Drone imagery and artificial intelligence-based investigation and management of pollution source distribution in the Miho River mid-watershed

Inji Lee; Suho Bak; Miso Park; Seon-Woong Jang

doi:10.3741/JKWRA.2026.59.6.613

All Issue

2026 Vol.59, Issue 6 Preview Page Next Page

Drone imagery and artificial intelligence-based investigation and management of pollution source distribution in the Miho River mid-watershed 드론 영상과 인공지능 분석을 활용한 미호강 중권역 오염원 분포 조사 및 관리 방안 연구

30 June 2026. pp. 613-622

PDF XML

Abstract

This study quantitatively analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution and management status of compost heaps in the Miho River mid-watershed using UAV imagery and YOLOv8-based instance segmentation. Eight seasonal surveys conducted from June 2023 to March 2025 revealed a general increasing trend in compost heap occurrences, with significant seasonal peaks observed around March, aligning with spring cultivation preparations. The segmentation model achieved an Accuracy of 0.931 and an mIoU of 0.808. Specifically, Accuracy represents the precision of object classification, whereas mIoU (mean Intersection over Union) quantifies the spatial overlap between predicted masks and actual boundaries, validating the model’s high performance in accurately delineating heap areas. Management analysis highlighted March 2025 as a compounded risk period, characterized by maximum total volumes and the highest proportion of uncovered, "inadequate" heaps. Administratively, Heungdeok-gu in Cheongju and Dongnam-gu in Cheonan were identified as priority management hotspots due to their extensive farmland and concentrated livestock facilities. This research establishes an efficient UAV-AI monitoring framework for watershed-scale non-point source pollution and provides critical foundational data to support the development of effective environmental management policies.

Keywords

Unmanned aerial vehicles

Deep learning

Compost heap

Water quality

본 연구는 미호강 중권역을 대상으로 드론 영상과 딥러닝 기반 인스턴스 세그멘테이션 기법을 적용하여 야적퇴비의 시공간적 분포 특성과 관리 상태를 정량적으로 분석하였다. 2023년 6월부터 2025년 3월까지 3개월 간격으로 총 8회 계절별 조사를 수행한 결과, 야적퇴비는 전반적으로 증가 추세를 보였으며, 경작 준비 시기인 3월을 전후하여 개소수와 체적량이 증가하는 계절적 경향이 나타났다. 다만 증가의 폭과 양상은 하천별로 차이를 보였으며, 봄철 경작 준비 과정에서 퇴비가 집중 적재되는 농업 활동 특성과 밀접한 관련이 있는 것으로 해석된다. 야적퇴비 탐지에 활용된 YOLOv8 인스턴스 세그멘테이션 모델은 영남·호남 지역 학습 데이터를 기반으로 구축되었으며, 해당 데이터에 대한 검증 결과 객체 단위 분류 정확도인 Accuracy 0.931, 예측 마스크와 실제 마스크 간 겹침 비율의 클래스별 평균인 mIoU 0.808을 나타내어 유역 단위 야적퇴비 자동 탐지 및 모니터링에 활용이 가능하다고 판단하였다. 관리 상태 분석 결과, 특히 2025년 3월에는 총 체적량과 덮개 미설치 '부적절' 등급 비율이 동시에 최고치를 기록하여 비점오염원 유출 위험이 복합적으로 증가하는 시기임이 확인되었다. 행정구역별 누적 발생량 분석 결과, 충청북도 청주시 흥덕구와 충청남도 천안시 동남구가 농경지 면적과 축사 밀집도가 높아 우선 관리가 필요한 주요 지역으로 도출되었다. 본 연구는 드론 영상과 딥러닝 기법을 활용하여 유역 단위 비점오염원을 효율적으로 감시할 수 있는 체계를 제시하였으며, 향후 비점오염 관리 정책 수립을 위한 기초자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

키워드

무인항공기

딥러닝

야적퇴비

수질오염

References

Geum River Basin Environmental Office (GRBEO) (2019). Water quality improvement measures for the Miho Stream basin through public-private-academic cooperation. Ministry of Environment.

Geum River Basin Management Committee (GRBMC) (2021). Detailed investigation and improvement plan for water quality degradation sections in the Miho Stream. Geum River Basin Management Committee, No. 11-1480355-000113-01, p. 2.

He, K., Gkioxari, G., Dollár, P., and Girshick, R. (2017). “Mask R-CNN.” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Venice, Italy, pp. 2961-2969.

10.1109/ICCV.2017.322

Joint Interagency Committee (JIC) (2012). The 2nd comprehensive plan for non-point source pollution management. Government of the Republic of Korea, pp. 9-12.

Kim, H.M., Park, S.H., Yoon, H.J., and Jang, S.W. (2021a). “Accuracy evaluation of open-air compost volume calculation using unmanned aerial vehicle.” Journal of the Korea Institute of Electronic Communication Sciences, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 541-550.

Kim, N.K., Park, M.S., Jeong, M.J., Hwang, D.H., and Yoon, H.J. (2021b). “A study on field compost detection by using unmanned aerial vehicle image and semantic segmentation technique based deep learning.” Korean Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 367-378.

Konkuk University (KU) (2016). Monitoring of non-point source pollution characteristics from agricultural (Cropland and livestock) activities and development of management policies for livestock non-point source pollution. No. 11-1543000-001172-01, pp. 491-494.

Korea Water Resources and Environment Research Institute (KWEI) (2014). A study on establishing a management planning guideline for non-point source pollution in rural areas. No. 11-1480523-002213-01, pp. 26-28.

Lee, Y.S., Lee, H.J., Hong, S.C., and Oh, D.M. (2009). “Effect of non-point sources from livestock composted land - A case of cows manure -.” Journal of the Korean Wetlands Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 81-88.

Park, G.U., Park, K.H., and Song, B.G. (2020). “Spatio-temporal change monitoring of outside manure piles using unmanned aerial vehicle images.” Drones, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1.

10.3390/drones5010001

Park, G.U., Park, K.H., Moon, B.H., and Song, B.G. (2019). “Monitoring of non-point pollutant sources: Management status and load change of composting in a rural area based on UAV.” Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 1-14.

Sharpley, A., and Moyer, B. (2000). “Phosphorus forms in manure and compost and their release during simulated rainfall.” Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 1462-1469.

10.2134/jeq2000.00472425002900050012x

Song, B.G., and Park, K.H. (2021). “Comparison of outdoor compost pile detection using unmanned aerial vehicle images and various machine learning techniques.” Drones, Vol. 5, No. 2, 31.

10.3390/drones5020031

Information

Publisher :KOREA WATER RESOURECES ASSOCIATION
Publisher(Ko) :한국수자원학회
Journal Title :Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
Journal Title(Ko) :한국수자원학회 논문집
Volume : 59
No :6
Pages :613-622
Received Date : 2025-12-15
Revised Date : 2026-04-07
Accepted Date : 2026-04-14
DOI :https://doi.org/10.3741/JKWRA.2026.59.6.613

Journal of Korea Water Resources Association ISSN:2799-8746(Print) 2799-8754(Online) 한국수자원학회 논문집

All Issue