Current Status of Groundwater Monitoring Networks in Korea

Abstract

Korea has been operating groundwater monitoring systems since 1996 as the Groundwater Act enacted in 1994 enforces nationwide monitoring. Currently, there are six main groundwater monitoring networks operated by different government ministries with different purposes: National Groundwater Monitoring Network (NGMN), Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network (GQMN), Seawater Intrusion Monitoring Network (SIMN), Rural Groundwater Monitoring Network (RGMN), Subsidiary Groundwater Monitoring Network (SGMN), and Drinking Water Monitoring Network (DWMN). The Networks have a total of over 3500 monitoring wells and the majority of them are now equipped with automatic data loggers and remote terminal units. Most of the monitoring data are available to the public through internet websites. These Networks have provided scientific data for designing groundwater management plans and contributed to securing the groundwater resource particularly for recent prolonged drought seasons. Each Network, however, utilizes its own well-specifications, probes, and telecommunication protocols with minimal communication with other Networks, and thus duplicate installations of monitoring wells are not uncommon among different Networks. This mini-review introduces the current regulations and the Groundwater Monitoring Networks operated in Korea and provides some suggestions to improve the sustainability of the current groundwater monitoring system in Korea.

Unexpected nationwide nitrate declines in groundwater of Korea

“…The total area of the country is around 100,000 km 2 and it is topographically relatively high in the eastern region (500–1,250 m EL) whereas flat and low in the western half (10–250 m EL). Rice paddies are mostly situated in the western and southern parts of the country, but there are many upland fields largely in the eastern part (Lee & Kwon, ). Korea shows a temperate climate, hot and wet in summer (June–August), but cold and dry in winter (December–February).…”

“…As groundwater demand in Korea increases, managing nitrate contamination is a primary concern to ensure groundwater sustainability. Consequently, the government has monitored groundwater quality on a regular basis since 1999 using a combination of groundwater wells and exclusive monitoring wells nationwide (Lee & Kwon, ). Commencing with 1,741 wells in 1999, the number of monitoring wells exceeded 3,200 in 2014.…”

Assessing Impacts of Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise on Seawater Intrusion in a Coastal Aquifer

“…To monitor groundwater level, temperature, and electric conductivity (EC) at coastal areas where seawater intrusion was reported or a seawater intrusion risk was high, the Seawater Intrusion Monitoring Network (SIMN) was established and has been operated by the Korea Rural Community (KRC) since 1998 [32,33]. The SIMN consists of 154 monitoring wells and Byeonsan2, close to the Gunsan tide gauge station, selected to investigate seawater intrusion for this study (Figure 1).…”

Groundwater Quality in Western China: Challenges and Paths Forward for Groundwater Quality Research in Western China

“…4. Groundwater quality monitoring is effective in preventing hydrogeological system pollution (Vrba and Pȇkný 1991), and monitoring data supports groundwater management plan design and groundwater resource security (Lee and Kwon 2016). However, current groundwater quality-monitoring networks in western China are imperfect, with inadequate groundwater quality-monitoring wells, irrational monitoring parameters and frequencies, undeveloped monitoring and detection techniques, and a short monitoring history (Li 2014).…”