K-water is transforming its regional headquarters to a companywide emergency anti-drought headquarters starting June 8. 

K-water President Lee Hak-soo takes the helm of the newly integrated headquarters. 

Precipitation during the March-May period stood at 117.6 mm, nearly half of the annual average 236.6 mm for the recent 30 years. The new emergency anti-drought headquarters will establish overall plans, including ways of connecting extra water resources, including reservoirs near the drought-ravaged areas, metropolitan area water supply facilities and underground water resources. Regional offices will establish and implement detailed plans by sharing information on droughts in real time.

Anti-drought departments of regional offices which have jurisdiction over drought-hit areas have so far been charged with anti-drought measures. As droughts have worsened, K-water has decided to integrate the anti-drought departments of regional offices into a companywide emergency anti-drought headquarters to cope with droughts in an efficient fashion, rather than concentrating water management capabilities. 

The western areas of Chungcheongnam-do, including Boryeong and Sosan, have been suffering from a shortage of water since 2015. The Boryeong Dam, which supplies water to the western areas of the province, saw a water storage volume stand at 11.39 million cubic meters, 9.7 percent capacity as of June 7. The figure represents a level equivalent to 27 percent of that during the same period of the previous year. 

In order to cope with a shortage of water in the region, K-water supplied a daily maximum water volume of 115,000 cubic meters from raceways for the supplying of accumulative water amounts of 7.3 million cubic meters in 2016. The corporation also tweaked water supply systems of the Daecheong Dam in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, and the Yongdam Dam in Jinan, Jeollabuk-do, to supply an additional daily maximum water amounts of 31,000 cubic meters starting June 1.

With the expanding of the companywide emergency anti-drought headquarters, K-water plans to establish a more organic and closer collaboration regime with government agencies and proactively cope with droughts and the regular opening of reservoirs. K-water President Lee said, “K-water will muster its water management capabilities and resources to overcome the current drought situation through active cooperation with the government.” The corporation will do its utmost to minimize damage caused by drought by establishing support stems in a swift fashion, he added. 

In a related development, farmers in drought-hit areas put up opposition agains the govenrment's deciison to open six reservoirs along four major rivers, including the Naktong River. The Envrionment Ministry and two oterh ministreis held a joint news briefing on June 1 and announced the opening of six reservoirs, ilcduing Gangjeong Goryeong Resevoir and the Dalseong Reservoir along hte Naktong River, and the Gongju Reservoir alon the Gum River. Near the just-opened reservoirs are 60 puping stations for farming.

Deputy Minister Lee Yoon-seop of the Environment Ministry said the opening of reservoirs had nothing to do with droughts. But farmers complained about the opening of the Gongju Reservoir, which could disrupt the supply of water for farming, but the governemnt said theere is no problem to cope with droughjts since the Baekjae Reservoir, located below the Gonju Reservor, is not opened. Farmers still worred about a shoratge of water, saying, "Why has the governament opend up reservoirs in the face of droughts?"

K-water Committed to Ensuring Safety, Welfare and Fostering Water Industry

Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water), marking its 50th anniversary this year, plans to ensure safety and welfare and nurture the water industry. In his New Year’s message earlier this year, K-water CEO Lee Hak-soo presented three tasks to promote water management over the next 50 years.

First, Lee stressed the foremost policy task that K-water, a sole public entity specializing in the development of the water industry, will have to implement over the next 50 years the preventing of water disasters, safety management, the improving of water welfare, and the enhancing the principle of equality. To this end, he said, K-water will strengthen water management according to each sphere, taking into account regional characteristics, including water amounts, water quality and ecological features of major streams, including the top four rivers, while establishing open platforms that can be put into practice in collaboration with diverse water management organizations.

Second, he said K-water will be committed to nurturing the Korean water industry and ramping up its global competitiveness by making the most of the water management technologies and expertise the corporation has accumulated throughout the past 50 years. K-water will build a national integrated water management system based on smart water management using ICT technologies designed to brace for future climate change dangers, while striving to create jobs by fostering the water industry.