Busan City Announces 2023 Airborne Heavy Metals Survey Results
Published 25 Feb.2024 09:31(KST)
Updated 04 Aug.2025 20:38(KST)
On the 26th, the Busan Health and Environment Research Institute announced the results of the '2023 Atmospheric Heavy Metals Survey' conducted to protect public health.
The 'Atmospheric Heavy Metals Survey' analyzes 12 heavy metal items in fine dust (PM-10) collected from the atmospheric heavy metal monitoring network. Since 2013, it has been conducted annually targeting three residential areas (Gwang-an, Deokcheon, Bugok), one commercial area (Yeonsan), and one industrial area (Hakjang) within the city.
The measured items include ▲Lead ▲Cadmium ▲Chromium ▲Copper ▲Manganese ▲Iron ▲Nickel ▲Arsenic ▲Beryllium ▲Aluminum ▲Calcium ▲Magnesium, totaling 12 items.
The 2023 atmospheric heavy metals survey results showed that concentrations decreased compared to the previous year due to the air cleansing effect caused by increased precipitation and winter rainfall.
In particular, the annual average concentration of 'Lead' was 0.00969㎍/m3, approximately 1.9% of the atmospheric environment standard (0.5㎍/m3), significantly lower than the previous year's 0.0145㎍/m3.
Among the seven metropolitan cities, it was the second lowest after Daejeon.
Among land use areas, the 'industrial area' showed the highest average concentrations of five heavy metals (Nickel, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Copper).
In the industrial area (Hakjang), where small-scale plating, painting, and casting businesses are concentrated, the average concentration of the five major heavy metals was about 3.5 times higher than in commercial (Yeonsan) and residential (Gwang-an, Deokcheon, Bugok) areas. This is relatively higher compared to the 1.4 times difference in the average concentrations of other heavy metal items.
In the 'health risk assessment' measuring the possibility of cancer occurrence from atmospheric heavy metals, the carcinogenic risk was found to be 2.2 cases per 1 million people (4.6 cases in industrial areas), indicating that citizens are safe from health risks.
Carcinogenic risk refers to the probability of developing cancer when adults are exposed to a certain dose or more over their expected lifetime.
The carcinogenic risk measured this time is much lower than the standard (100 cases) suggested by the National Institute of Environmental Research and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Jung Seung-yoon, Director of the Busan Health and Environment Research Institute, stated, “We will closely monitor and analyze changes in atmospheric heavy metal concentrations due to climate change and strive to assist in establishing the city’s environmental policies.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.