강변여과가 널리 보급된 유럽의 자연조건 및 사회적인 요소들을 우리나라와 비교한 결과 강변여과는 유럽의 조건에 적합한 형태이며, 작은 투수계수, 빈약한 자연지하수, 집약적 영농 등의 불리한 여건을 가진 우리나라에서는 하상여과가 보다 적합함을 알 수 있었다. 하상여과의 한 형태로 우리나라에서 널리 사용되는 복류수는 수리학 및 수질학적으로 큰 단점을 가지고 있어서 소직경의 고효율 집수관을 이용한 개선이 필요하며, 방사형 집수정이나 E자형의 매거형 수평정이 하상여과정의 적당한 형태임을 알 수 있었다. 또한, 하상여과는 양질의 상수원 확보뿐 아니라 하천의 수질을 개선하는 방안으로도 활용될 수 있음을 알 수 있었다.
Natural and social conditions in Europe, where riverbank filtration is a popular way of source water intake for drinking water production, were compared with those in Korea as an effort to find a suitable type of RBF(riverbank/bed filtration) in Korea, Results show that riverbank filtration is a suitable way to the European situation and that riverbed filtration is more advantageous in Korea due to many factors including the low permeability of the geologic formation, the scant amount of natural groundwater and the intense agricultural activities near the RBF sites. The conventional infiltration gallery, which is a type of the riverbed filtration and has been widely used for the production of drinking water in Korea, was found to have disadvantages in terms of both well productivity and filtrate quality, which could be removed by employing a high-efficiency screen with small diameters. It was found that under the natural and social conditions in Korea the appropriate types of the riverbed filtration were the radial collector well and the E-shaped infiltration gallery. It was also found that the riverbed filtration could be used not only as a process of drinking water production but also as a measure to improve river water quality by returning the filtrate to the river.
