• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

In order to efficiently manage groundwater resources, it is necessary to establish clear definition about the rights to use groundwater because it directly governs the interests of various stakeholders, from users to policy makers. In this paper, we examined the characteristics of Korea's rights to use groundwater through legal precedents, public recognition, laws, and institutional stipulaton. Inclarity about the scope and definition of the right, and the absence of legal basis ruling the exclusion and duration of groundwater use have entailed numerous cases of legal disputes between the parties with incompetible interests. In the perception survey, various responses were obtained from the surveyee regarding the scope of rights perceived by groundwater users, how to respond to groundwater shortages, and opinions about expanding public uses of groundwater. In Korea, the legal authority to use groundwater is governed by different laws while considering groundwater as both private and public property. In foreign countires, the right to use water is separated from property ownership, and it limits the volume and pumping rate of groundwater during a specified period. In order to better manage groundwater resources, it is necessary to come up with a public consensus on the right to use groundwater by considering the opinions of various stakeholders and accomodating them in adminstrative effort in directing groundwater management.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.112-127
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• 2017

Groundwater accounts for more than 10% of the total water supply in Korea. However, the contribution of groundwater to public water supply systems has been poorly played role throughout the country except for Jeju Island. Compared with the groundwater uses in foreign countries, the pattern of groundwater use in Korea seems to be very deformed and unreasonable. Currently, the development and use of groundwater in Korea are mostly carried out by the individuals, and public sectors such as central and local governments are not actively involved in such activities. Private groundwater use and management will continue to cause groundwater depletion and pollution problems. It is necessary to actively enhance the role of public authorities in groundwater managements by engaging precise hydrogeological surveys and proper economic evaluation in the development and operation of groundwater sources. Also, in order to solve the problems that public water supply systems overly rely on the surface water sources, it is necessary to take policies that require the water supply companies to secure a variety of water sources.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Groundwater development and use have been increasing in Korea causing frequent occurrences of related hazards such as groundwater level decline, land subsidence, and groundwater contamination. To tackle these groundwater problems, central and local governments have set-up and maintained many groundwater monitoring programs such as the National Groundwater Monitoring Network and the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network, which collect very valuable data on the overall status of domestic groundwater to aid proper groundwater management. However, several problems mainly related to the remediation of contaminated groundwater remain unresolved. Recently, there have been some incidents related to the contamination of groundwater, and these have drawn the concern of the Korean people. Although groundwater contamination has been investigated in detail, actual groundwater remediation work has not yet been implemented. The remediation of the contaminated groundwater must begin immediately in order to sustain the eco-system service of clean groundwater and enhance the welfare of the Korean people.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.463-471
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to analyze the features of groundwater use to utilize as basic information for water-cycle analysis system development and effective groundwater management in the Kap-cheon basin. The cumulative relationship between groundwater use and the number of wells was analyzed to estimate the representative total groundwater use and the number of wells for the Kap-cheon basin. Then, the spatial distribution of groundwater use in the basin were figured out using the detailed information on groundwater use in each well. Finally, the reasonability of groundwater resources management in Kap-cheon basin was evaluated by comparing groundwater recharge and groundwater use in sub-basins and major stream basins. The results of the analysis showed about 25% of the total wells could represent 90% of groundwater use ($37,923,516\;m^3$/year) in the Kap-cheon basin. A detailed analysis on the groundwater uses in the vicinity of down-town areas of Daejeon metropolitan city showed high groundwater uses ($1.4{\sim}11.1$ times) compared to the groundwater recharge previously estimated using the rainfall-runoff model. The ratio of groundwater use and groundwater recharge for the major river basins in Kap-cheon basin ranged from 1.9 to 2.3 indicating that more sustainable groundwater management should be exercised. The results of this study can be used as basic information in evaluating the change of groundwater flow, stream flow and water-cycle for various groundwater uses in the Kap-cheon basin.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.277-279
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• 2002

In late of the 1980's, dramatic increase in water use caused over-exploitation of groundwater and deterioration of water quality in urban areas. To monitor quantity of groundwater resources and their qualities, local groundwater monitoring networks were established. Groundwater resources in urban areas are affected by various human activities including underground building construction (subway), pumping for water use, and pavements. Detailed analysis of the monitored groundwater data would provide some good implications for optimal and efficient management for groundwater resources in the urban area.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.467-476
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• 2013

