GAW Report No. 205 - IGAC Project

CHAPTER 3 - ASIAEmission sources of air pollutantsDuring the post-Korean War economic development period, South Korea’s urban air qualitystructure was characterized by high-energy intensity associated with primarily fossil fuel energyconsumption. As a consequence, urban air pollution caused by the rapid proliferation of cars,growth in heavy and chemical industries, the increasing severity of traffic congestion, and otherurban issues stressed the cities during South Korea’s high-growth eras. The Clean Air ConservationAct of 1990 was in its initial stage during the post-Korean War economic development. Until 1994,The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported Seoul to have serious problems withhigh sulphur dioxide and lesser, though increasing, problems with nitrogen oxides (1). Poor airquality is evident from high PM 10 , SO 2 , and CO concentration since 1991. Greenhouse gasemissions have also been a concern, both regionally and globally. Korea has made various effortsto improve the air quality through, among others, supplying clean energy (natural gas, low-sulphurfuel, etc.) and strengthening emission standards for industries and motor vehicles. These effortsmarkedly reduced air pollutant emission for SO 2 and CO in major cities. However, the air pollution inSeoul is higher than any other metropolis in the nation, requiring special management. To date, theconcentration of vehicles already exceeds the environmental capacity. In 2002, road transportaccounted for 77% of all PM 10 (and PM 2.5 ) emissions in Seoul (2, 3). Moreover, periodical Asiandusts storms and haze events add to the existing air quality problem by aggravating PM 10 levels,making the atmosphere more deleterious to health. Increasing growth of air pollution relatedsickness and death has become a major issue. As of 2003, the number of premature deaths due toPM 10 in the Seoul Metropolitan area reached 10,000 per year (4) and research data (5) hasestimated the social costs to be 8 billion USD.Data available on air pollutantsSince the implementation of the Clean Air Conservation Act, the Ministry of Environment(MOE) has established city air quality monitoring sites all throughout Korea. Annual Mean CriteriaPollutant data starting from 1991 are available for public use. In 1991, there were 20 city air qualitymonitoring stations in Korea that measure PM 10 , SO 2 , O 3 , NO 2 , and CO. As of 2007, the citymonitoring stations have increased to 226. The Ministry on Environment has established andoperated Air Pollution Observation Networks that can be classified into six types: suburbanatmosphere monitoring, density monitoring of various substances, hazardous air pollutantmonitoring, photochemical air pollutants monitoring, acidic deposition monitoring, and earthatmosphere observation, while municipal and provincial governments operate air pollutionobservations that are classified into four types: urban atmosphere monitoring, roadside atmospheremonitoring, monitoring of heavy metal in the atmosphere, and visibility observation. Cityatmosphere observation networks represent 55% of the total observation networks. The datacollected by the nationwide air pollution observation network is processed by the NationalAtmosphere Pollution Information Management System (NAMIS, collaboratively operated byMinistry of Environment and the Environment Management Corporation) and is utilized as aresource for regulation of the atmosphere in order to understand air quality, analyze theeffectiveness of environmental regulations, and preserve the health of citizens. Moreover, amongthe data collected by National Atmosphere Pollution Information Management System, the changein concentration of five standard air pollutant (SO 2 , CO, NO 2 , PM 10 and O 3 ) is disclosed to the publicin real time on the air pollution homepage (www.airkorea.or.kr ).Data status and the trend of pollutionThe concentration trends for SO 2 , NO 2 , CO, PM 10 and Pb were evaluated based on thepublished data by the Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea (6), the latest being in 2008, with2007 as the most recent data. The annual average SO 2 levels has dramatically decreased by 20ppbv from 1991 to 1993, and has been decreasing by 2.5 ppbv per year from 1993 to 2000 (Figure45). It has maintained an annual average value of 5 ppbv from 2001 to 2006, though it hasincreased by 1 ppbv in 2007. The annual CO levels has also decreased by 0.11 ppmv per year from1991 to 2002 (Figure 46).114