A study on the vulnerability of field water supply using public groundwater wells as irrigation in drought-vulnerable areas with a focus on the Dangjin-si, Yesan-gun, Cheongyang-gun, and Goesan-gun regions in South Korea

The severe effects of climate change, such as global warming and the El Niño phenomenon, have become more prevalent. In recent years, natural disasters such as drought, heavy rain, and typhoons have taken place, resulting in noticeable damage. Korea is affected by droughts that cause damage to rice fields and crops. Societal interest in droughts is growing, and measures are urgently needed to address their impacts. As the demand for high-quality agricultural products expands, farmers have become more interested in water management, and the demand for field irrigation is increasing. Therefore, we investigated water demand in the irrigation of drought-vulnerable crops. Specifically, we determined the water requirements for crops including cabbage, red pepper, apple, and bean in four regions by calculating the consumptive water use (evapotranspiration), effective rainfall, and irrigation capacity. The total consumptive water use (crop evapotranspiration) estimates for Dangjin-si (cabbage), Yesan-gun (apple), Cheongyang-gun (pepper) in Chungnam, and Goesan-gun (bean) in Chungbuk were 33.5, 206.4, 86.1, and 204.5 mm, respectively. The volumes of groundwater available in the four regions were determined to be the following: Dangjin-si, 4,968,000 m³; Yesan-gun, 4,300,000 m³; Cheongyang-gun, 1,114,000 m³, and Goesan-gun, 3,794,000 m³. The annual amounts available for the representative crops, compared to the amount of evapotranspiration, were 313.9% in Dangjin-si, 29.5% in Yesan-gun, 56.1% in Cheongyang-gun, and 20.1% in Goesan-gun.