• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2019

Korean agriculture experienced rapid changes in its production structure to respond fluctuations on external conditions, and these changes have increased the dependence between agricultural resources and negative environmental externalities from agricultural production. As a tool for managing agricultural resources and reducing negative environmental effects from agricultural production, this study employs water-energy-food nexus for integrated resource management. To show the necessity of an integrated approach, this study evaluated three policy scenarios including changes in capital interest, water capacity, and energy cost. The results show that three scenarios have unintended consequences for farmers' incomes and their use of resources. Also the unintended consequences of government policies also affected farms' vulnerability to environmental changes. In particular, the expansion of financing for the establishment of non-circulating water curtain facilities did not have a significant effect on the crop switching of farms. In addition, increasing the amount of available water through the aquifer recharge project leads to the installation of non-circulating water curtain facilities in zucchini farm. It raises dependence on groundwater in agricultural production, thereby increasing farmers' vulnerability to groundwater shortages. These results imply that the agricultural sector needs to consider the interrelationship between agricultural resources when designing or evaluating policies.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.10-26
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• 2018

This paper reviews the soil conservation policies (SCP) in the global community and suggests the improved options in SCP in Korea. Soil Environment Conservation Act in Korea states soil is a valuable natural resource and it's value should be enhanced to provide the benefits that soil ecosystem can offer to people. However, SCP in Korea limits its application to not only the scope of soil environment but also the issues on soil pollution. The SCPs in the advanced countries have shifted their scopes from soil environment to soil ecosystem, put emphasis on the conservation of soil health rather than soil quality, and set the goals to optimize the soil ecosystem services to people while minimizing the soil threats. In this context, the soil security initiative was recently proposed to accomplish this goal while employing the nexus concept to bridge the soil ecosystem services with water, atmosphere, climate and biodiversity. Therefore, the key policies in soil conservation in Korea should expand the scope from soil environment to soil ecosystem, focus on soil health management, and develop the holistic governance among diverse stakeholder to maximize the soil ecosystem services. Soil ecosystem should be secured by national soil policies for human health.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.375-380
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• 2013

The concept of safe yield places an emphasis on balancing groundwater withdrawal with groundwater recharge but ignores naturally occurring groundwater discharge. Because streams and their alluvial aquifers are closely linked in terms of water supply and water quality, to be properly understood and managed they must be considered together. Therefore, some districts in Kansas have reevaluated their safe-yield policies to account for natural groundwater discharge and stream-aquifer interactions by amending their safe-yield regulations to include a portion of baseflow as the minimum desirable streamflow (MDS). This study proposes a modified safe-yield policy in which the drought flow is chosen as the MDS. Baseflow separation was conducted from streamflow hydrograph and the results are presented as a flow-duration curve. The exploitable groundwater can be determined by subtracting MDS from the cumulative baseflow. This method was tested in the Musimcheon watershed, which was validated for streamflow using the SWAT-K model. The annually averaged exploitable groundwater in the whole watershed was estimated to be 86 mm. The exploitable groundwater amounts were also estimated for each subwatershed in the Musimcheon watershed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.271-280
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• 2024

This study examines the European Union (EU)'s policies on managing nitrate contamination in groundwater and provides implications for the future groundwater management in South Korea. Initiated by the 1991 Nitrate Directive, the EU has pursued a multifaceted approach to reduce agricultural nitrate pollution through sustainable ('good') farming practices, regular nitrate level monitoring, and designating Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. Further policy integrations, like the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive, have established comprehensive protection strategies, including the use of pollutant threshold values. Recently, the 2019 Green Deal escalated efforts against nitrates, aligning with broader environmental and climate objectives. This review aims to explore these developments, highlighting key mitigation strategies against nitrate pollution, and providing valuable insights for the future sustainable groundwater nitrate management in South Korea, emphasizing the importance of preventive measures and collaborative efforts to restore and improve groundwater quality.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.19-26
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• 2013

This study developed the classification of National Soil Quality Monitoring Network (NSQM) and its site selection criteria to meet the recently established purposes of the NSQM. The NSQM were suggested by this study to classify into the six-purposes site groups from the current classification of land uses. The six purposes site groups were 1) intensive observation sites, 2) contaminant loading sites, 3) human activity sites, 4) background sites, 5) river soil sites, and 6) sites near the groundwater quality monitoring wells. Furthermore, this study developed the site selection criteria of NSQM utilizing the accumulated NSQM data, road traffic data, chemical emission data, census, soil information, and the literature related to soil quality variation due to contaminant loads. For selecting suitable sites for NSQM, this study used road traffic, chemical emission, the distance from the contaminant sources, and population information as specific criteria. The suggested site classification and criteria were appled for the current 100 NSQM sites for evaluation. Forty sites were met to the criteria suggested by this study, but sixty sites were not met to the criteria. However, some of the sixty sites also included the obscure sites that their addresses were not apparent to find them.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.149-149
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• 2022

