Gangneung 'Disaster Situation' Final Card... Utilization of Pyeongchang Doam Dam 'Imminent'

【Financial News Gangneung=Kim Gi-seop Reporter】Gangneung City is actively considering the plan to receive water from Pyeongchang Doam Dam as it marks the tenth day since the disaster situation due to drought was declared.
Kim Hyun-soo, a member of the Gangneung City Council, stated in a 10-minute speech at the first plenary session of the 324th Gangneung City Council interim meeting held on the 8th, "Last Saturday, the council held an emergency meeting with the executive body to seriously discuss the issue of receiving water from Doam Dam," and "Council members expressed the opinion that we should accept the 150,000 tons of discharge water in the Doam Dam discharge tunnel section, which the Ministry of Environment has declared as first-grade water."
He continued, "Currently, due to the structure, we can only receive up to 10,000 tons per day, which is still insufficient to resolve the water shortage," adding, "Although the issue of Doam Dam discharge requires agreement with the citizens, there are not many alternatives available at present."


Although there has been strong opposition from the local community regarding the water quality issue of Doam Dam, the Gangneung City Council has shown the first supportive stance on the water supply from Doam Dam, rapidly advancing the issue of Doam Dam discharge.
Earlier, at the 'Gangneung Water Resource Securing Emergency Countermeasure Meeting' presided over by Governor Kim Jin-tae at the second provincial government office conference room on the 7th, the possibility of utilizing Doam Dam water was actively reviewed.
Jeongseon-gun and Yeongwol-gun, adjacent municipalities to Doam Dam, who attended the countermeasure meeting, expressed that there is no objection to the emergency discharge of Doam Dam.
Previously, downstream municipalities of Doam Dam, such as Jeongseon-gun, have shown opposition to the review of water discharge from Doam Dam by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and Gangneung civic groups also expressed "serious concerns about the mention of Doam Dam discharge despite unresolved issues of unverified water quality and water system problems that have persisted for over 20 years" in a press conference on the 4th.
However, as the water level of Obong Reservoir, a drinking water source, continues to drastically decrease despite large-scale water transport, with concerns that the water level may fall below 10%, they are showing support for 'temporary discharge' to resolve the drought, rather than 'power generation discharge'.


Gangneung City also stated its official position on this day, "(Regarding the supply of water from Doam Dam water conveyance pipeline) After accurate water quality inspection, if the water quality is deemed suitable for drinking water sources, we plan to make a final decision after gathering opinions from citizens and experts," and "We will proceed with preparations to ensure readiness if the supply is decided after gathering opinions."
Meanwhile, Doam Dam is a dam built in 1990 for power generation at the uppermost stream of Namhan River in Songcheon, which stored water from the Daegwallyeong area in Doam Dam and sent it to Gangneung Hydroelectric Power Plant through a 15.6 km pipe to produce electricity, then released it into Namdaecheon, which flows through Gangneung City, in a watershed diversion type power generation method until 2000. However, due to opposition from Gangneung residents claiming that the discharge water polluted Namdaecheon, power generation discharge has been suspended since March 2001.

kees26@fnnews.com Kim Gi-seop Reporter