Gyeonggi Health and Environment Research Institute Uses GIS for 'Soil Pollution Survey'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is conducting a soil contamination survey using Geographic Information System (GIS).

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment announced on the 14th that it will conduct a "Soil Contamination Survey" using Geographic Information System (GIS) from this month until November.

Geographic Information System is a comprehensive information system that digitizes maps and geographic information previously used in printed form, creates and manages them on computers, and collects, analyzes, and processes data through the geographic information obtained.

Using this system makes it easier to digitize various geographic information of Korea and utilize it for administrative services.

The data collected through this survey will be delivered to the relevant cities and counties, which will use it to select areas where a "Soil Contamination Survey" is necessary.

The Institute of Health and Environment will conduct a survey of 301 sites in total, including 106 sites in industrial complexes and factory areas designated as key pollution sources by the Ministry of Environment within the province, and 100 sites in traffic-related facility areas. Surface soil and deep soil, which are likely to be contaminated, will be collected and 23 items such as heavy metals, petroleum, and solvents will be investigated.

Surface soil refers to soil within 15cm from the ground surface, and deep soil refers to soil beneath the surface soil. Solvents are chemicals frequently used in dry cleaning processes.

In the previous 2019 survey, the Institute marked key soil contamination sources near groundwater wells on a map and identified priority areas for investigation by considering the aging of business sites and soil contamination risks according to industry types.

As a result, 589 industrial complexes and factory areas, 259 areas related to storage and use of raw ore scrap and waste treatment and recycling, and 930 traffic-related facilities were selected as priority survey sites for the "Soil Contamination Survey" and notified to the respective cities and counties. In 2018, survey sites from 2013 to 2017 were mapped and delivered to the relevant cities and counties.

Yoon Mi-hye, director of the Institute of Health and Environment, said, "The use of GIS in the soil contamination survey is a useful method that visualizes the spatial information of accumulated data on maps, allowing the location of survey sites to be grasped at a glance and inducing an even distribution of survey sites by region." She emphasized, "We plan to systematically manage soil contamination survey data using GIS so that it can be used as basic data for Gyeonggi Province's soil contamination management policy in the future."

The soil contamination survey is conducted nationwide every year by the Ministry of Environment by selecting sites where soil contamination is a concern. Gyeonggi Province selects and surveys about 300 sites annually.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.