It is one of the most important factors to determine the effective rainfall for estimation of flood hydrograph in design schedule. SCS curve number (CN) method has been frequently used to estimate the effective rainfall of synthesized design flood hydrograph for hydraulic structures. But, it should be cautious to apply SCS-CN originally developed in U.S.A to watersheds in Korea, because characteristics of watersheds in Korea and cropping patterns especially like a paddy land cultivation are quite different from those in USA. New CN method has been introduced. Maximum storage capacity which was herein defined as Umax can be calibrated from the streamflow data and converted to new CN-I of direst condition of soil moisture in the given watershed. Effective rainfall for design flood hydrograph can be estimated by the curve number developed in the watersheds in Korea.