A local or site-specific water temperature is downscaled from the nation-wide air temperature that represents simulation by General Circulation Model (GCM). Both two-step and one-step method are tested and compared in three sites: Masan Bay, Lake Sihwa, and Nakdong River Estuary. Two-step method uses a linear regression model as the first step that converts nation-wide air temperature into local air temperature, and the corresponding coefficient of determination is in the range of 0.98~0.99. The second step that converts air temperature into water temperature uses a nonlinear curve, so called S-curve, and the corresponding root mean squared error (RMSE) is 2.07 for rising limb in Masan Bay, 1.93 for falling limb in Masan Bay, 2.59 for Lake Sihwa, and 1.58 for Nakdong River Estuary. In a similar way, one-step method is performed to directly convert nation-wade air temperature into local water temperature, and the corresponding RMSE is 2.28 for rising limb in Masan Bay, 1.89 for falling limb in Masan Bay, 2.55 for Lake Sihwa, and 1.52 for Nakdong River Estuary. Consequently both methods show a similar level of performance, and one-step method is recommendable in that it is simple and practical in relative terms.