management of contaminated soil and groundwater relative easily and quickly, is likely to be feasible in the short term. In the long run, it would be desirable to switch to a system proposed in the fourth alternative, which allows the integrated management of contaminated sites, rather than the management of individual environmental media.