Framework for Healthiness Assessment of Water Cycle to Decide the Priority of Enhancement and Restoration Plans

The water cycle in watersheds is vulnerable due to climate change; hence, the need for sustainable watershed management is increasing. This paper suggests a framework for a healthiness assessment of the water cycle to provide a guideline for systematic watershed management considering the previous and current states. The suggested framework aims to prioritize restoration and enhancement plans based on the graded healthiness of the water cycle elements by the watersheds. The framework is composed of two assessment procedures: a problem-focused assessment to identify problems such as flood, drought, and river depletion in the watershed and the highest priority assessment to select the watershed for enhancement and restoration plans. The healthiness assessment method for each metric is suggested based on the Korean Framework Act on Water Management. The framework was applied to four different watersheds in South Korea. The framework is proven to be an effective method to identify practical emerging problems for the water cycle in each watershed. The framework can contribute to providing technical information to detect the water problem of the watershed by objectively diagnosing the watersheds with various potential water problems via the healthiness assessment.