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"Why is the river green?" Korea's Four Major Rivers Project |
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by Seungwon Lee | 28-05-2018 11:20
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Lee Myung-bak, the then president of South Korea, initiated the Four Major Rivers Project in 2007 to revitalize the four major rivers in Korea. His objective was to prevent floods, improve water quality, and therefore create recreational areas that will naturally bring in more tourism revenue for local regions. His plans had to inevitably encounter immense opposition from many politicians, NGOs, and environmental organizations but he forced the plan anyway. Consequently, approximately 20 billion US dollars of tax revenue was spent in carrying this ?grand plan?; dikes were built, dams were installed, and rivers were lined with cement. The constructed continued for two years, and as expected, stirred up a lot of controversies. The effectiveness of the project was questioned at most. Though Lee had promised the enhanced quality of the four major rivers, the unthoughtful plan of his rather messed up many key natural habitats, threatening many of the species living nearby. The plummeted water quality even created jokes and memes calling the rivers as ?green algae latte?, referring to the river?s slime-like viscosity and exponential growth of algae to an unhealthy point. Environmental experts argue that in order to restore the quality of the four rivers—Han, Geum, Nakdong, and Yeongsan River—all the artificial construction should be removed. The Four Rivers Restoration Project, initiated to confront and resolve the environmental challenges of the four rivers, was thus enacted to restore the water quality and ensure better flood control. Though it had plans to restore 90% of the BOD by 2012, its progress is not as rapid as expected. President Moon Jae-in the current president of South Korea who announced this project as one of his biggest promises when he was elected president is currently facing criticism from many environmental organizations due to its lagging progress. |
  
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8 Comments
Hi Seungwon! It is unfortunate that the then president of South Korea could not live up to his promises of proper water resource quality, flood prevention and promote recreational areas to attract more tourisms to South Korea.
The algae situation is one to be taken very seriously, and I do hope that even thought the Four Rivers Restoration Project is a slow, lagging process... it should, in the end, bring forth a revitalisation boom for the water resource.
Great article!
Posted 30-05-2018 15:46
Hello Seungwon, 4 major river project has been a hot potato for a long time but it is truly obvious that there are tons of problems triggered by artificial add-ons and construction done during project.
Apart from degradation of water level and quality, flow direction and currents have also been changed, affecting precipitation reaction and erosion of bottom below river.
A couple of local administration orders are made and it is making rivers healthier again, so we might have to wait and see how it goes!
Thanks for introducing important case of South Korea to E-gen families!
Posted 30-05-2018 01:26
Hello Seungwon
I also remember the time when this project was first initiated. It really did stir up a lot of controversies, and now it became a homework for us to solve. I saw many articles criticizing the project turning rivers all greenish. I think that this project raises awareness about the importance of a good planning. Before putting on a real plan in to practice a better understanding should be preceded so that it won't go the other way from its original intention.
Thanks for the report :)
Posted 30-05-2018 00:39
Oh i see, thank u for the information about sanitation at korea...
Posted 29-05-2018 23:24
Interesting.
Posted 29-05-2018 19:29
wow, thank you for sharing
Posted 29-05-2018 16:51
Thanks for sharing.
Posted 29-05-2018 02:35
It's interesting to see what policies and plans are proposed to do this. BTW, I am curious but what part of the plan did the NGOs and environmentalists oppose? Because I thought that this is to revitalize the waterways but the environmentalists oppose?!
Maybe I am getting it wrong, but great to know that there are interesting controversy on water pollution in South Korea :)
Posted 28-05-2018 23:56