We Should Let Korean Rivers Wind Naturally

We Should Let Korean Rivers Wind Naturally:
Bitter Controversies over Four-River Project
Lee, Haesoo

A Korean novelist, Kyeong-lee Park, used to welcome Seoul's CheonggyeCheon, the creek in the core of the city, Restoration Project. She thought the historic site would be restored by Myeong-park Lee, the Seoul mayor. However, she showed regrets and anger that cultural properties was damaged and buried at the creek and. “I feel deeply ashamed of myself as one of the people who were in favour of the project.” she said. The mayor became the Korean president, and he wanted to extend his river construction nationally, likening cultural properties to rocks in the creek. It is called the Four-Rivers Project. The four major rivers are the Han, Geum, Nakdong, and Yeongsan rivers. The rivers have been dammed, forced into concrete channels, or otherwise re-engineered by successive governments. 10m dams were built, and the river bottom was dug up. Sand and gravel grounds were turned into bike lanes, golf links, racetracks, and other recreational facilities as well.

The government aims for the Four-Rivers Project in following. There has been a gradual decline in the quality of the rivers, so the water needs to purify by building the embankments. Dams are for preparing against the risks of floods and droughts. The government also expects that the project can offer a comprehensive benefits package. However, the pretext has no rational justification. Firstly, Germany and the U.S.A. demolished dams rather than keeping them in order to solve water pollution. Streamlet has to be preserved from near city’s wastewater. Secondly, dams, which are ready for both floods and droughts are unprecedented. Although many experts were concerned about the world's first project, Mr. Lee pressed ahead with it quickly. Thirdly, to raise funds to cover the budget of the project, the government cut welfare that people really need. It is contradictory to the concept of welfare works. Above all, it has caused ecological catastrophes such as the imbalance of river landforms and an algae outbreak.

It is absolutely expected that stagnant water is bound to rot. That is why many countries have demolished their dams. According to a report by the Eco-Horizon Institute, the U.S.A. has torn down 467 embankments since 1912. The Main-Donau-Canal was used as a model of Four-River Project in Korea, but the German government has promoted downscaling the canal and nature-restoration. Moreover, we should manage streamlets, not the main 4 rivers if we genuinely want water improvement. The Korean Environmental Office reported that the main cause of water pollution is from streamlet input from factory wastes. In particular, the Nakdong river pollution is noticeable at the confluence with the Geumho brook, which is adjacent to Daegu city and factories. It means that it is urgent to preserve the brooks from waste water before it flows into major rivers. The Korean government has focused the major rivers which do not need to improve. Also, we know sand facilitates the self-purification of streams. There is a lot of sand in the Korean rivers; it is more than a meter in depth. If the area is dug artificially to build a dam, the river will lose its self-cleansing properties, and it could have unforeseeable consequences for the environment.
 
The Korean government claimed to combine two functions in a dam, but it remains controversial how dams have a concurrent function of prevention for floods and droughts because they are totally contrary concepts. The Korean Ministry of Land said that we can find the answer why the new dam is unacceptable through the definition of the two concepts; flood control dams should empty out the water from the river. Droughts dams should secure sustainable water. The government stated that the dams have a trapdoor to prepare for floods, and it must be open at least 6 hours before it starts to rain. However, The Korean Meteorological Office refuted the statement; it is getting harder to adjust water flow due to sudden and unexpected downpours. Finally, four dams burst on the Namhan river during the project last spring. It was a foregone conclusion because Mr. Lee did not listen to many specialized agencies which expressed strong opposition to the plans. 

 

President Lee argued that the project is a kind of welfare work like the New Deal Policy. However, to raise funds to cover the budget of the project, the government cut welfare that people really needed such as free meals for underprivileged children, an education budget, and other main domestic spending.  It is contradictory to the idea of welfare works. ‘Listen to the City’, an art and architecture magazine reported that Four-River Project brings back the failures of Japanese engineering work in the ’90s. The Japanese government carried out dam construction and guaranteed job creation and revitalization through it. However, the projects caused soaring debts. After 1993, Japanese employment growth declined in the past 15 years (-0.6%). On the other hand, Switzerland, Norway, and Finland achieved business recovery through reforming education and retraining workers around the same time because they knew that expanding education could generate jobs. After 1993, these countries had a growth rate of 43.7%~62.3%, it was the highest rate among OECD countries, and job opportunities increased 15.6%~20.8%. Reflecting the cases, Mr. Lee should consider what really need right away for the whole nation.

 

The most serious problem of Four-River Project is that it has brought ecological catastrophe. In order to protest the project, Seong-tea Hong, a sociology professor, presented the theory ‘cycle of erosion’ by William Morris Davis from the late 1800s. Its basic concept includes the development of river valleys and the landscape. rivers have a rapid tectonic uplift followed by cessation or erosion of the land. The rivers and streams end up trying to reduce the surface to a level close to sea-level. Mr. Hong said “As the government artificially digs the river bed, the surface will repeat uplift and erosion extremely. Nobody can expect what would happen after the overturn. Reckless destruction of nature by human beings will bring ecological catastrophe.” The Korean Environment Ministry backed up his claim by releasing figures that the fish in the shallows could no longer adapt to the new environment and eventually died off. The Speed of river will slow after building dams, so the water will be bathed in scorching sunlight. It will bring the problem of algae outbreak. The fish will lose their homes. The scientific theory and natural phenomena are evident for all to see why the Korean government should stop the project.

Some of negative impacts will be immediate, and others will emerge in the long run and remain permanent as the rivers and wetlands can no longer function in a natural way. While many countries have started to spend their time and money to soothe the environmental problems and follow the laws of nature, it is ridiculous that president Lee builds the huge concrete dams on the rivers surrounding a lot of fertile sand. Even though a new concept dam which has flood and drought protection functions needs enough time to experiment more, the Korean government pressed ahead with poor construction without design within a short time. The government has wasted money on underproductive investments in Four-River Project, it will speed up landform change and destroy ecosystems as well. The rivers are not owned by the government. We should let rivers wind naturally. Therefore, we should urge the South Korean government to halt the Project immediately and review the current plans of the project in a realistic approach which promotes conservation and sustainable use of water and living resources.