• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Due to water shortages caused by water pollution and climate change, total organic carbon (TOC) standards have been implemented for wastewater discharged from public sewage treatment facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing interest and body of research pertaining to the reuse of sewage treatment water as a secure alternative water resource. The membrane bio-reactor (MBR) method is commonly used for advanced wastewater treatment because it can remove organic and inorganic ions and it does not require or emit any chemicals. However, the MBR process uses a separation membrane (MF), which requires frequent film cleaning due to fouling caused by a high concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS). In this study, process improvement and microbubble cleaning efficiency were evaluated to improve the differential pressure, water flow, and MF fouling, which are the biggest disadvantages of operating the MF. The existing MBR method was improved by installing a precipitation tank between the air tank and the MBR tank in which raw water was introduced. Microbubbles were injected into a separation membrane tank into which the supernatant water from the precipitation tank was introduced. The microbubble generator was operated with a 15 day on, 15 day off cycle for 5 months to collect discharged water samples (4L) and measure TOC. As the supernatant water from the precipitation tank flowed into the separation membrane tank, about 95% of the supernatant water MLSS was removed so the MF fouling from biological contamination was prevented. Due to the application of microbubbles to supernatant water from the precipitation tank, the differential pressure of the separation membrane tank decreased by 1.6 to 2.3 times and the water flow increased by 1.4 times. Applying microbubbles increased the TOC removal rate by more than 58%. This study showed that separately operating the air tank and the separation membrane tank can reduce fouling, and suggested that applying additional microbubbles could improve the differential pressure, water flow, and fouling to provide a more efficient advanced treatment method.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.403-417
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• 2023

In this research, a methodology was developed for constructing an appropriate rainfall image database for estimating rainfall intensity based on CCTV video. The database was constructed in the Large-Scale Climate Environment Chamber of the Korea Conformity Laboratories, which can control variables with high irregularity and variability in real environments. 1,728 scenarios were designed under five different experimental conditions. 36 scenarios and a total of 97,200 frames were selected. Rain streaks were extracted using the k-nearest neighbor algorithm by calculating the difference between each image and the background. To prevent overfitting, data with pixel values greater than set threshold, compared to the average pixel value for each image, were selected. The area with maximum pixel variability was determined by shifting with every 10 pixels and set as a representative area (180×180) for the original image. After re-transforming to 120×120 size as an input data for convolutional neural networks model, image augmentation was progressed under unified shooting conditions. 92% of the data showed within the 10% absolute range of PBIAS. It is clear that the final results in this study have the potential to enhance the accuracy and efficacy of existing real-world CCTV systems with transfer learning.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.785-799
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• 2023

In this study, we proposed a new concept termed the Secondary Peak Constant (SPC) and discerned the temporal characteristics of independent rainstorm events based on unit time and SPC about 24 observation stations in Seoul. Utilizing rainfall observations from 2000 to 2022, independent rainstorm events discreted from rainfall data per unit time. The temporal characteristics of these events were derived according to unit time, and temporal characteristics of the peak rainfall were identified through the SPC. Finally, the temporal characteristics of independent rainstorm events were examined distinctively when analyzed by unit time and SPC. Independent rainstorm events with smaller unit time showed significantly larger total rainfall, rainfall duration, and rainfall intensity. The temporal characteristics of the largest peak rainfall (1^st Peak) within independent rainstorm events followed a sequence of Q4>Q2>Q3>Q1. Additionally, the 2^nd Peak rainfall predominantly occurred the location where the 1^st Peak appeared. The proportion of independent rainstorm events with multiple peak rainfalls exceeded 50.0% when the SPC was 0.7 or lower. The average number of peak rainfalls within independent rainstorm events ranged from 1.5 to 3.4. This study identified the temporal characteristics of independent rainstorm events based on unit time. Then, the peak rainfall of temporal characteristics was quantified by SPC on this study. Hence, it is evident that the temporal characteristics of independent rainstorm events for specific area can be anlayzed and quantified based on unit time and SPC.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.363-375
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• 2024

Waterbody change detection using satellite images has recently been carried out in various regions in South Korea, utilizing multiple types of sensors. This study utilizes optical satellite images from Landsat and Sentinel-2 based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyze long-term surface water area changes in four monitored small and medium-sized water supply dams and agricultural reservoirs in South Korea. The analysis covers 19 years for the water supply dams and 27 years for the agricultural reservoirs. By employing image analysis methods such as normalized difference water index, Canny Edge Detection, and Otsu'sthresholding for waterbody detection, the study reliably extracted water surface areas, allowing for clear annual changes in waterbodies to be observed. When comparing the time series data of surface water areas derived from satellite images to actual measured water levels, a high correlation coefficient above 0.8 was found for the water supply dams. However, the agricultural reservoirs showed a lower correlation, between 0.5 and 0.7, attributed to the characteristics of agricultural reservoir management and the inadequacy of comparative data rather than the satellite image analysis itself. The analysis also revealed several inconsistencies in the results for smaller reservoirs, indicating the need for further studies on these reservoirs. The changes in surface water area, calculated using GEE, provide valuable spatial information on waterbody changes across the entire watershed, which cannot be identified solely by measuring water levels. This highlights the usefulness of efficiently processing extensive long-term satellite imagery data. Based on these findings, it is expected that future research could apply this method to a larger number of dam reservoirs with varying sizes,shapes, and monitoring statuses, potentially yielding additional insights into different reservoir groups.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.82-92
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• 2007