Accurate quantitative evaluation of baseflow contribution to streamflow is imperative to address seasonal drought vulnerability, flood occurrence and groundwater management concerns for efficient and sustainable water resources management in watersheds. Several baseflow separation algorithms using recursive filters, graphical method and tracer or chemical balance have been developed but resulting baseflow outputs always show wide variations, thereby making it hard to determine best separation technique. Therefore, the current global shift towards implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in water resources is employed to compare the performance of deep learning models with conventional hydrograph separation techniques to quantify baseflow contribution to streamflow of Piney River watershed, Tennessee from 2001-2021. Streamflow values are obtained from the USGS station 03602500 and modeled to generate values of Baseflow Index (BI) using Web-based Hydrograph Analysis (WHAT) model. Annual and seasonal baseflow outputs from the traditional separation techniques are compared with results of Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and simple Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) models. The GRU model gave optimal BFI values during the four seasons with average NSE = 0.98, KGE = 0.97, r = 0.89 and future baseflow volumes are predicted. AI offers easier and more accurate approach to groundwater management and surface runoff modeling to create effective water policy frameworks for disaster management.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Policies of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark were compared and analyzed on risk assessment of contaminated sites. These countries were chosen from a feasible preliminary analysis of 18 countries of the European Union and the U. S. All the countries selected met two major criteria : I) implementation of risk assessment to determine the soil contamination and remediation targets of contaminated sites, ii) use of soil guidance values and risk assessment as complementary measures to determine soil contamination. Suggested policy improvements to Korea regarding these issues include i) legislation of a rational risk assessment methodology of contaminated sites, and ii) enactment of collaboration of risk assessment with the soil guidance values. To establish effective risk assessment legislation, additional in-depth research on social, economic and long-term effects of the proposed risk assessment methodologies, as well as the mutual consent of all parties including academia, industry, and administration will be necessary. Linking risk assessment with soil guidance values would be applicable to a site contaminated where the contaminant concentration exceeds a certain soil guidance value. In parallel, application of risk assessment to a site where a contaminant concentration is naturally different such as mining sites would be plausible. The policy suggestions above are not yet conclusive due to a lack of policy implementation, and simulation. Thus, additional research on developing risk assessment methodology is needed. Nevertheless, initiation of the suggested policy would increase the efficacy of Korean policy regarding the survey and remediation of contaminated sites.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.39-54
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• 2020

This study analyzed the groundwater quality according to the depth and geological features in Gyeongsangnam-do area using groundwater quality monitoring network data to grasp the groundwater quality characteristics and to provide basic data for policy making on efficient groundwater management. Five hundred and three data sets were acquired from background water quality exclusive monitoring network in soil groundwater information system for five years (2013 ~ 2017). Except for the total coliforms and tracer items such as mercury, phenol, and others, the parameters of water quality were significant or very significant, depending on depth and geological features. As the depth got deeper, the average value of pH and electrical conductivity increased; water temperature, dissolved oxygen, oxide reduction potential, arsenic, total coliforms, and turbidity decreased; and total unfit rate for drinking water standards was lower. It was found that the sum of the positive and negative ions was the highest in the clastic sedimentary rock and the lowest in metamorphic rock. The total unfit rate for drinking water standards was the highest for metamorphic rocks, followed by clastic sedimentary rock and unconsolidated sediments and, finally, intrusive igneous rock with the lowest penetration. The Na-Cl water type, which indicated the possibility of contamination by external pollutants, appeared only at some points in shallow depths and in clastic sedimentary rocks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.101-104
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• 1997

본 연구에서는 네덜란드에서 시행하고 있는 토양환경정책을 정리하고, 국내의 적용성에 대해서 검토해 보았다. 네덜란드의 토양환경관리의 목표점은 토양의 다기능성을 유지시키고자 한 것으로서 다기능성의 회복에 토양정화의 주목적이 있다. 네덜란드의 토양법체계는 토양보호법을 기점으로 주변에 환경관리법, 건축법등을 통해 토양환경의 보전을 하고 있으며, 공장지대나 주유소는 토양보호법의 테두리안에서 별도의 명령을 통해 관리되고 있다. 아울러 정화의 책임을 명확히 하였으며, 정화의 책임순서로는 오염원인자, 소유자, 권리행사자 순으로 되어 있으며. 정화는 오염자 스스로 정화를 하도록 유도하고 그렇지 않을 경우에는 정부가 돈을 투자하여 정화를 행하고 있다. 아울러 건축물을 짓고자 할 경우에는 토양에 관한 조사를 하도록 하고 있으며, 토지를 사고 파는 과정에서는 반드시 토양의 질에 관한 정보를 확인하도록 행하고 있다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.17-19
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• 2004

Recently, we have recognized that ‘Soil Environmental Prevention Act’could not provide perfect solutions on many complicated problems which are now emerging and/or can be solved by adopting comprehensive policies. In this study, some suggestions were made to solve a few tangled problems such as conducting the Land Partnership Plan(LPP) project, investigating soil and ground water contamination of the industrial area, building a integrated information system for soil and ground water, establishing detailed guidelines for remediation and verification, and re-constructing the legal and institutional framework for integrated management of soil and ground water. These suggestions may help policy makers to build conceptual frameworks for solving these problems.