• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.473-479
• /
• 2008

Environment problem has been arising in many countries. Especially, soil erosion has been deemed as one of the biggest issues because sediment causes muddy water and pollutants, such as agricultural chemicals, flow in the stream with this sediment. Many studies, regarding soil loss and non-point source pollution from watershed, has been performed while serious problem has been known. Soil loss occurred in most agricultural area by rainfall and runoff. It makes hydraulic structure unstable, causes environmental economical problems because muddy water destroys ecosystem and causes intake water deterioration. As revealing serious effects of muddy water by sediment, many researches have been doing with various methods. Hydraulic structures establishments such as soil erosion control dams and grit chamber are common. Vegetative filter strip is investigated in this study because vegetative filter strip is designed for reducing sediment from upland areas of the watershed, and it has many functions, not only sediment reduction but also runoff water quality improvement and wildlife habitat. With these positive functions of the vegetative filter strip, the study about vegetative filter strip has been increasing for reducing sediment because it is more effective than hydraulic structures from an environmental perspective. But the sediment trapping efficiency by vegetative filter strip, needs to be investigated and designed first. Therefore the model, VFSMOD-W, was used in this study as it can estimate sediment trapping efficiency of vegetative filter strip under various field, vegetation, weather condition. Sensitive factors to sediment trapping efficiency are studied with VFSMOD-W, and sediment trapping efficiency equation has been derived using two most sensitive factors. It is thought that the equation suggested in this study can be used in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to overcome the limit of SWAT filter strip module, which is based solely on filter strip width.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.62 no.4
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2020

The extreme 2017 spring drought affected a large portion of South Korea in the Southern Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheongnam-do districts. This drought event was one of the climatologically driest spring seasons over the 1961-2016 period of record. It was characterized by exceptionally low reservoir water levels, with the average water level being 36% lower over most of western South Korea. In this study, we consider drought response methods to alleviate the shortage of agricultural water in times of drought. It could be to store water from a stream into a reservoir. There is a cyclical method for reusing water supplied from a reservoir into streams through drainage. We intended to present a decision-making plan for water supply based on the calculation of the quantity of water supply and leakage. We compared the rainfall-runoff equation with the TANK model, which is a long-term run-off model. Estimations of reservoir inflow during non-irrigation seasons applied to the Madun, Daesa, and Pungjeon reservoirs. We applied the run-off flow to the last 30 years of rainfall data to estimate reservoir storage. We calculated the available water in the river during the non-irrigation season. The daily average inflow from 2003 to 2018 was calculated from October to April. Simulation results show that an average of 67,000 tons of water is obtained during the non-irrigation season. The report shows that about 53,000 tons of water are available except during the winter season from December to February. The Madun Reservoir began in early October with a 10 percent storage rate. In the starting ratio, a simulated rate of 4 K, 6 K, and 8 K tons is predicted to be 44%, 50%, and 60%. We can estimate the amount of water needed and the timing of water pump operations during the non-irrigation season that focuses on fresh water reservoirs and improve decision making for efficient water supplies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.105-126
• /
• 2003

In Korea most of annual rainfall is concentrated in several episodic heavy rains during the season of summer monsoon and typhoon. Because of uneven rainfall distribution many dams have been constructed in order to secure water supply in dry seasons. The Han River system has the most dams among Korean rivers, and the river is a series of dams now. Reservoirs need different strategy of water quality control from river water. Autochthonous organic matter and phosphorus should be the major target to be controlled in lakes. In this Paper some problems are discussed that makes efforts of water quality improvement ineffective in lakes of Korea, even after the substantial investment to wastewater treatment facilities.1) Phosphorus is the key factor controlling eutrophication of lakes and the reduction ofphosphors should be the major target of water treatment. However, water quality management strategy in Korea is still stream-oriented, and focused on BOD removal from sewage. Phosphorus removal efficiency remains as low as 10-30%, because biological treatment is adopted for both secondary treatment and advanced treatment. The standard for TP concentration of the sewage treatment plant effluent is 6 mgP/l in most of regions, and 2 mg/l in enforced region near metropolitan water intake point. TP in the effluents of sewage treatment plants are usually 1-2 mg/1, and most of plants meet the effluent regulation without a further phosphorus removal process. The generous TP standard for effluents discourages further efforts to improve phosphorus removal efficiency of sewage treatment. Considering that TP standard for the effluent is below 0.1 mg/l in some countries, it should be amended to below 0.1 mg/l in Korea, especially in the watershed of large lakes.2) Urban runoff and combined sewer overflow are not treated, even though their total loading into lakes can be comparable to municipal sewage discharges on dry days. Chemical coagulation and rapid settling might be the solution to urban runoff in regard of intermittent operation on only rainy days.3) Aggregated precipitation in Korea that is concentrated on several episodic heavyrains per year causes a large amount of nonpoint source pollution loading into lakes. It makes the treatment of nonpoint source discharge by methods of other countries of even rain pattern, such as retention pond or artificial wetland, impractical in Korea.4) The application rate of fertilizers in Korea is ten times as high as the average ofOECD countries. The total manure discharge from animal farming is thought to be over the capacity of soil treatment in Korea. Even though large portion of manure is composted for organic fertilizer, a lot of nutrients and organic matter emanates from organic compost. The reduction of application rate and discharge rate of phosphorus from agricultural fields should be encouraged by incentives and regulations.5) There is a lot of vegetable fields with high slopes in the upstream region of the HanRiver. Soil erosion is severe due to high slopes, and fertilizer is discharged in the form of adsorbed phosphorus on clay surface. The reduction of soil erosion in the upland area should be the major preventive policy for eutrophication. Uplands of high slope must be recovered to forest, and eroded gullies should be reformed into grass-buffered natural streams which are wider and resistant to bank erosion.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.103-112
• /
• 2011

