LAUSR

The Ministry of Environment in Korea aims to reduce non-point source (NPS) pollution and improve soil water management by expanding NPS priority management areas. Six NPS priority management areas to reduce suspended solids (SS) according to soil loss were chosen as they either constitute serious hazards to the natural ecosystem due to NPS pollutants or they are areas with unusual geologic structure or strata. Although more comprehensive standards are required for effective NPS management, however, no detailed consideration factors and standards are available in the legal provisions. Therefore, in this study, based on the existing six priority NPS management areas and using results from previous studies, we present detailed legal designation standards. We found that the higher the altitude, slope, and field area ratio, the higher the effect of SS on water quality during rainfall. Additionally, there is a high correlation as R2 0.9813 between SS and the habitat and riparian index. These results are useful for establishing detailed standards for areas requiring an NPS management system, future expansion of the NPS priority management area designation, and policymaking and research for reducing NPS pollution in Korea.