Modeling Artificial Groundwater Recharge in the Hancheon Drainage Area, Jeju island, Korea

For the Hancheon drainage area in Jeju island, a groundwater flow model using Visual MODFLOW was developed to simulate artificial recharge through injection wells installed in the Hancheon reservoir. The model was used to analyze changes of the groundwater level and the water budget due to the artificial recharge. The model assumed that of storm water would recharge annually through the injection wells during the rainy season. The transient simulation results showed that the water level rose by 39.6 m at the nearest monitoring well and by 0.26 m at the well located 7 km downstream from the injection wells demonstrating a large extent of the affected area by the artificial recharge. It also shown that, at the time when the recharge ended in the 5th year, the water level increased by 81 m at the artificial reservoir and the radius of influence was about 2.1 km downstream toward the coast. The residence time of recharged groundwater was estimated to be no less than 5 years. The model also illustrated that 15 years of artificial recharge could increase the average linear velocity of groundwater up to 1540 m/yr, which showed 100 m/yr higher than before. Increase of groundwater storage due to artificial recharge was calculated to be and at the end of the 5th and 10th years of artificial recharge, respectively. The rate of storage increase was gradually diminished afterwards, and storage increase of was retained after 15 years of artificial recharge. Conclusively, the artificial recharge system could augment of additional groundwater resources in the Hancheon area.