Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

The purpose of this study is to investigate transition of pumping technology, irrigation water requirement, and unit area drainage discharge at the Pumping station-based Irrigation Associations (PIAs) in South Korea during Japanese colonial period (1910-1945). The PIAs established pumping stations and embankments along rivers for the purpose of irrigation, drainage and flood prevention until the mid-1920s. From the late 1920s after major river improvement projects, newly established PIAs did not include the flood prevention in their purpose of establishment. The design criteria of the irrigation and drainage projects, such as irrigation water requirements, design rainfall, and allowable ponding duration were decided according to the circumstances of PIAs. The gross irrigation water requirement of paddy fields increased from the 1920s to the 1940s, and reached the level of 0.0020 m³/s/ha (19 mm/d) in the 1940s for the fairly good irrigation status in the drought. The great floods of 1930, 1933, and 1934 triggered the increase in drainage discharge in the late 1930s, leading to the unit area drainage discharge of 0.9-2.6 m³/s/km² for natural drainage and 0.3-1.1 m³/s/km² for pump drainage. Therefore, several PIAs near the major rivers could avoid repetitive floods damage.