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The Juksan weir, installed in the Yeongsan river in South Korea from 2010 to 2012, has secured sustainable water resources and helped control flooding. However, low river flow velocities due to the weir have deteriorated the quality of the river water. For natural river restoration, the water gate was opened in 2017. In this study, the three-dimensional finite difference model Visual MODFLOW was used to analyze the effects of gate opening on stream–aquifer interactions. A conceptual model was developed to simulate the stream–aquifer dynamics caused by the operation of the water gate at the Juksan weir. Groundwater data were also analyzed to determine the impacts of weir operations on groundwater quality. Our results indicate that a lower river level due to the weir opening changed the groundwater flow, which then affected the water balance. The change in groundwater flow increased the variability of the groundwater quality which had homogenized because of induced recharge after the construction of the weir. This could affect groundwater use in agricultural areas near the weir. Therefore, further groundwater monitoring and hydrodynamic analyses are required to anticipate and address any potential issues.

Hydraulic structures have a significant impact on riverine environment, leading to changes in stream&ndash, aquifer interactions. In South Korea, 16 weirs were constructed in four major rivers, in 2012, to secure sufficient water resources, and some weirs operated periodically for natural ecosystem recovery from 2017. The changed groundwater flow system due to weir operation affected the groundwater level and quality, which also affected groundwater use. In this study, we analyzed the changes in the groundwater flow system near the Geum River during the Baekje weir operation using Visual MODFLOW Classic. Groundwater data from 34 observational wells were evaluated to analyze the impact of weir operation on stream&ndash, aquifer interactions. Accordingly, the groundwater discharge rates increased from 0.23 to 0.45 cm/day following the decrease in river levels owing to weir opening, while the hydrological condition changed from gaining to losing streams following weir closure. The variation in groundwater flow affected the groundwater quality during weir operation, changing the groundwater temperature and electrical conductivity (EC). Our results suggest that stream&ndash, aquifer interactions are significantly affected by weir operation, consequently, these repeated phenomena could influence the groundwater quality and groundwater use.

In South Korea, a significant amount of groundwater is used for the heating of water-curtain insulated greenhouses during the winter dry season, which had led to problems of groundwater depletion. A managed aquifer recharge (MAR) project is currently underway with the goal of preventing such groundwater depletion in a typical cultivation area, located on an alluvial aquifer near the Nam River. In the present study, FEFLOW, a three-dimensional finite element model, was used to evaluate different strategies for MAR of the cultivation areas. A conceptual model was developed to simulate the stream-aquifer dynamics under the influence of seasonal groundwater pumping and MAR. The optimal rates and duration of MAR were assessed by analyzing the recovery of the groundwater levels and the change in the groundwater temperature. The simulation results indicate that a MAR rate of 8000 m3 /d effectively restores the groundwater level when the injection wells are located inside the groundwater depletion area. It is also demonstrated that starting the MAR before the beginning of the seasonal pumping is more effective. Riverbank filtration is preferable for securing the injection water owing to plentiful source of induced recharge from the river. Locating the pumping wells adjacent to the river where there are thick permeable layers could be a good strategy for minimizing decreases in the groundwater level and temperature.

Large agricultural fields in South Korea are located mostly on alluvial plains, where a significant amount of groundwater is used for heating of water-curtain insulated greenhouses. Such greenhouses are commonly used for crop cultivation during the winter dry season from November to March. After use the groundwater is discharged directly into streams, causing groundwater depletion. A hydrogeological study was carried out in a typical agricultural area of this type, located on an alluvial aquifer near the Nakdong River. Groundwater levels, chemical characteristics, and temperatures from 68 observation wells were analyzed to determine the impacts of seasonal groundwater pumping on the groundwater system and stream-aquifer interactions. Our results show that the groundwater system has not yet reached a state of dynamic equilibrium. Decades of excessive seasonal pumping have caused a gradual decline of groundwater levels, leading to groundwater depletion, especially in areas further from the river. Seasonal pumping has also significantly affected groundwater quality in the aquifer near the river. Groundwater temperature is decreasing (in this case a disadvantage), and saline groundwater is being diluted by induced recharge. The results of this study provide a basic outline for effective integrated water management that is widely applicable in South Korea.

