Assessment of Groundwater Drought in the Mangyeong River Basin, Korea

Jae Min Lee, Jong Hoon Park, Euijin Chung and Nam C. Woo
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Jae Min Lee: Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea
Jong Hoon Park: Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea
Euijin Chung: Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea
Nam C. Woo: Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-26

Abstract: When groundwater drought occurs, baseflow discharges to surface-water bodies will be reduced and then domestic and agricultural water usage becomes at risk of insufficient supply. Thus, in this study, several methods for groundwater drought assessment were tested with long-term monitoring water-level data in the study area to preserve groundwater sustainability from drought, principally caused by reduced precipitation and propagated through agricultural drought and groundwater drought. Because of the Monsoon climate on the Korean Peninsula, the groundwater storage (or water-level) is secured until the end of summer, then falls by natural discharge during the dry seasons of autumn, winter and the following spring. Thus, the rainfall in the wet season seems to mainly influence groundwater storage until the spring of the following year. As the groundwater level (GWL) declines due to natural drainage and the use of agricultural water increases by the end of the dry season (October–May), the GWL will become lowered below the critical level. Below this level, sufficient water supply is not secured. Using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), threshold method and 95% probability occurrence method, drought detection and the frequency of drought are compared. Groundwater drought using the threshold method results in more frequent occurrence than using the SPI method. The 95% occurrence method responds to severe drought but it also has weakness in missing the man-induced GWL decline in every spring season. For groundwater drought assessment, an appropriate drought index should be utilized according to climatic conditions and catchment characteristics. In the study area, variations of the both natural and anthropogenic effects are mixed and the threshold method is more suitable as a measure for preventing water resources shortage.

Keywords: groundwater drought; long-term monitoring; sustainability; threshold method; baseflow; water resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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