This study aims to demonstrate the relationship between various factors and soil erosion or deposition, simulated from distributed rainfall-sediment-runoff model applications. We selected area, overland flow length, local slope as catchment representative characteristics among many important geographic factors and also used the grid-based accumulated rainfall as a representative hydro-climatic factor to assess the effect of these two different types of factors on erosion and deposition. The study catchment was divided based on the Strahler's stream order method for analysis of the relationship between area and erosion or deposition. Both erosion and deposition increased linearly as the catchment area became larger. Erosion occurred widely throughout the catchment, whereas deposition was observed at the grid-cells near the channel network with short overland flow lengths and mild slopes. In addition, the relationship results between grid-based accumulated rainfall and soil erosion or deposition showed that erosion increased gradually as rainfall amount increased, whereas deposition responded irregularly to variations in rainfall. Within the context of these results, it can be concluded that deposition is closely related with the geographic factors used in this study while erosion is significantly affected by rainfall.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.28 no.2B
• /
• pp.187-197
• /
• 2008

This study is to assess the impact of future land use change on hydrology and water quality in Gyungan-cheon watershed ($255.44km^2$) using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model. Using the 5 past Landsat TM (1987, 1991, 1996, 2004) and $ETM^+$ (2001) satellite images, time series of land use map were prepared, and the future land uses (2030, 2060, 2090) were predicted using CA-Markov technique. The 4 years streamflow and water quality data (SS, T-N, T-P) and DEM (Digital Elevation Model), stream network, and soil information (1:25,000) were prepared. The model was calibrated for 2 years (1999 and 2000), and verified for 2 years (2001 and 2002) with averaged Nash and Sutcliffe model efficiency of 0.59 for streamflow and determination coefficient of 0.88, 0.72, 0.68 for Sediment, T-N (Total Nitrogen), T-P (Total Phosphorous) respectively. The 2030, 2060 and 2090 future prediction based on 2004 values showed that the total runoff increased 1.4%, 2.0% and 2.7% for 0.6, 0.8 and 1.1 increase of watershed averaged CN value. For the future Sediment, T-N and T-P based on 2004 values, 51.4%, 5.0% and 11.7% increase in 2030, 70.5%, 8.5% and 16.7% increase in 2060, and 74.9%, 10.9% and 19.9% increase in 2090.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.57 no.2
• /
• pp.107-117
• /
• 2024

The objective of this study is to estimate riverbed fluctuations and the volume of aggregate extraction attributable to climate change. Rainfall-runoff modeling, utilizing the SWAT model based on climate change scenarios, as well as long-term riverbed fluctuation modeling, employing the HEC-RAS model, were conducted for the Nonsan River basin. The analysis of rainfall-runoff and sediment transport under the SSP5-8.5 scenario for the early part of the future indicates that differences in annual precipitation may exceed 600 mm, resulting in a corresponding variation in the basin's sediment discharge by more than 30,000 tons per year. Additionally, long-term riverbed fluctuation modeling of the lower reaches of the Nonsan Stream has identified a potential aggregate extraction area. It is estimated that aggregate extraction could be feasible within a 2.455 km stretch upstream, approximately 4.6 to 6.9 km from the confluence with the Geum River. These findings suggest that the risk of climate crises, such as extreme rainfall or droughts, could increase due to abnormal weather conditions, and the increase in variability could affect long-term aggregate extraction. Therefore, it is considered important to take into account the impact of climate change in future long-term aggregate extraction planning and policy formulation.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2024

In this study, a HSPF model was developed to simulate runoff and water quality in the Haebancheon watershed, which has a high land area ratio and population density among the West Nakdong River watersheds. Various non-point source pollution control strategies were applied, and the reduction in pollutant loads and the exceedance rate of water quality standards were analyzed. The scenarios included basic road cleaning for reducing pollutant loads, runoff reduction measures considering extensive low-impact development techniques, and inflow reduction measures to mitigate non-point source pollution entering the river. In the first step, practical conditions such as the number of vehicles for road cleaning in Kimhae City were considered, while for the second and third steps, it was assumed that 50% of the applicable land use area was used to be applicable for the LID techniques. As a result of applying all three measures, it was analyzed that the BOD pollutant load could be reduced by 58.28%, T-N by 58.49%, and T-P by 51.56%. Furthermore, the 60th percentile of water quality measurements accumulated over 5 years was set as the target water quality, and a flow-duration curve was constructed. The exceedance rate of the flow-duration curve before and after applying non-point source pollution reduction measures was analyzed. As a result, for BOD, the exceedance rate decreased from 41.57% before applying the measures to 16.32% after, showing a 25.25% reduction in the exceedance rate. For T-N, the exceedance rate decreased significantly from 40.31% before the measures to 22.84% after, and for T-P, it decreased significantly from 62.43% to 27.22%.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.561-573
• /
• 2012

