• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.403-412
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• 2015

We summarize the status of exploitable groundwater reserves in Korea based on reports of the National Basic Groundwater Plan, and review methods for estimating groundwater recharge rates, as recharge is a key factor in the estimation of exploitable groundwater reserves. We also outline the various methods used to assess exploitable groundwater reserves in previous groundwater investigation reports. Regarding advancements in the estimation of exploitable groundwater, we recommend that enhanced estimation methodologies (e.g., the water balance method and the advanced water table fluctuation method) and sustainable groundwater management concepts be adopted in the near future.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.253-268
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• 2020

In this study, recharge rates are estimated using SWAT-K (a distributed hydrological model). The validity of the estimated recharge rates were evaluated by employing the baseflow separation method based on observed hydrological data. The exploitable groundwater is typically determined as the 10-year drought frequency recharge rate that is calculated by average recharge ratio multiplied by 10-year drought frequency precipitation. In practice, however, recharge rates typically decrease in line with precipitation; therefore, exploitable groundwater could be overestimated when average recharge rates are used without considering precipitation. To resolve this overestimation, exploitable groundwater was calculated by re-estimating recharge rates that consider precipitation intensity. By applying this method to the Uiwang, Gwacheon, and Seongnam sub-basins, the exploitable groundwater decreased by 55.5~77.6%, compared with recharge rates obtained using the existing method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.655-662
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• 2021

This study aimed to estimate exploitable groundwater for the sustainable supply of groundwater in the Jinju region of South Gyeongsang Province. As an integrated hydrologic analysis model, SWAT-MODFLOW was used to estimate the distributed groundwater recharge in consideration of land use and soil distribution. As a result of calibration of the model, the coefficient of determination between the observed flow and the simulated flow was 0.75-0.80, which was good. The simulated groundwater recharge rate showed a spatio-temporal distribution due to heterogeneous watershed characteristics. The amount of groundwater recharge shows lower values over winter and spring, but it increases according to the pattern of precipitation in summer and autumn. The calculated average annual groundwater recharge was compared with the result using the baseflow separation method of natural flow, and the deviation of both results was small, within 3 %, confirming the validity of the estimated groundwater recharge. Exploitable groundwater is defined as the amount of recharge corresponding to low flow with 10 years of return period. Therefore, in this study, 14.2 % of the annual precipitation was found to be exploitable as a result of calculating the amount of recharge at a 10-year frequency using a statistical frequency analysis technique.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.433-442
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• 2011

In Korea, groundwater management has been conducted based on the estimation of annual average of groundwater recharge. Since groundwater recharge and surface water-groundwater interactions show spatiotemporal variation, continuous monitoring and dynamic analysis must be carried out to evaluate the sustainability of groundwater resources. In this study, SWAT-MODFLOW, an integrated surface water-groundwater model was used to analyze surface-groundwater interactions for various groundwater pumping scenarios in Musimcheon watershed. When current usage is applied, the baseflow reduction is about 16%, and annual averaged storage reduction is about 27 mm for whole watershed. As a holistic approach to groundwater sustainability considers the hydrological, ecological, socioeconomic, technological aspects of groundwater utilization, the exploitable groundwater should be determined by physical analysis as well as social compromise in a community.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.28-36
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• 2018

This study was conducted to estimate groundwater reserves within a designated depth. Three methods were applied to one representative county in southern Gyeongsang province, South Korea, to estimate the groundwater reserves in the aquifers. Estimated amounts of groundwater reserves in the region ranged from $20.2{\times}10^9m^3$ to $68.7{\times}10^9m^3$ (average $37.9{\times}10^9m^3$). Groundwater recharge obtained with a recharge ratio of 16.6% was $1.1{\times}10^9m^3/year$. Exploitable groundwater with an assumption of decadal-cycle minimal rainfall of 977.0 mm/year was approximated as 72% ($0.8{\times}10^9m^3/year$) of the total replenished water by recharge. The volume of recharge and exploitable water accounted for only 1.1% and 0.8% of groundwater reserves, respectively, which indicates substantial capacity of the reservoir to supply groundwater in an event of unexpected droughts. Nonetheless, each groundwater well should strictly comply with its allocated pumping rate to avoid alluvial groundwater depletion.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.375-380
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• 2013

