• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.232-232
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• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of 6.29 Gm3 per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.408-408
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• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of $6.29Gm^3$ per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.55-55
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• 2017

가뭄은 국민생활 및 경제 등에 막대한 손실을 초래하며, 지역사회 공동체나 사회기능에 심각한 영향을 끼칠 수 있는 재해이다. 가뭄피해 최소화를 위해서는 단기대응, 복구지원 등의 사후대책에서 사전대비 및 예방으로의 정책 전환이 필요하며, 이러한 정책 수립을 뒷받침하기 위해서는 가뭄에 따른 정량적인 피해영향 평가가 우선적으로 필요하다. 하지만 가뭄 피해의 범위 및 형태는 워낙 광범위하기 때문에, 피해추정을 위한 잣대라 할 수 있는 영향평가 기법조차 제대로 정립되지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 국내에서는 분야별(기상, 농업, 수문)로 지수화 된 지표를 이용한 가뭄 평가가 주로 수행되고 있으며, 경제적 영향평가는 방법론에 대한 시범 연구 수준이다. 가뭄기록조사 등 과거 가뭄피해 자료에서도 피해액의 금액환산이 되지 않은 사례가 대부분이며 급수차지원, 관정개발 등 사후복구비 위주의 일부 자료만이 피해금액으로 제시되어 있을 뿐이다. 댐, 저수지 등에 의한 용수공급 안정성으로 인해, 기상학적인 가뭄이 즉시 물부족으로 인한 피해로 이어지지는 않지만, 물부족이 발생하거나 부족량이 예측되는 상황에서 피해규모를 시스템적으로 추정 및 비교할 수 있는 기법 개발의 필요성에 의해 잠재피해액 개념의 공급지장비용 추정기법을 개발하였다. 공급지장비용 또는 편익 도출을 위한 이론적 배경으로, 경제적 가치 또는 파급효과를 분석하기 위한 방법은 경제학적 접근법과 비경제학적 접근법으로 구분된다. 경제학적 접근법에서 사용하는 진술선호 기법의 경우 전국을 대상으로 설문 등의 과정을 거쳐 지불의사액을 도출하는 과정이 필요하기 때문에 많은 조사비용이 소요된다. 비경제학적 또는 공학적 접근법으로 분류되는 대체비용법은 이론적 배경이 약하고 대체항목의 선택에 주의가 필요하다는 단점이 있으나, 물가자료, 산업통계, 수자원통계 등 기초자료의 주기적 업데이트가 유리하며, 정신적 피해를 제외할 경우 피해비용 추정결과의 편차가 진술선호기법 보다는 작은 장점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 피해비용의 과대추정에 유의하여 대체비용법에 기반한 일본 후생노동성의 감 단수피해추정기법을 우리나라 자료에 맞게 수정하여 공급지장비용을 추정하였으며, 경제학적 접근법에 의한 용수의 한계가치비용 등과 비교를 통해 적용성을 검토하였다.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2019

The civil engineering materials used to stabilize the slopes of new riverbanks have a great impact on the types and growth of vegetation introduced after the completion of construction procedure. Recently, microbial-derived, ${\beta}$-glucan- and xanthan gum-based biopolymers are attracting attention as an ecofriendly strengthening material of riverbanks that can possibly stimulate plant growth. This study aimed to assess ecological effects of biopolymer application on native plants in Korean riverbanks. In particular, since dominant plant species could shape characteristics of an ecosystem, we examined the effects of biopolymer on the dominant plant species in riverbanks. Overall, biopolymer did not affect seed germination rates of testing plant species. In contrast, plants grew more vigorously in the soil mixed with biopolymer compared to those in the control soil. The biomass of Echinochloa crus-galli especially increased around two times more in the biopolymer treatment. Plants produced heavier root biomass and leaves with larger specific leaf area, which possibly contributes to the tolerance of environmental stress like drought. These results suggest that biopolymers treated on river banks are expected to stimulate plant growth and increase stress tolerance of domestic dominant plant species.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2016

Seedling stage is particularly important for tree survival and is easily influenced by warming. Therefore, air temperature being increased due to climate change may affect physiological traits and growth of seedlings. This study was conducted to investigate the physiological and growth responses of Larix kaempferi seedlings to open-field experimental warming. 1-year-old and 2-year-old L. kaempferi seedlings were warmed with infrared lamps since April 2015 and April 2014, respectively. The seedlings in the warmed plots were warmed to maintain the air temperature to be $3^{\circ}C$ higher than that of the control plots. Physiological responses (stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, net photosynthetic rate and total chlorophyll content) and growth responses (root collar diameter (RCD), height and biomass) to experimental warming were measured. Physiological and growth responses varied with the seedling ages. For 2-year-old L. kaempferi seedlings, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and net photosynthetic rate decreased following the warming treatment, whereas there were no changes for 1-year-old L. kaempferi seedlings. Meanwhile, total chlorophyll content was higher in warmed plots regardless of the seedling ages. Net photosynthetic rate linked with stomatal conductance also decreased due to the drought stress and decrease of photosynthetic efficiency. In response to warming, RCD, height and biomass did not show significant differences between the treatments. It seems that the growth responses were not affected as much as physiological responses were, since the physiological responses were not consistent, nor the warming treatment period was enough to have significant results. In addition, multifactorial experiments considering the impact of decreased soil moisture resulting from elevated temperatures is needed to explicate the impacts of a wide range of possible climate change scenarios.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.71-82
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Mekong River streamflow alteration due to climate change. The future climate change scenarios were produced by bias corrections of the data from East Asia RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, given by HadGEM3-RA. Then, SWAT model was used for discharge simulation of the Kratie, the main point of the Mekong River (watershed area: $646,000km^2$, 88% of the annual average flow rate of the Mekong River). As a result of the climate change analysis, the annual precipitation of the Kratie upper-watershed increase in both scenarios compared to the baseline yearly average precipitation. The monthly precipitation increase is relatively large from June to November. In particular, precipitation fluctuated greatly in the RCP 8.5 rather than RCP 4.5. Monthly average maximum and minimum temperature are predicted to be increased in both scenarios. As well as precipitation, the temperature increase in RCP 8.5 scenarios was found to be more significant than RCP 4.5. In addition, as a result of the duration curve comparison, the streamflow variation will become larger in low and high flow rate and the drought will be further intensified in the future.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.587-602
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• 2023

