The Ministry of Environment released a White Paper, Friday, which shows that air and water pollution nationwide are becoming increasing problems with little signs of improvement in reducing major atmospheric contaminants such as dust, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Dust in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon and Incheon remained almost the same at almost 51-65§¶/§© last year compared with 29-66§¶/§© in 1999. Nitrogen dioxide in the six cities worsened from 0.019-0.032 in 1999 to 0.020-0.032 in 2000.
The concentration of ozone also increased nationwide, excluding Daegu and Gwangju, while pollution by sulfur dioxide on average improved slightly from 0.007-0.017 in 1999 to 0.006-0.013 in 2000.
The Ministry's original plan to reduce emissions by deploying 2,354 natural gas buses by the end of 2001 has virtually failed as just 744 were in operation as of December 31, 2001.
With regard to water pollution, 46 of 498 city-water sources across the country were listed as category three in 2000, compared with 47 in 1999, while overall, the remainder stayed at category one or two. Among major rivers; the Han, Yeongsan, and Nakdong, all saw their biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) improved from 1.5-6.8 in 1999 to 1.4-6.5 in 2000, while Kumgang's increased from 2.6 to 2.7. Just 27.9% of 194 rivers reach water environmental standards, down from 29.9% in 1999.
The amount of daily waste has continued to rise since 1995, when the amount was 148.1t, excluding 1998, though recycling has risen sharply, with biological waste up from 7.9% in 1991 to 41.3% in 2000.
(Kim Su-hae, sh-kim@chosun.com)
