Effect of Power Cooling Water to the Ecosystem of Youngil Bay and Hyeongsan River Estuary in South Korea

ABSTRACT Yoon, J.-S.; Kim, T.-W.; Cho, W.C., and Lee, W.D., 2017. Effect of power cooling water to the ecosystem of Youngil Bay and Hyeongsan River estuary in South Korea. In: Lee, J.L.; Griffiths, T.; Lotan, A.; Suh, K.-S., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 2nd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 79, pp. 174–178. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The POSCO (Pohang Steel Company) discharges about 1,000,000 m3/day of 30 °C power cooling water to the estuary of Hyeongsan River, which is located in the southeastern region of South Korea. The thermal effluent is mixed with sea water and diffused to Youngil Bay. At the beginning of the 1990s, the thermal effluent affects brackish water zone of Hyeongsan River and Youngil Bay and becomes a main cause of red tide in this sea area, which starts to occur from January. Besides, the thermal effluent also affects coastal sea water quality and ecosystem raising the surrounding sea water temperature. In this study, we figur...