Due to climate change, population growth, and economic development, the demand for water in the urban water system (UWS) and the energy required for water use constantly increase. Therefore, beyond the traditional method of considering only the water sector, the Nexus approach, which considers synergies and trade-offs between the water and energy sectors, has begun to draw attention. In previous researches, the Nexus methodology was used to demonstrate that the UWS is an energy-intensive system, analyze the water-energy efficiency relationship surrogated by energy intensity, and identify climate (long-term climate change, drought, type), geographic characteristics (topography, flat ratio, location), system characteristics (total supply water amount, population density, pipeline length), and operational management level (water network pressure, leakage rate, water saving) effects on the UWS. Through this, it was possible to suggest the direction of policies and institutions to UWS managers. However, there was a limit to establishing and implementing specific action plans. This study built the energy intensity matrix of the UWS, quantified the impact of city conditions, external influences, and operational management levels on the UWS using the water-energy Nexus model, and introduced water-energy efficiency criteria. With this, UWS managers will be able to derive strategies and action plans for efficient operation management of the UWS and evaluate suitability and validity after implementation.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.262-269
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• 2022

A distribution survey was conducted from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate the distribution status, habitat characteristics, and extinction threat of the short ninespine stickleback Pungitius kaibarae (Gasterosteidae). Literature reports of P. kaibarae distribution have been sorted by each period, 1980~1996, 1997~2005, and 2007~2017, and the samples were collected in 32, 43, and 64 stations for each period. Among the 75 streams and 193 sampling sites investigated during the study period, 1,400 P. kaibarae individuals were collected from 26 streams at 39 sites. The main habitat of P. kaibarae was downstream or brackish water zones with a low altitude, slow water velocity, and many aquatic plants. The main reasons for the decline in population size were assumed to be drought and flood, river work for flood restoration and river maintenance, bridges construction, and predation by the exotic fish species Micropterus salmoides. Previous evidence reported a 42.6% reduction in occupancy within 10 years, a decline in habitat quality, and the spread and impact of the exotic fish species Micropterus salmoides. Therefore, P. kaibarae is now considered a Vulnerable (VU A2ace) species based on the IUCN Red List categories and criteria. Therefore, P. kaibarae should be redesignated as an endangered species by the Ministry of Environment and systematically managed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.2B
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• pp.211-217
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• 2010

This paper presents numerical investigations of the physical habitat changes induced by the hydropeaking in the downstream river of dam. For the two-dimensional ecohydraulic simulations, River2D model is used. Pirami (Zacco platypus) is selected as the target fish for investigating the impact of the hydropeaking. For validation of the model, the water surface elevations are simulated with two different water discharges. The computed results are compared with field data in the literature, and the result shows that the model successfully simulates the water flows. The weight usable area (WUA) of Pirami with the life cycle and the composite suitability index with different water discharges are computed and discussed. The results show that habitat for Pirami appears to be best in the bend region downstream of the dam. The discharge of the maximum WUA for adult Pirami is computed to be about 9 $m^3/s$. Also, the WUA computed in a condition of hydropeaking during seven days are presented. The averaged discharge of the hydropeaking appears to be about 20% larger than the drought flow, but the WUA by the hydropeaking is computed to be 60-100% smaller. This result shows that the hydropeaking reduces quantity of habitat available to fish.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.237-248
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• 2024

Watershed runoff that is an important component of the hydrological processes has been significantly altered by climate variability and human activities in many watersheds around the world. It is important to investigate the impacts of climate variability and human activities on watershed runoff change for water resource management. In this study, using watershed runoff data for 109 middle-sized watersheds in Korea, the impacts of climate variability and human activities on watershed runoff change were quantitatively evaluated. Using the Pittitt test, the analysis period was divided into two sub-periods, and the impacts of climate variability and human activities on the watershed runoff change were quantified using the Budyko hypothesis-based climate elasticity method. The overall results indicated that the relative contribution of climate variability and human activities to the watershed runoff change varied by middle-sized watersheds, and the dominant factors on the watershed runoff change were identified for each watershed among climate variability and human activities. The results of this study enable us to predict the watershed runoff change considering climate variability and watershed development plans, which provides useful information for establishing a water resource management plan to reduce the risk of hydrological disasters such as drought or flood.