• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.191-203
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• 2022

This study is a follow-up study of vulnerable areas according to the vulnerability assessment of groundwater resource management in Korea. In this study, an optimal operation plan for groundwater resource management was proposed for areas vulnerable to groundwater resource management in Korea derived from previous studies. Prior to presenting the optimal operation plan for groundwater resource management, this study grasped the current status of changes in groundwater level and seawater penetration area for vulnerable areas using MODFLOW, a groundwater flow analysis program. As a result of the analysis using basic data for 10 years from 2009 to 2018, the groundwater level fell and the sea infiltration area increased. The final purpose of this study, the optimal operation plan for groundwater resource management, was selected as a total of four alternatives that can be expected to have positive effects to increase groundwater level and reduce seawater penetration. As a result of analyzing the amount of change in groundwater level and seawater penetration by applying the selected optimal operation plan, positive effects were found in all methods. It is expected that the optimal operation plan for groundwater resource management proposed in this study will be applied not only to vulnerable areas of groundwater resources in Korea but also to areas requiring development to establish efficient groundwater resource management measures.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

Groundwater has been a very precious resource for human life and economic development in the world. With increasing population and food demand, the groundwater use especially for agriculture is largely elevated worldwide. The very much large groundwater use results in depletion of major aquifers, land subsidences in many large cities, anthropogenic groundwater contamination, seawater intrusion in coastal areas and accompanying severe conflicts for water security. Furthermore, with the advent of changing climate, securing freshwater supply including groundwater becomes a pressing and critical issue for sustainable societal development in every country because prediction of precipitation is more difficult, its uneven distribution is aggravating, weather extremes are more frequent, and rising sea level is also threatening the freshwater resource. Under these difficulties, can groundwater be sustaining its role as essential element for human and society in the near future? We have to focus our efforts and wisdom on answering the question. Korean government should increase its investment in securing groundwater resources for changing climate.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2012

Total Economic Value (TEV) provides a framework to estimate the economic value of water resources including groundwater with multiple applications to natural resource economics and environmental economics. Crucial to the application of economic analysis to natural resources are techniques to value the resources as an economic value that is expressed in monetary terms. On the other hand, the aim of TEV estimation is to determine the economic value of water resources including 'use' with production and recreation and 'non-use' such as existence values. TEV is used to assess the economic value of water resources for the multiple goods, and environmental 'services' that are provided by a water resource and also used to assess options for water use, for example balancing production values provided by water resource use against the cost of resource degradation by that use. The value of TEV can be assessed over time where pollution or unsustainable use may reduce the economic value of an environmental asset. Therefore, values are used to assess options of resource use, sometimes leading to policies on resource conservation or allocation. In conclusion, the application of TEV would be well adjusted over Jeju Island where groundwater resources account for more than 98% water resources and the budget of water demand/supply shows disparity over the Island.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.176-185
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• 2021

This paper aims to develop a new paradigm for groundwater management which is compatible with integrated water management policies in Korea. Three key roles of groundwater are defined for addressing water cycle distortion, high water stress, water quality degradation, aquatic ecosystems deterioration, and water-related hazards. Firstly, groundwater plays an important role in contributing soundness of water cycle as a component of water cycle. Secondly, it is a local water resource to ensure water supply sustainability. Thirdly, groundwater is an essential water resource for drought and emergencies. In order to support the groundwater roles, we propose a paradigm shift for groundwater management and policy directions towards integrated water management. The new paradigm consists of managements for sound water cycle on a watershed scale and groundwater environment(quantity, quality, and groundwater dependent ecosystems) managements for both human and nature. A prospective management also constitutes the new paradigm. In addition, this paper proposes four policy directions in groundwater management. The policies emphasize the integrated management of groundwater and surface water, management of groundwater environment(quantity, quality, and groundwater dependent ecosystems), management of groundwater uses for water sustainability and security, and enhancement of groundwater publicity.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.639-666
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• 2018

This paper analyses the investment options of groundwater development project under water price uncertainty. The optimal investment threshold price which trigger the investment are calibrated base on monopolistic real options model. Stochastic dynamic model is set to reflect the uncertainty of water price which follows the GBM (Geometric Brownian Motion) process. Our finding from non-cooperative investment decision model is that uncertainty of water price could deter the groundwater investment by considering the existence of option values. For policy markers, it is easy to manage 'charges for utilization of groundwater' rather than 'performance guarantee ratio' when managing groundwater investment with pricing policy. And it is necessary to make comprehensive and well-designed policies considering the characteristics of regional groundwater reservoir and groundwater developers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.123-125
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1476-1484
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• 2023

