TP20 Ecological Risk Assessment
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(LEE-1117-591824) The Evaluation of Releasae Estimation Methods of KORECORisk Program.

Lee, Y.-J.¹, Kim, K.¹, Kim, Y.-H.¹, ¹ Korea Institute of Toxicology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT- KORECORisk (KORea ECOlogical Risk) program has been developed to pin point the hot industrial spot in ecological risk. The peculiarity of the program is estimation of the risk using the chemical inventory data of Korea and the physicochemical data. We are in the process of refining the predictability of the program. Daejeon has been selected as a target industrial area to evaluate the accuracy of release estimation methods of the program and assess the ecological risk at a regional scale. We applied release estimation methods to water environment with a step-by- step approach. Firstly, emission factors (EF) were divided into two classes by pesticide and others. Secondly, we divided emission factors into 16 classes by industrial/use category (Ref. EURAM). Finally, biodegradation in the treatment step has been incorporated to the release estimation method, in addition to the existing processing step. Three phthalates and five volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were chosen for field monitoring based on the risk estimated by the KORECORisk and the availablility of analytical methods. The concentrations of these target chemicals in the effluent were monitored and the accuracy of release estimation methods was calculated. As a result, an accuracy factor, the ratio of PEC (Predicted Environmental Concentration) to MEC (Measured Environmental Concentration), for phthalates was within the range of ten. On the other hand, the concentrations of VOCs was overestimated and the emission factors need further to be improved. Also, 128 compartments divided based on the watershed of Daejeon could represent relative ecological risks caused by industrial chemicals in different colors. Other industrial regions would be included in this model and evaluated through further study.

Key words: release estimation methods, ecological risk assessement, field monitoring, accuracy factor