Development of Assessment Method for Riparian Physical Environments

Abstract

This paper presents a newly developed riparian physical environment assessment method for evaluating of stream health. 10 indices and the level of the stream health by the scores were determined. 60 sites in the Han River Basin were monitored. The average level was 3, fair status. The stream sites at higher classes were distributed in the upper reach of the river basin. More than 70% of the surveyed riparian sites do not reach the ecological “good status” and have to be restored. The results of this study can be used as an evidence for the utility of this method to other stream sites for the following reasons, i.e., smaller number of indices and their intuitive expressions to increase the speed and accuracy of the monitoring, small variations between different monitoring results at the same sites, and minimum necessary information that should be examined.