Current Status of Groundwater Monitoring Networks in Korea
1
Department of Geology, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
2
Critical Zone Frontier Research Laboratory (CFRL), Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Robert Puls, Robert Powell and David K. Kreamer
Water 2016, 8(4), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040168
Received: 2 March 2016
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Revised: 14 April 2016
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Accepted: 15 April 2016
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Published: 21 April 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation)
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.
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Keywords:
groundwater monitoring; groundwater act; groundwater quality; seawater intrusion; changing climate; drought
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lee, J.-Y.; Kwon, K.D. Current Status of Groundwater Monitoring Networks in Korea. Water 2016, 8, 168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040168
AMA Style
Lee J-Y, Kwon KD. Current Status of Groundwater Monitoring Networks in Korea. Water. 2016; 8(4):168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040168
Chicago/Turabian StyleLee, Jin-Yong, and Kideok D. Kwon. 2016. "Current Status of Groundwater Monitoring Networks in Korea" Water 8, no. 4: 168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040168
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