STATUS OF CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF LARGE WASTE-WATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN SOUTH-KOREA

The history of wastewater treatment in Korea began in 1976 with constr uction of Chongke sewage treatment plant in the city of Seoul. At pres ent, there are 48 large municipal sewage treatment plants for 42 citie s with a total treatment capacity of 7,841,000 m(3)/d. This indicates that the population receiving sewage treatment is 42% of the total nat ional population. The government is planning to extend the population receiving wastewater treatment to 73% by the year 1997. It turned out that activated sludge processes are the most popular type (39 out of 4 8 plants) for the treatment of municipal wastewater. The present lawfu l effluent criteria for BOD, GOD, and SS from large municipal wastewat er treatment plant are changing from 30 mg/l, 50 mg/l, and 70 mg/l, to 20 mg/l, 40 mg/l, and 20 mg/l, respectively, by the year 1996. Regula tion of the total concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus are also a dded as 60 mg/l and 8 mg/l, respectively. The enactment to control the nutrient concentrations in the lake and pond is inevitable for the pr otection of drinking water in South Korea. Copyright (C) 1996 IAWQ. Pu blished by Elsevier Science Ltd.