Visual MODFLOW was used for quantifying stream-aquifer interactions caused by seasonal groundwater pumping. Ahypothetical conceptual model was assumed to represent a stream-aquifer system commonly found in Korea. The modelconsidered a two-layered aquifer with the upper alluvium and the lower bedrock and a stream showing seasonal waterlevel fluctuations. Our results show that seasonal variation of the stream depletion rate (SDR) as well as the groundwaterdepletion depends on the stream depletion factor (SDF), which is determined by aquifer parameters and the distance fromthe pumping well to the stream. For pumping wells with large SDF, groundwater was considerably depleted for a longtime of years and the streamflow decreased throughout the whole year. The impacts of return flow were also examined byrecalculating SDR with an assumed ratio of immediate irrigation return flow to the stream. Return flow over 50% ofpumping rate could increase the streamflow during the period of seasonal pumping. The model also showed that SDR wasaffected by both the conductance between the aquifer and the stream bed and screen depths of the pumping well. Ourresults can be used for preliminary assessment of water budget analysis aimed to plan an integrated management of waterresources in riparian areas threatened by heavy pumping.Key words: Stream Depletion Rate (SDR), Stream Depletion Factor (SDF), Stream-aquifer interaction, Seasonal pump-ing, Visual MODFLOW

The "Four Major Rivers Restoration Project" was conducted to secure sufficient water resources, introduce comprehensive flood control measures, improve water quality, and restore river ecosystems in Korea. As a part of the project, 16 sites were dredged and weirs were installed in the Han, Geum, Yeongsan, and Nakdong Rivers from late 2010 to early 2012. Groundwater data were obtained from 213 groundwater monitoring wells near the four major rivers to analyze the impacts of weir construction on the nearby groundwater flow system. The groundwater level and chemical characteristics were analyzed to investigate how the groundwater flow system and water quality changed following weir construction. Our results show that the groundwater level immediately increased with increased river levels following weir construction. In addition, the hydrologic condition of some rivers upstream of the weirs was changed from gaining to losing streams. Consequently, the direction of groundwater flow changed from perpendicular to parallel to the river, and groundwater downstream of the weir became recharged from the area upstream of the weir. This should affect groundwater quality, which should become similar to the river water; however, this change has not yet been observed. Therefore, both further monitoring of the groundwater quality and further hydrogeochemical analysis are required for quantitative evaluation of the effects of weir construction in the study area.

An artificial recharge test aimed at investigating transport characteristics of the injected water plume in a fractured rock aquifer was conducted. The test used an injection well for injecting tap water whose temperature and electrical conductivity were different from the groundwater. Temporal and depth-wise variation of temperature and electrical conductivity was monitored in both the injection well and a nearby observation well. A highly permeable fracture zone acting as the major pathway of groundwater flow was distinctively revealed in the monitoring data. A finite element subsurface flow and transport simulator (FEFLOW) was used to investigate sensitivity of the transport process to associated aquifer parameters. Simulated results showed that aperture thickness of the fracture and the hydraulic gradient of groundwater highly affected spatio-temporal variation of temperature and electrical conductivity of the injected water plume. The study suggests that artificial recharge of colder water in a fractured rock aquifer could create a thermal plume persistent over a long period of time depending on hydro-thermal properties of the aquifer as well as the amount of injected water.

The water-table fluctuation (WTF) method has been often used for estimating groundwater recharge by analysis of waterlevel measurements in observation wells. An important assumption inherent in the method is that the water level rise is solely caused by precipitation recharge. For the observation wells located near a stream, however, the water-level can be highly affected by the stream level fluctuations as well as precipitation recharge. Therefore, in applying the WTF method, there should be consideration regarding the effect of stream-aquifer interactions. Analysis of water-level hydrographs from the National Groundwater Monitoring Wells of Korea showed that they could be classified into three different types depending on their responses to either precipitation recharge or stream level fluctuations. A simple groundwater flow model was used to analyze the errors of the WTF method, which were associated with stream-aquifer interactions. Not surprisingly, the model showed that the WTF method could greatly overestimate recharge, when it was used for the observation wells of which the water-level was affected by streams. Therefore, in Korea, where most groundwater hydrographs are acquired from wells nearby a stream, more caution is demanded in applying the WTF method.

