As the natural flows in rivers dramatically decrease during drought season in Korea, a deterioration of river water quality is accelerated. Thus, consideration of downstream water quality responding to changes in reservoir release is essential for an integrated watershed management with regards to water quantity and quality. In this study, water quality models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) method were developed using historical downstream water quality (rm $NH_3$-N) data obtained from a water treatment plant in Geum river and reservoir release data from Daechung dam. A nonlinear multiple regression model was developed and compared with the ANN models. In the models, the rm NH$_3$-N concentration for next time step is dependent on dam outflow, river water quality data such as pH, alkalinity, temperature, and rm $NH_3$-N of previous time step. The model parameters were estimated using monthly data from Jan. 1993 to Dec. 1998, then another set of monthly data between Jan. 1999 and Dec. 2000 were used for verification. The predictive performance of the models was evaluated by comparing the statistical characteristics of predicted data with those of observed data. According to the results, the ANN models showed a better performance than the regression model in the applied cases.