• 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 Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.17-30
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• 2019

Intensive agricultural development in Mexicali valley, Baja-California, Mexico, has induced tremendous strain on the limited water resources. Agricultural water consumption in the valley mainly relies on diversions of the Colorado River, but their water supply is far less than the demand. Hence, the use of groundwater for irrigation purposes has gained considerable attention. To account for these changes, it is important to evaluate surface water and groundwater conditions based on historical water use. This study identified the effects of agricultural activities on groundwater levels and groundwater recharge in the Mexicali valley (in irrigation unit 16) by a comprehensive MODFLOW Farm process (MF-FMP) numerical modeling. The MF-FMP modeling results showed that the water table in the study area is drawn downed, more in eastern areas. The inflow-outflow analysis demonstrated that recharge to the aquifer occurs in response to agricultural supplies. In general, the model provides MF-FMP simulations of natural and anthropogenic components of the hydrologic cycle, the distribution and dynamics of supply and demand in the study area.

• 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.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2019

Agricultural groundwater use accounts for 51.8% of total groundwater use, so accurate estimation of groundwater use is important for efficient groundwater management. The purpose of this study is to develop a method for estimating the groundwater use of agricultural (rice farming and dry-field farming) wells using regression tree model based on the measured data of 370 wells. Three input variables of the model were evaluated as being significant: well depth, pipe diameter, and pump capacity, and the importance of each variable was 75% for well depth, 17% for pipe diameter, and 8% for pumping capacity. The daily usage of agricultural (rice farming and dry-field farming) wells by the regression tree model was estimated to be very similar to the actual usage, compared to the previous estimation method proposed by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. In the future, it is expected that the reliability of the usage statistics will be improved if additional observed data is secured and this classification method is modified.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.297-309
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• 1994

For a total of 210 city and Kun areas in Korea, a model was developed to predict the amount of groundwater use at each area. At first, the total areas were classified into 3 groups by the characteristics of groundwater use: residential(87), industrial(27) and agricultural (96) areas. Among them, type areas, represented by the dominant groundwater usage for typical purposes, were selected: residential(22), industrial(8) and agricultural(32) areas. Data for the various factors possibly related to the groundwater use were statistically analyzed. The factors include, 1) agricultural area, 2) industrial area, 3) adininistrative unit area(city or Kun), 4) population, 5) groundwater capadty for community water supply, 6) average water supply for a person per day, 7) agricultural water-use, 8) industrial water-use, 9) residential wateruse, 10) rates of community water supply. The data were correlated to the total amount of groundwater use, and the correlations tested at the 95% and 99% significance levels. Influential, significantly related, factors were identified from the tests. Using the multiple regression method with the influential factors, predictive equations were drawn to calculate the amount of groundwater use for residential-industrial and agricultural areas, respectively. The equations were calibrated to minimize the RMS(root mean square) of the differences between predicted and observed groundwater use. After the validation with future data, the model can be utilized in the regional development plans to predict the maximum groundwater demand at each area.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.145-152
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• 2005

216 groundwater samples for inorganic constituents and 168 samples for VOCs in the Ulsan urban ares and analyzed to relate groundwater chemistry to four land use zones, residence․commercial, industrial, agricultural, and forestry. In general, Na and Cl concentrations in groundwater were high in residence․commercial zone near Taehwa river due to residual saline. Although NO3 contents is high in agricultural zone and VOCs content is high in industrial zone, it seems difficult to relate groundwater pollution to land use zone. Even though groundwater pollution of the area is still low, continuous monitoring is necessary because the city is expanding.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.27-43
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• 2021

Since climate factors, such as precipitation, temperature, etc., show repeated patterns every year, it can be said that future changes can be predicted by analyzing past climate data. As with groundwater, seasonal variations predominate. Therefore, when a drought occurs, the groundwater level is also lowered. Thus, a change in the groundwater level can represent a drought. Like precipitation, groundwater level changes also have a high correlation with drought, so many researchers use Standard Groundwater Level Index (SGI) to which the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) method is applied to evaluate the severity of droughts and predict drought trends. However, due to the strong interferences caused by the recent increase in groundwater use, it is difficult to represent the droughts of regions or entire watersheds by only using groundwater level change data using the SPI or SGI methods, which analyze data from one representative observation station. Therefore, if the long-term groundwater level changes of all the provinces of a watershed are analyzed, the overall trend can be shown even if there is use interference. Thus, future groundwater level changes and droughts can be more accurately predicted. Therefore, in this study, it was confirmed that the groundwater level changes in the last 5 years compared with the monthly average groundwater level changes of the monitoring wells installed before 2015 appeared similar to the drought occurrence pattern. As a result of analyzing the correlation with the water storage yields of 3,423 agricultural reservoirs that do not immediately open their sluice gates in the cases of droughts or floods, it was confirmed that the correlation was higher than 56% in the natural state. Therefore, it was concluded that it is possible to re-evaluate agricultural droughts through long-term groundwater level change analyses.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.61-75
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• 2022

This study evaluated the potential threat of agricultural and human activities to groundwater in the Noseong stream watershed, a typical agricultural area, through hydrogeochemical characteristics and microbial community analyses. The groundwater in the study area was Ca-SO₄ and Ca-HCO₃ types alluvial aquifer mainly used for agricultural and living purposes, and contained high levels of NO₃^- and Cl^- ions generated from anthropogenic sources such as fertilizer, livestock wastewater, and domestic sewage. Proteobacteria was most abundant in all samples with an average of 46.1% while Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Cyanobacteria were dominant on an occasional basis. The prevalence of aerobic bacteria such as the genus Mycobacterium, Flavobacterium, and Sphingomonas suggests that groundwater was well connected with the surface layer. The potential pathogen Mycobacterium was detected in most samples, and other pathogenic bacteria were also widely distributed, indicating the vulnerability to contamination. Therefore, an integrated management system is required to secure the sustainable use of groundwater in agricultural areas with high groundwater dependence.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.14-24
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• 2021

Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system uses groundwater thermal energy for cooling and heating of buildings, and it is also often utilized to provide warm water to crops and plants for the purpose of enhancing agricultural yields. This study investigated the potential influences of a ATES system on the geochemical properties of groundwater by simulating the variation of hydrochemistry and saturation index of groundwater during ATES operation. The test bed was installed at an agricultural field, which is mainly composed of an groundwater-rich alluvial plain. The simulation results showed no significant precipitation of mineral phases such as manganese-iron oxide, carbonate and sulfate around the ATES test bed, as well as no debasement of other important water quality parameters. The implementation of ATES system in the study area was appropriate and effective for utilizing the thermal energy of groundwater for agricultural use.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.47-58
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• 2018

Protected horticultural complexes would increase crop productivity but would adversely affect the groundwater recharge function in the area because the impervious area would increase. Further, they would limit the movement of living beings, affecting biodiversity. Therefore, this study evaluated the groundwater ecosystem services provided by protected horticultural complexes in terms of consistent utilization of water. The estimated amounts of groundwater loss obtained through quantitative assessment of groundwater infiltration showed that a higher impervious area results in higher losses. We, therefore, predict a much higher loss if similar changes in land use are realized on a nationwide scale. A plan to promote groundwater recharge in impervious areas is actively being discussed for urban areas; however, this plan is not yet applicable to farming areas. We consider it is essential to develop groundwater infiltration facilities for horticultural complexes, infiltration trenches, permeable pavements, surface water storage facilities, water purification facilities, etc. Further research and development of groundwater infiltration facilities is important for consistent utilization of water and the improvement of ecosystem services.