The object of this study was to analyze long-term water quality gradients during 1992-2008 at six sites of Geumho River and near-by two sites of Nakdong River and their influences on fish trophic guilds and tolerance guilds along with ecological health. Water quality including biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), conductivity, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and total suspended solids (TSS) varied largely depending on the sampling locations and seasons. Values of ambient BOD, COD, TP, and TN were greater in the downstream than in the upstream reach, and seasonal and interannual variabilities were also higher in the downstreams. This phenomenon was evident due to a dilution by the Asian monsoon rainfall during the monsoon. These outcomes indicate that point sources near the downstream are important for the chemical conditions, but also seasonal stream runoff was considered as an important factor regulating the chemical conditions. Conductivity decreased rapidly during the summer due to ionic dilution, and nutrients (N, P), BOD, COD had an inverse function of seasonal precipitation. Based on the water quality, we selected two sites (control site = $C_s$ vs. impacted site = $I_s$) for impact analysis of water chemistry on fish community and trophic/tolerant guilds. Fish guild analysis showed that species diversity was higher in the headwater stream ($C_s$) than the impacted downstream ($I_s$), and that the proportion of tolerant and omnivore species were greater in the impacted site of downstream. Comparisons of water quality between Geumho River and Nakdong River indicated that Geumho River was considered as a point source which degradated water quality to the Nakdong River. Overall, chemical water quality and fish guild analysis suggest that even if current chemical quality got better after 1996 due to continuous constructions of wastewater disposal plants near the downstreams, fish compositions of tolerant and omnivores were still dominated the community. Thus, biological restoration based on ecological health is required for the ecosystem conservation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.11 no.4 s.29
• /
• pp.67-74
• /
• 2005

The Doam watershed is located at alpine areas and the annual average precipitation, including snow accumulation, is significant higher than other areas. Thus, pollutant laden runoff and sediment discharge from the alpine agricultural fields are causing water quality degradation at the Doam watershed. To estimate soil erosion from the agricultural fields, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) has been widely used because of its simplicity to use. In the early spring at the Doam watershed, the stream flow increases because of snow melt, which results in erosion of loosened soil experiencing freezing and thaw during the winter. Also, extremely torrential rainfall, such as the typhoons 'RUSA' in 2002 and 'MAEMI' in 2003, caused significant amounts of soil erosion and sediment at the Doam watershed. However, the USLE model cannot simulate impacts on soil erosion of freezing and thaw of the soil. It cannot estimate sediment yield from a single torrential rainfall event. Also, it cannot simulate temporal changes in USLE input parameters. Thus, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was investigated for its applicability to estimate soil erosion at the Doam watershed, instead of the widely used USLE model. The SWAT hydrology and erosion/sediment components were validated after calibration of the hydrologic component. The R$^2$ and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient values are higher enough, thus it is found the SWAT model can be efficiently used to simulate hydrology and sediment yield at the Doam watershed. The effects of snow melt on SWAT estimated stream flow and sediment were investigated using long-term precipitation and temperature data at the Doam watershed. It was found significant amount of flow and sediment in the spring are contributed by melting snow accumulated during the winter. Two typhoons in 2002 and 2003, MAEMI and RUSA, caused 33% and 22% of total sediment yields at the Doam watershed, respectively. Thus, it is recommended that the SWAT model, capable of simulating snow melt, sediment yield from a single storm event, and long-term weather data, needs to be used in estimating soil erosion at alpine agricultural areas to develop successful soil erosion management instead of the USLE.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.9
• /
• pp.952-957
• /
• 2005

A sensitivity analysis study was performed to examine the effects of cell size on a distributed non-point source pollution model. The model, AnnAGNPS, whiff is a modified version of USDA's AGNPS, was applied to Eung stream watershed, a tributary of Cheongmi stream located in the South Branch of Han River System. The model components and results, such as channel length, slope, land use, and delivery ratio, were analyzed according to the various cell sizes from 10 to 200 ha. As cell sire increases, channel length decreases due to short-circuiting of meandering creek. The decreased channel length has more significant effects on the model results than any other geomorphological change. When the effects of land use and soil distribution are excluded, sediment delivery loads increase due to shorter time to reach the outlet of the watershed in larger tell size. When those effects are included, however, sediment delivery loads decrease in larger fell size because the variety of land use types can not be inputted. The predominant land use in the applied watershed is forest with very low soil erosion such that the predicted sediment delivery might be much lower than real system. The cell size of 30 ha was determined to produce the most appropriate resolution. Surface runoff and non-point source loads of TN, TP and BOD were predicted and the results agree well with the field measurements. From this study, it was shown that the model results would be very dependent on variations of topography, land use, and soil distribution, as a function of cell size, and the optimum cell size is very important for successful application of distributed non-point source pollution model.