In 2003, we evaluated biological water quality at twelve sites of Youngsan River using community analysis, fish compositions, and the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI). Of the twelve, four sites were the controls, which have no point sources in the upstream and the remaining eight sites were the impacted sites, which are influenced by wastewater treatment plant (WTP) and agro-industrial complex. Model values of the IBI, based on 12 sites data, averaged 28 (n=12, range: $18{\sim}44$), indicating fair poor condition according to the criteria of US EP A (1993). In the mean time, mean IBI in the control sites (S3, S5, S6, S11) was 42 (n=4, range: $38{\sim}44$), indicating a good condition, whereas mean IBI in the impacted sites was 21, indicating a poor condition. Mean IBI value in the control, thus, was greater by 2 fold than that in the WTP sites. The spatial pattern of IBI values was similar to the patterns of species diversity index and species richness index, except for Site 11, which was 1st order stream. Similarity analysis indicated that three groups were divided at the similarity level of 80%. One group was the streams influenced by wastewater and the other two groups were the pristine streams as the control, indicating that the stream health conditions are directly influenced by presence or absence of the point sources. Also, Pearson's correlation analysis showed that IBI values had negative correlation (r=0.899, p<0.001) with relative abundance of tolerance species, and had positive relation (r=0.890, p<0.001) with sensitive species. Overall, outcomes suggest that the point sources of the WTP might impact the species composition and ecological health, resulting in degradation of biological water quality.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.127-135
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• 2012

This paper introduced the flow forecast modeling system that a water management agency in west central Florida, Tampa Bay Water has been operated to forecast monthly rainfall and streamflow in the Tampa Bay region, Florida. We evaluated current 1-year monthly rainfall forecasts and flow forecasts and actual observations to investigate the benefits of incorporating rainfall forecasts into monthly flow forecast. Results for rainfall forecasts showed that the observed annual cycle of monthly rainfall was accurately reproduced by the $50^{th}$ percentile of forecasts. While observed monthly rainfall was within the $25^{th}$ and $75^{th}$ percentile of forecasts for most months, several outliers were found during the dry months especially in the dry year of 2007. The flow forecast results for the three streamflow stations (HRD, MB, and BS) indicated that while the 90 % confidence interval mostly covers the observed monthly streamflow, the $50^{th}$ percentile forecast generally overestimated observed streamflow. Especially for HRD station, observed streamflow was reproduced within $5^{th}$ and $25^{th}$ percentile of forecasts while monthly rainfall observations closely followed the $50^{th}$ percentile of rainfall forecasts. This was due to the historical variability at the station was significantly high and it resulted in a wide range of forecasts. Additionally, it was found that the forecasts for each station tend to converge after several months as the influence of the initial condition diminished. The forecast period to converge to simulation bounds was estimated by comparing the forecast results for 2006 and 2007. We found that initial conditions have influence on forecasts during the first 4-6 months, indicating that FMS forecasts should be updated at least every 4-6 months. That is, knowledge of initial condition (i.e., monthly flow observation in the last-recent month) provided no foreknowledge of the flows after 4-6 months of simulation. Based on the experimental flow forecasts using the observed rainfall data, we found that the 90 % confidence interval band for flow predictions was significantly reduced for all stations. This result evidently shows that accurate short-term rainfall forecasts could reduce the range of streamflow forecasts and improve forecast skill compared to employing the stochastic rainfall forecasts. We expect that the framework employed in this study using available observations could be used to investigate the applicability of existing hydrological and water management modeling system for use of stateof-the-art climate forecasts.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.373-387
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• 2021

In this study, the impact of clustered groundwater usage facilities and the proper amount of groundwater usage in the Daejeong-Hangyeong watershed of Jeju island were evaluated based on the data-driven analysis methods. As the applied data, groundwater level data; the corresponding precipitation data; the groundwater usage amount data (Jeoji, Geumak, Seogwang, and English-education city facilities) were used. The results show that the Geumak usage facility has a large influence centering on the corresponding location; the Seogwang usage facility affects on the downstream area; the English-education usage facility has a great impact around the upstream of the location; the Jeoji usage facility shows an influence around the up- and down-streams of the location. Overall, the influence of operating the clustered groundwater usage facilities in the watershed is prolonged to approximately 5km. Additionally, the appropriate groundwater usage amount to maintain the groundwater base-level was analyzed corresponding to the precipitation. Considering the recent precipitation pattern, there is a need to limit the current amount of groundwater usage to 80%. With increasing the precipitation by 100mm, additional groundwater development of approximately 1,500m³-1,900m³ would be reasonable. All the results of the developed data-driven estimation model can be used as useful information for sustainable groundwater development in the Daejeong-Hangyeong watershed of Jeju island.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2023

