제주특별자치도에서의 지속가능한 지하수관리를 위한 법적 과제

Groundwater is the sole source of water for residents of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, which is a volcanic island. While jeju rely heavily on groundwater, the demand for water is expected to increase due to the increasing population and tourists. In addition, the risk of groundwater depletion and contamination is increasing due to climate change. In Jeju, groundwater is regulated by the Governor mainly under the Groundwater Act, the Jeju Special Act and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Groundwater Management Ordinance. There are provisions for the sustainability of groundwater in these laws, such as groundwater development and use permit, designation and management of special management area, groundwater disturbance management, and the imposition of charges for groundwater usage. However, authoritative agencies have not been able to adequately respond to the risk of groundwater depletion and pollution with these system. It is difficult for the administration to protect groundwater with regulatory means because the risk of depletion or contamination of groundwater includes scientific uncertainty. The precautionary principle means that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation” and may provide specific guidelines for sustainable management of natural resources. In order to prevent the depletion and pollution of groundwater, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province's groundwater management system needs to be improved as follows : (1) including the precautionary principle as one of the standard for groundwater management (2) active precautionary prevention against potential groundwater risks (3) imposing charges to motivate the conservation of groundwater (4) ensuring professionalism, fairness, objectivity of groundwater impact assessment (5) continuing efforts to reduce scientific uncertainty about groundwater (6) including ordinary citizens and interested parties in the process of determining and implementing groundwater policies.