Laboratory experiments and point monitoring of reservoir sediments have proven that stable sulfate reduction (SSR) can lower the concentrations of toxic metals and sulfate in acidic groundwater for a long time. Here, we hypothesize that SSR occurred during in situ leaching after uranium mining, which can impact the fate of acid groundwater in an entire region. To test this, we applied a sulfur isotope fractionation method to analyze the mechanism for natural attenuation of contaminated groundwater produced by acid in situ leaching of uranium (Xinjiang, China). The results showed that δ³⁴S increased over time after the cessation of uranium mining, and natural attenuation caused considerable, area-scale immobilization of sulfur corresponding to retention levels of 5.3%-48.3% while simultaneously decreasing the concentration of uranium. Isotopic evidence for SSR in the area, together with evidence for changes of pollutant concentrations, suggest that area-scale SSR is most likely also important at other acid mining sites for uranium, where retention of acid groundwater may be strengthened through natural attenuation. To recapitulate, the sulfur isotope fractionation method constitutes a relatively accurate tool for quantification of spatiotemporal trends for groundwater during migration and transformation resulting from acid in situ leaching of uranium in northern China.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

The numerical analysis of groundwater flow is indispensable for predicting problems associated with water resource development, civil works, environmental hazards, and nuclear power plant construction. Korea lacks public regulatory procedures and guidelines for groundwater flow modeling, especially in nuclear facility sites, which makes adequate evaluation difficult. Feasible step-by-step guidelines are also unavailable. Consequently, reports on groundwater flow modeling have low-grade quality and often present controversial opinions. Additionally, without public guidelines, maintaining consistency in reviewing reports and enforcing laws is more challenging. In this study, the guidelines for groundwater flow modeling were reviewed for three countries - the United States (Documenting Groundwater Modeling at Sites Contaminated with Radioactive Substances), Canada (Guidelines for Groundwater Modelling to Assess Impacts of Proposed Natural Resource Development Activities), and Australia (Australian Groundwater Modelling Guidelines), with the aim of developing groundwater flow modeling regulatory guidelines that can be applied to nuclear facilities in Korea, in accordance with the Groundwater Act, Environmental Impact Assessment Act, and the Nuclear Safety Act.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.81-90
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• 2012

Groundwater is our invaluable asset because it takes action in the case of climates changes like drought or floods. But the Korean government has formulated water-resource policies mostly focused on surface water. As a result, the groundwater that will be more important resource in the future has been treated carelessly, caused neglect of maintenance and resulted many abandoned wells. This poor management of groundwater is because of lack of organization on our asset, manpower, unclearness of managing body, shoddy construction and lack of supervision. In order to solve this problem, we need a special agency of groundwater that contribute people's awareness by promotion importance of groundwater, dissemination of technical education and professionals. To do that, we have to establish a specific groundwater management plan based on regional characteristics of watersheds and specialized institution need to promote responsible development and usage in groundwater.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.268-268
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• 2021

Groundwater resource is mostly used in Abomey-calavi (southern region of Benin) as main source of water for domestic, industrial, and agricultural activities. Groundwater intake across the region is not perfectly controlled by a network due to the presence of many private boreholes and traditional wells used by the population. After some decades, this important resource is becoming more and more vulnerable and needs more attention. For a better groundwater management in the region of Abomey-calavi, the present study attempts to predict a future probable groundwater drought using Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) for future groundwater level prediction. The RNN model was created in python using jupyter library. Six years monthly groundwater level data was used for the model calibration, two years data for the model test and the model was finaly used to predict two years future groundwater level (years 2020 and 2021). GRI was calculated for 9 wells across the area from 2012 to 2021. The GRI value in dry season (by the end of March) showed groundwater drought for the first time during the study period in 2014 as severe and moderate; from 2015 to 2021 it shows only moderate drought. The rainy season in years 2020 and 2021 is relatively wet and near normal. GRI showed no drought in rainy season during the study period but an important diminution of groundwater level between 2012 and 2021. The Pearson's correlation coefficient calculated between GRI and rainfall from 2005 to 2020 (using only three wells with times series long period data) proved that the groundwater drought mostly observed in dry season is not mainly caused by rainfall scarcity (correlation values between -0.113 and -0.083), but this could be the consequence of an overexploitation of the resource which caused the important spatial and temporal diminution observed from 2012 to 2021.