In the Geumho River, 4-nitrophenol has been detected, thus it is necessary to investigate the contamination sources in order to prevent the release of this compound. However, the research to estimate the potential source is regarded as complicated research. In this study, the distributions of 4-nitrophenol were simulated and the contribution of the potential sources was estimated using a numerical model(HydroGeoSphere; HGS) and the measuring data of 4-nitrophenol from 2013 to 2017. The altitude data, the land cover data, the flow rates of the tributaries and wastewater treatment plants, and the decay rate of 4-nitrophenol was used as the input data. The results of this research showed that the contribution rates of potential contamination sources in the upstream area were higher than that of the downstream area. Most of the upstream area is the agricultural area, it seemed that 4-nitrophenol was originated from the pesticides. In order to achieve more specific location of sources, an intensive investigation in the upstream is required.

For areas with the diverse contamination sources, the change of 4-nitrophenol contamination and impact of potential contamination sources have been evaluated using monitoring data and a numerical model (HydroGeoSphere). The model considered several parameters including land cover, precipitation, and flow rate. And, the model has been performed to investigate the effect of decay rate of 4-nitrophenol. The results of the simulations showed that the influence on 4-nitrophenol in downstream was mainly greater than that in upstream, and the tributaries did not significantly affect the mainstream because of their low flow rates. In addition, the effect of contamination sources was simulated for each section, then the measured data were higher than the corresponding simulated data in most sections of the Geumho river. In particular, the impact of the potential contamination sources in the upstream area was much higher than that in the other area, thus more monitoring data for the upstream area is required.