Analysis of water conservation and wastewater treatment options in the Geum River basin, South Korea

Abstract

A water supply system needs to be evaluated in order to meet the future water demand and to preserve the natural environment. Because most annual rainfall events occur during the summer in South Korea, it is necessary to develop an efficient water supply plan for the entire year. To cope with future demands, accurate evaluation of supply scenarios are required in order to determine the most feasible plan. In this paper, a water supply system was developed for the Geum River basin, South Korea using an object-oriented system dynamics approach, which enables the decision maker to develop a model that can be easily understood by the stakeholder and the non-modeler. Two different scenarios were applied for the developed water supply system to investigate the long-term water supply plan. Water savings measures to reduce water demands in the residential area were suggested and evaluated. The water quality degradation was predicted and the expansion of the capacity of wastewater treatment plants to cope with the aggravated water quality was suggested.