Due to climate change, drought and flood occurrences have been increasing. Accurate projections of watershed discharges are imperative to effectively manage natural disasters caused by climate change. However, climate change and hydrological model uncertainty can lead to imprecise analysis. To address this issues, we used two lumped models, IHACRES and GR4J, to compare and analyze the changes in discharges under climate stress scenarios. The Hapcheon and Seomjingang dam basins were the study site, and the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and the Kling-Gupta efficiency (KGE) were used for parameter optimizations. Twenty years of discharge, precipitation, and temperature (1995-2014) data were used and divided into training and testing data sets with a 70/30 split. The accuracies of the modeled results were relatively high during the training and testing periods (NSE>0.74, KGE>0.75), indicating that both models could reproduce the previously observed discharges. To explore the impacts of climate change on modeled discharges, we developed climate stress scenarios by changing precipitation from -50 % to +50 % by 1 % and temperature from 0 ℃ to 8 ℃ by 0.1 ℃ based on two decades of weather data, which resulted in 8,181 climate stress scenarios. We analyzed the yearly maximum, abundant, and ordinary discharges projected by the two lumped models. We found that the trends of the maximum and abundant discharges modeled by IHACRES and GR4J became pronounced as changes in precipitation and temperature increased. The opposite was true for the case of ordinary water levels. Our study demonstrated that the quantitative evaluations of the model uncertainty were important to reduce the impacts of climate change on water resources.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.321-327
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• 2006

In Korea, there is a growing competitive for water resources between industrial, domestic and agricultural consumer, and the environment as many other OECD countries. The demand on water use is also affecting aquatic ecosystems particularly where withdrawals are in excess of minimum environmental needs for rivers, lakes and wetland habits. OECD developed three indicators related to water use by the agriculture in above contexts : the first is a water use intensity indicator, which is expressed as the quantity or share of agricultural water use in total national water utilization; the second is a water stress indicator, which is expressed as the proportion of rivers (in length) subject to diversion or regulation for irrigation without reserving a minimum of limiting reference flow; and the third is a water use efficiency indicator designated as the technical and the economic efficiency. These indicators have different meanings in the aspect of water resource conservation and sustainable water use. So, it will be more significant that the indicators should reflect the intrinsic meanings of them. The problem is that the aspect of an overall water flow in the agro-ecosystem and recycling of water use not considered in the assessment of agricultural water use needed for calculation of these water use indicators. Namely, regional or meteorological characteristics and site-specific farming practices were not considered in the calculation of these indicators. In this paper, we tried to calculate water use indicators suggested in OECD and to modify some other indicators considering our situation because water use pattern and water cycling in Korea where paddy rice farming is dominant in the monsoon region are quite different from those of semi-arid regions. In the calculation of water use intensity, we excluded the amount of water restored through the ground from the total agricultural water use because a large amount of water supplied to the farm was discharged into the stream or the ground water. The resultant water use intensity was 22.9% in 2001. As for water stress indicator, Korea has not defined nor monitored reference levels of minimum flow rate for rivers subject to diversion of water for irrigation. So, we calculated the water stress indicator in a different way from OECD method. The water stress indicator was calculated using data on the degree of water storage in agricultural water reservoirs because 87% of water for irrigation was taken from the agricultural water reservoirs. Water use technical efficiency was calculated as the reverse of the ratio of irrigation water to a standard water requirement of the paddy rice. The efficiency in 2001 was better than in 1990 and 1998. As for the economic efficiency for water use, we think that there are a lot of things to be taken into considerations to make a useful indicator to reflect socio-economic values of agricultural products resulted from the water use. Conclusively, site-specific, regional or meteorogical characteristics as in Korea were not considered in the calculation of water use indicators by methods suggested in OECD(Volume 3, 2001). So, it is needed to develop a new indicators for the indicators to be more widely applicable in the world.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.725-733
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• 2019

Sand dams are structures that can be used as auxiliary water resources in case of drought as sand accumulates due to barriers crossing valley rivers and valley water is stored in the voids, increasing the water level. This structure, which is mainly used in arid regions such as Africa, has not been installed in Korea. In Korea, there are only a few cases where water is taken from debris barriers that prevent debris flow. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of water supply when the sand dam is installed downstream of the existing intake barrier in Seosang-ri valley, Chuncheon. For this purpose, modeling was performed by linking the basin hydrologic model and reservoir routing model. Changes in the water level, storage and discharge in the sand dam reservoir according to the size and intake of the sand dam are presented on a case-by-case basis. As a result of application, it was found that the water supply capacity due to the sand dam installation was improved at 95% reliability. Especially, when the size is L × B × H_o = 25 m × 15 m × 1 m and the pumping rates from intake barrier and sand dam are (Q₁, Q₂) = (30, 20), (35, 15) ㎥/day, the efficiency was the best for water supply of 50 ㎥/day.