With increasing interest in environmental issues and the quality of surface water becoming inadequate for water supply, the Korean government has launched a groundwater development policy to satisfy the demand for clean water. To drive this policy effectively, it is essential to guarantee the accuracy of sustainable groundwater yield and groundwater use amount. In this study, groundwater use was monitored over several years at various locations in Korea (32 cities/counties in 5 provinces) to obtain accurate groundwater use data. Statistical analysis of the results was performed as a method for estimating rational groundwater use. For the case of groundwater use for living purposes, we classified the cities/counties into three regional types (urban, rural, and urban-rural complex) and divided the groundwater facilities into five types (domestic use, apartment housing, small-scale water supply, schools, and businesses) according to use. For the case of agricultural use, we defined three regional types based on rainfall intensity (average rainfall, below-average rainfall, and above-average rainfall) and the facilities into six types (rice farming, dry-field farming, floriculture, livestock-cows, livestock-pigs, and livestock-chickens). Finally, we developed groundwater-use estimation equations for each region and use type, using cluster analysis and regression model analysis of the monitoring data. The results will enhance the reliability of national groundwater statistics.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.779-785
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• 2010

To solve a problem of water supply on urban areas, groundwater recharge has to be assessed not only for evaluating the possibility of groundwater development but also for identifying a sustainable aquifer system for water resource development. The assessment of groundwater recharge has been challenged since the land use has been changed constantly. In this study, the groundwater recharge and its ratio were assessed from 1961 to 2007 in Su-yeong-gu, Busan, South Korea by analyzing precipitation, land use, and soil characteristics. For land use analysis, the urbanization change was considered. The land use areas for the residential, agricultural, forest, pasture, bare soil, and water in 1975 occupy 18.6 %, 30.0%, 48.8%, 0.1%, 2.0%, and 0.5% of total area, respectively. The land use ratios were sharply changed from 1980 to 1985; the agricultural area was decreased to 18.3%, and the residential area was increased to 15.0%. From 1995 to 2000, the agricultural area was decreased to 5.5%, and the residential area was increased to 5.4%. The annual averages of precipitation, groundwater recharge, and its ratio were 1509.3 mm, 216.0 mm, and 14.3% respectively. The largest amount of the groundwater recharge showed in 1970 as 408.9 mm, comparing to 2138.1 mm of annual rainfall. Also, the greatest ratio of the groundwater recharge was 19.8% in 1984 with 1492.6 mm of annual rainfall. The lowest amount and ratio of the groundwater recharge were 71.9 mm and 8.0% in 1988, relative to 901.5 mm of annual precipitation. As a result, it is concluded that rainfall has increased, whereas groundwater recharge has decreased between 1961 and 2007.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.13-22
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• 2017

Accurate assessment of agricultural groundwater usage is an essential task to cope with drought that occurs irregularly in time and location. In this study, the agricultural groundwater usage was calculated in nationwide public wells (1,386 bedrock wells) during 5-year period (2010-2014) by using electric power consumption and well specification data. National average of agricultural groundwater usage per each well was estimated as $66.2m^3/day$, corresponding to 21.6% of total permitted volume of groundwater in each well. Chungcheong Nam-do had the highest usage with 38-55.6%. The value increased to 58.1% when the total permitted volume was based upon the supply standard against drought, and the value reached 100% in Chungcheong Nam-do. In Ganghwa distirct that suffered from severe drought in recent years, the average groundwater usage was 61.4%. In 2014, when the drought was the most severe with 45% precipitation of the average annual rainfall, the nationwide usage was turned out to be 25.6%, indicating about 4% higher than average agricultural groundwater usage 21.6%. Therefore, the quantitative assessment of groundwater usage in this study signifies that adequate use of groundwater is crucial to cope with agricultural drought.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 1996

On the basis of sustainable long-term water resources planning, the development of ground water resources should be interlocked with the surface water development In considering the intertemporal equity, overpumping of groundwater may diminish or eliminate the groundwater resources stock of post-generations. Regulatory landuse zoning for groundwater resources recharge area is indispensable measures to prevent groundwater pollution. Adequate treatment of polluted water from various sources such as municipal sewage, industrial wastewater, landfill site leachate, and abandoned boring wells, is also necessary for groundwater protection. To preserve groundwater resources as common property goods, groundwater use tax should be imposed upon the large scale groundwater use. Finally, the establishment of groundwater development license system is recommended to achieve the social optimal production and to avoid external diseconomy.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.551-565
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• 2002

To carry out systematic groundwater assessment, exploration and management and to use these for protection of optimal groundwater yield, a data analysis and management system is required. Thus, the object of this research was to develop and apply software that integrates GIS and groundwater modeling: GISGAM (GIS for groundwater analysis and management system). The GIS program ArcView and the groundwater-modeling program MODFLOW were used for the GISGAM. The program components consist of a pre-processor, a processor, and a post-processor for groundwater modeling. In addition, GIS functions such as input, manipulation, analysis and output of data were embedded into the program. In applying the program to pilot area, topography, geology, soil, land use and well databases, and a groundwater flow model were constructed for the study area. This case study revealed the advantage and convenience of groundwater modeling using GIS capabilities. By integrating GIS and the groundwater model, the impact of changing values of hydrogeological constants on model results could be more easily evaluated.