• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.489-499
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• 2020

Effective science-based management of the basin water resources requires an understanding of the characteristics of the streams, such as the baseflow discharge. In this study, the base flow was estimated in the two watersheds with the least artificial factors among the Nakdong River watersheds, as determined using the chemical hydrograph separation technique. The 16-year (2004-2019) discontinuous observed stream flow and electrical conductivity data in the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) monitoring network were extended to continuous daily data using the TANK model and the 7-parameter log-linear model combined with the minimum variance unbiased estimator. The annual base flows at the upper Namgang Dam basin and the upper Nakdong River basin were both analyzed to be about 56% of the total annual flow. The monthly base flow ratio showed a high monthly deviation, as it was found to be higher than 0.9 in the dry season and about 0.46 in the rainy season. This is in line with the prevailing common sense notion that in winter, most of the stream flow is base flow, due to the characteristics of the dry season winter in Korea. It is expected that the chemical-based hydrological separation technique involving TANK and the 7-parameter log-linear models used in this study can help quantify the base flow required for systematic watershed water environment management.