Groundwater is an essential drinking water source in Gyungbuk, South Korea. The primary source of nitrate in groundwater is from nitrogen fertilizers. Efficient management of a small drinking water plant requires a good understanding of its status such as the objective and the cognition of users. The objective of this study is to understand user situation and produce useful user-friendly policy based on user cognition. Most people who participated in this study, should take their groundwater from a good quality source. Even though they would like to have a good facility for getting safe water, they were reluctant to do it due to the cost used. It means that people who drink groundwater have no idea that health safety is affected by groundwater quality. The volume used depended upon personal activities such as agriculture and stockbreeding. We can easily find groundwater with nitrate that exceeds drinking water standards. Therefore, we have to carry out groundwater management with two categories ; 1) drinking water only and 2) others according to objectives in small drinking water systems.