The concept of safe yield places an emphasis on balancing groundwater withdrawal with groundwater recharge but ignores naturally occurring groundwater discharge. Because streams and their alluvial aquifers are closely linked in terms of water supply and water quality, to be properly understood and managed they must be considered together. Therefore, some districts in Kansas have reevaluated their safe-yield policies to account for natural groundwater discharge and stream-aquifer interactions by amending their safe-yield regulations to include a portion of baseflow as the minimum desirable streamflow (MDS). This study proposes a modified safe-yield policy in which the drought flow is chosen as the MDS. Baseflow separation was conducted from streamflow hydrograph and the results are presented as a flow-duration curve. The exploitable groundwater can be determined by subtracting MDS from the cumulative baseflow. This method was tested in the Musimcheon watershed, which was validated for streamflow using the SWAT-K model. The annually averaged exploitable groundwater in the whole watershed was estimated to be 86 mm. The exploitable groundwater amounts were also estimated for each subwatershed in the Musimcheon watershed.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.421-427
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• 2019

The amount of exploitable groundwater amount in Korea has been determined by multiplying the 10-year frequency low precipitation by the recharge rate. In practice, however, the interpretation of the frequency analysis of precipitation is omitted, and the value obtained by multiplying the average recharge rate by the minimum precipitation in the recent 10 years is used as the recharge amount. Therefore, the contradiction arises that the amount of precipitation to be applied is determined according to the period selection rather than the actual low precipitation by the 10-year frequency analysis. In this study, we proposed a method for estimating the exploitable groundwater amount using the recharge amount considering the moving averaged 10-year minimum precipitation and the size of precipitation. This method was applied to the Uiwang, Gwacheon and Seongnam areas and the exploitable groundwater amount was calculated and compared with the results obtained by conventional methods. As a result, it has been confirmed that if the 10-year minimum precipitation is selected in the period including the extreme drought, the problem of underestimating the exploitable groundwater amount can be overcome by using the moving average minimum precipitation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.16-25
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• 2018

The Quaternary volcanic rocks, clastic sedimentary rocks of Kyongsang System, and carbonate rocks of Joseon and Pyongan System are known as good productive and potential aquifer systems in South Korea. National Groundwater Informaton Mangement and Service System (GIMS) indicates that the exploitable, sustainable, and current use of groundwater are about 18.8, 12.9, and $3.73billion\;m^3/a$, respectively. The rest amount ($9.1billion\;m^3/a$) can still be used for an additional water supply source. Therefore. comprehensive groundwater survey work comprising hydrogeological mapping, subsurface investigation and quantitative aquifer test etc. are highly required to establish rational groundwater management strategy.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2021

Groundwater is considered to be the best water resource to solve water shortage problems during drought periods. Even though excessive pumping (overdraft) during short-period may give an unprofitable effect on groundwater hydrology, it has a primary role to solve a lack of water resources and to maintain incomes of farmers. This study evaluated maximum irrigation amounts of groundwater to each local-government and province during drought periods. Maximum irrigation amounts of groundwater were evaluated using cumulative groundwater usage data of each local-government during normal and drought years. Maximum irrigation amounts of groundwater during drought periods would be roughly identified as approximately 1.3 times more than the exploitable amounts of groundwater resources for each local-government. Drawdown-limitation depth on groundwater levels at each monitoring well was determined by transforming the maximum irrigating amounts into degree of change on levels. Universal limitation depth of drawdown on groundwater levels was evaluated to be approximately three times of annual fluctuating range on groundwater levels for each monitoring well. Systematic response on groundwater demands with abiding by drawdown-limitation depth can attain an optimal irrigation of groundwater resources during short-term drought.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.525-532
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• 2011

In this study, the usefulness of underground dam as a means for the sustainable development of groundwater, and its performance in the management of groundwater resources were analyzed. The fully integrated SWAT-MODFLOW was applied to the Ssangcheon watershed in Korea to evaluate the effectiveness of groundwater dam construction. After construction, the groundwater level raised in the upstream area of groundwater dam while lowered in the downstream area. Also, it is shown that the exchange rate of river-aquifer interactions increased in the upper area of the dam. Since the storage capacity of the aquifer largely increased in the upper area of the dam, the exploitable groundwater could be greatly increased as much. This study demonstrated that a groundwater dam was a very useful measure to increase the available storativity of groundwater aquifers. It also represented that the combined analysis using SWAT-MODFLOW was helpful for the design and opeation of groundwater dam in the Ssangcheon watershed.