The performance of the ATES (aquifer thermal energy storage) system primarily depends on the thermal interference between warm and cold thermal energy stored in an aquifer. Additionally the thermal interference is mainly affected by the borehole distance, the hydraulic conductivity, and the pumping/injection rate. Thermo-hydraulic modeling was performed to identify the thermal interference by three parameters and to estimate the system performance change by the thermal interference. Modeling results indicate that the thermal interference grows as the borehole distance decreases, as the hydraulic conductivity increases, and as the pumping/injection rate increases. The system performance analysis indicates that if η (the ratio of the length of the thermal front to the distance between two boreholes) is lower than unity, the system performance is not significantly affected, but if η is equal to unity, the system performance falls up to ∼22%. Long term modeling for a factory in Anseong was conducted to test the applicability of the ATES system. When the pumping/injection rate is 100 m3/day, system performances during the summer and winter after 3 years of operation are estimated to be ∼125 kW and ∼110 kW, respectively. Therefore, 100 m3/day of the pumping/injection rate satisfies the energy requirements (∼70 kW) for the factory.

A simple numerical model is presented for estimating vertical groundwater flux from transient subsurface temperature profiles obtained from field measurements. The model developed utilizes the MacCormack scheme, which is based on the Finite Difference Method (FDM), for solving the governing partial differential equation of convection–diffusion heat transport with appropriate initial and boundary conditions within the subsurface. In order to validate the model, numerical solutions obtained for the study area located in the Nagoka plain, Japan are compared with the published measured data and results obtained by others. Results obtained show good agreement and fit the observed data with a correlation coefficient, R2, of 0·88. The estimated groundwater flux is 1·85 × 10−7 m s−1. Sensitivity analyses were also carried out to investigate the effect of variations in groundwater fluxes, thermal properties and the annual thermal variability due to climatic changes on the transient subsurface temperature profiles and to have a better understanding of the subsurface thermal dynamics. A substantial effect of annual climatic variability is observed on the temporal distributions of temperature depth profiles, and a better estimate of thermal parameters is required to estimate vertical groundwater flux. The largest change in subsurface temperature depth profiles due to groundwater flux over a year is within ± 4 °C. The influence of groundwater flux on subsurface temperature distributions in space and time may be more pronounced in areas where the top of the saturated layer fluctuates considerably. Variation in thermal diffusivity results in temperature change up to ± 1·5% and may cause change in groundwater flux estimate by ± 18%. The model presented has merits over analytical solutions (type curve matching techniques) in terms of suitability and applicability to real field problems, and can be a good asset to hydrological models as quantifying groundwater recharge or deducing it from other quantities, such as rainfall, evapotranspiration and runoff, is often complicated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A geochemical study was carried out in a small spa area (Onyang Spa, Korea) where intensive pumping of deep thermal groundwater (1 300 000 m3 year−1) is taking place. This has caused the deep fractures to lose their artesian pressure and the upper shallow fractures have been encroached by shallow, cold waters. To quantify the influence of long-term heavy pumping on the quality of the geothermal water, groundwater sampling and chemical analysis, water-level measurement, and well loggings were performed for the selected deep thermal wells and shallow cold wells. Chemical analysis results indicate a big contrast in water chemistry and origins between the two water types. Shallow groundwater shows a wider concentration ranges in solutes that are closely related to human activity, illustrating the water's vulnerability to contamination near the land surface. Plots of water chemistry as a function of fluoride reveal that the quality of the thermal water was greatly influenced by the shallow, cold groundwater and that intensive pumping of the deep thermal groundwater has caused the introduction of shallow groundwater into the deeper fractures. Although the deep and the shallow fractures were piezometrically separated to some extent, a mixing model based on fluoride and nitrate indicated that the cold-water fractions in the thermal wells are up to 50%. This suggests that the thermal water is faced with water quality degradation by the downward flow of the shallow, cold water. Restriction on the total of all the pumpage permits per unit area is suggested to restore the artesian pressure of the deep thermal aquifer and to prevent cold-water intrusion in the study area. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.