June eco-article from the Ambassador of Gumiby | 17-07-2011 00:48 |
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In this month?s article I would like to talk about two major leakage events that took place in Gumi. Last month, while emphasizing how important purification system is, I slightly talked about phenol leakage in Gumi, and I am going to specifically talk about it because it was not the first time that kind of accident had happened. Time dates back to May 14th, 1991. Undiluted phenol solution was released from Doosan electronics during the transporting process through pipe about 30 meters long leading to phenolic rosins manufacturing line. The phenol solution, used in making circuit board for electric home appliances, was leaking from 10pm 14th to 6am 15th, about eight hours and 30t in total amount. Unfortunately the company did not recognize it quickly enough to stop it. What is worsening, the sewage treatment plant put large quantity of chlorine in the river without trying to find out the cause when it received complaints from the citizens that the water stinks. This worsened the whole accident, particularly affecting pregnant women and feeble people physically and psychologically. The leaked phenol flew Nakdong-river and reached other surrounding regions even to Busan. Many related people were dismissed and sent to prison, unprecedented way of treating environment-related problems. The National Assembly opened up a committee to accurately find out about the cause, and many civic organizations promoted same kind of actions. It seemed like the end of the whole problem, until second accident occurred again at noon on April 22nd, two tons of undiluted phenol solution being leaked. This led people from all around to start doubting about the overall system of water supply and drainage. Finally the situation got very serious that president of Doosan group resigned and the environment minister and vice-minister took the responsibility themselves and replaced. Consequently the citizens began to have more and more interest in the values of water and environment preservation, and laws were legislated to specially treat environmental crimes. Furthermore a committee was organized in order to efficiently deal with four major rivers (Han river, Nakdong river, Geum river, and Yeongsan river) area by area. This tragic event did have some positive effects in Korean society. It raised overall interests in environmental issues in ordinary people and recognized the invaluableness of water. However it has also led people to have doubts in the water regulation system. The city and government should consider this fact and pay more attention to not only water but other environmental issues as well. In my next article I will discuss about another tragic event that could have affected Gumi citizens. |
