Abstract
For effective watershed management, we must understand the complex and dynamic relationships of land uses and water quality. Despite numerous studies investigated the relationships between water quality and land use, there are increasing concerns on the geographical variation and lack of spatial integrations in previous studies. We investigated the relationships between land use and water quality characteristics in the Hwa-Sung estuarine reservoir watershed in Korea, which has spatially integrated land uses. The spatial variations of these relationships were also examined using zonal analysis. Water quality parameter were correlated positively with residential and forest and negatively with paddy and upland especially during base flow in the near buffer zone. During storm flow, correlation between land use and water quality was less apparent. Population and livestock density was correlated well to water quality parameter than just number of population and livestock. Relationships across zones, distinguished by distances from streams, were inconsistent and erratic, suggesting that the relationships between remote land uses and water quality may be affected more significantly by sub-basin characteristics than by the land use itself. The watersheds studied are mainly non-urban and their land uses are similar to typical watershed of other estuarine reservoirs, therefore, the correlation developed in this study might be helpful to manage other watersheds of estuarine reservoir. This methodology could be applied to other areas where the watershed characteristics are not significantly different from the study area.
