Effect of Farming Practices on Water Quality

Three types of land use were investigated to describe the effect of land use on both surface and ground water quality. Typical land uses of a grazing pasture, Sudan grass field and paddy in Kangwon province were selected and flumes and monitoring wells were installed. Land managements were carefully monitored, water samples were collected periodically and analyzed with respect to nitrate, TP and TKN at a laboratory of Kangwon Provincial Institute of Health and Environment from August, 1993 to May, 1994. Runoff from the pasture was formed mostly with seeping subsurface flow in the lower areas of the pasture. A few overland flows were observed during heavy storms, and when it occurred, runoff increased sharply. For the Sudan grass field, runoff was formed with overland flow. Nitrate concentration in runoff from both land uses seemed not affected by runoff and ranged from 0.241 to 4.137mg'/1. TP and TKN concentrations from the pasture were affected by overland flow. When overland flow occurred, TP and TKN concentrations abruptly increased to 5.726 and 12.841mg/1, respectively, from less than 1.0mg/l. However, these concentrations from the Sudan grass field were quite stable ranging from 0.191 to 0.674mg/l for TP and 0A70 and 1.650mg/l for TKN. Nitrate concentration was significantly affected by land use(Sudan grass field) and the concentration increase reached about 2mg/l per lOOm ground water flow. Nitrate concentration from a well located in the middle of rice fields also was significantly higher than that measured from a well located relatively undisturbed mountain toe area. TP and TKN concentrations in shallow ground water affected by the depth of the monitoring wells. The deeper the monitoring wells, the less TP and TKN concentrations were measured.