• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.501-510
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• 1999

Stream and groundwater qualities of small agricultural watershed in Kangwon Probince, Korea were monitored 1 to 2 years, and the relationships between stream and groundwater qualities and seasonal water quality changes analyzed. Flooded paddy fields influenced groundwater level and quality during rice culture. The differences between groundwater levels during rice culture and non-culture spans were between 0.8 and 2.91 m. Seasonal changes of total nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen concentrations of stream and groundwater were very similar and groundwater quality was thought to have a profound impact on stream quality of the research watersheds. Suspended solids and BOD maintained the first degree stream water quality throughout the monitoring period except for a few and short flooding spans. The concentrations of total phosphorus and total bacteria of both waters showed wide variations and any seasonal trends were not observed. Long-term monitoring studies on small rural watersheds were recommended to understand the pattern of both stream and groundwater quality changes with respect to land use, season and cultural practice, and to apply the results to develop effective water quality management policies for large river and domestic water supply systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.105-126
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• 2003

In Korea most of annual rainfall is concentrated in several episodic heavy rains during the season of summer monsoon and typhoon. Because of uneven rainfall distribution many dams have been constructed in order to secure water supply in dry seasons. The Han River system has the most dams among Korean rivers, and the river is a series of dams now. Reservoirs need different strategy of water quality control from river water. Autochthonous organic matter and phosphorus should be the major target to be controlled in lakes. In this Paper some problems are discussed that makes efforts of water quality improvement ineffective in lakes of Korea, even after the substantial investment to wastewater treatment facilities.1) Phosphorus is the key factor controlling eutrophication of lakes and the reduction ofphosphors should be the major target of water treatment. However, water quality management strategy in Korea is still stream-oriented, and focused on BOD removal from sewage. Phosphorus removal efficiency remains as low as 10-30%, because biological treatment is adopted for both secondary treatment and advanced treatment. The standard for TP concentration of the sewage treatment plant effluent is 6 mgP/l in most of regions, and 2 mg/l in enforced region near metropolitan water intake point. TP in the effluents of sewage treatment plants are usually 1-2 mg/1, and most of plants meet the effluent regulation without a further phosphorus removal process. The generous TP standard for effluents discourages further efforts to improve phosphorus removal efficiency of sewage treatment. Considering that TP standard for the effluent is below 0.1 mg/l in some countries, it should be amended to below 0.1 mg/l in Korea, especially in the watershed of large lakes.2) Urban runoff and combined sewer overflow are not treated, even though their total loading into lakes can be comparable to municipal sewage discharges on dry days. Chemical coagulation and rapid settling might be the solution to urban runoff in regard of intermittent operation on only rainy days.3) Aggregated precipitation in Korea that is concentrated on several episodic heavyrains per year causes a large amount of nonpoint source pollution loading into lakes. It makes the treatment of nonpoint source discharge by methods of other countries of even rain pattern, such as retention pond or artificial wetland, impractical in Korea.4) The application rate of fertilizers in Korea is ten times as high as the average ofOECD countries. The total manure discharge from animal farming is thought to be over the capacity of soil treatment in Korea. Even though large portion of manure is composted for organic fertilizer, a lot of nutrients and organic matter emanates from organic compost. The reduction of application rate and discharge rate of phosphorus from agricultural fields should be encouraged by incentives and regulations.5) There is a lot of vegetable fields with high slopes in the upstream region of the HanRiver. Soil erosion is severe due to high slopes, and fertilizer is discharged in the form of adsorbed phosphorus on clay surface. The reduction of soil erosion in the upland area should be the major preventive policy for eutrophication. Uplands of high slope must be recovered to forest, and eroded gullies should be reformed into grass-buffered natural streams which are wider and resistant to bank erosion.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.868-876
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• 2011

A five-year field monitoring was conducted to monitor characteristics of suspended solid (SS) export from paddy fields. The observed EMCs of SS ranged 1.2~517 mg/L (avg. 52.1 mg/L) during storm period. The concentration of SS during non-storm period were 1.1~349.5 mg/L (avg. 36.1 mg/L). Monthly load of SS was high during summer when rainfall amount was high. The load was higher than that of May when tillage effect is expected. There was no significant relationship between SS EMCs and rainfall or drainage amount. However, effects of rainfall and drainage were found to be significant for event load of SS. But, there was no apparent relationship between rainfall amount of cropping period and load of SS for that period. The observed SS load was 164.8~456.0 kg/ha (avg. 301.2 kg/ha) and mostly occurred during storm period. This study results also suggested that SS load estimation by USLE equation for paddy field could be overestimated, if not carefully handled. Monitoring studies for various climate, soil, and agricultural management are required to get better scope of SS export from paddy fields.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Water quality of rural areas are susceptible to agricultural nutrient input and supply such as chemical fertilizer and livestock manure. This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of nutrient (N and P) indices in understanding spatial variations of water quality across Chonnam province which is a typical agricultural region in Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: The nutrient indices including chemical fertilizer supply, livestock manure production, and nutrient balance were correlated with water quality data (T-N, T-P, BOD, and COD) for the twenty-two districts of the province. Concentration of T-N were positively correlated with chemical fertilizer supply, livestock manure N production, and nutrient balance (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Meanwhile, T-P concentration was not correlated with these nutrient indices; however, there was a tendency that T-P concentration increases with livestock manure P production (P=0.06) and with nutrient balance (P=0.09). These results suggest that T-N concentration is susceptible to both chemical fertilizer and livestock manure; whereas T-P is likely to be affected by livestock manure rather than chemical fertilizer. The concentrations of BOD and COD were also positively (P<0.05 or P<0.01) correlated with livestock manure production. CONCLUSION: This study shows the usefulness of nutrient indices in understanding spatial variations of water quality and suggests that livestock manure rather than chemical fertilizer can be a more critical water pollution source and thus highlights the need for more attention to livestock manure treatments for rural water quality management.