Imsil-gun Local Organizations Hold Press Conference to Announce Position on Okjeongho

Published 25 Mar.2022 15:59(KST)

[Imsil=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Nosik] Local organizations in Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, held a press conference to announce their position regarding Okjeongho.

On the 25th, six organizations including the Imsil-gun Homeland Movement Headquarters held a press conference in the county office briefing room to deliver a statement on the facts and future fundamental measures regarding the press conference held by the Jeongeup Citizens' Countermeasures Committee for Safe Drinking Water on the implementation of the Okjeongho Win-Win Cooperation Declaration and the establishment of a comprehensive water source safety management plan.

Attending the event were the Imsil-gun Homeland Movement Headquarters (Head Park Gilsu), the Imsil-gun branch of the Korea Environmental Protection National Movement Headquarters (Head Park Mansik), the Wunam-myeon Village Chief Association (Chairman Park Younggyun), the Wunam-myeon Regional Development Council (Chairman Kim Kyungwoon), Haunam Prosperity Association (Chairman Kim Wansu), and the Okjeongho Water Revitalization Countermeasures Committee (Chairman Kim Kyungwoon).

In their statement, the local organizations of Imsil-gun said, “Residents of Wunam-myeon lost their homes twice due to the completion of the Seomjin River Dam in 1965, and from 1999 to 2015, for 16 years, Okjeongho was designated as a water source protection area to supply water to Jeongeup City, causing the damage to be borne entirely by the people of Imsil-gun. This area still bears many scars of pain.”

Currently, the drinking water for Jeongeup citizens is a combination of Okjeongho water (270,000 tons per day) and Dongjin River water (80,000 tons per day), with only about 30,000 tons per day actually used as drinking water for Jeongeup citizens.

They argued, “Considering that Jeongeup citizens’ drinking water is a combination of Okjeongho water and Dongjin River water, and that the water quality of Dongjin River (Dowoncheon) greatly affects the pollution level of Jeongeup’s drinking water source, non-point source pollutants such as contaminants from many livestock farms around Pyeongsaricheon and Dongjin River and residual pesticides from farmland could have a more adverse effect on drinking water than the development of Okjeongho.”

They added, “Okjeongho maintains excellent water quality at a first-grade level based on total organic carbon (TOC) standards,” and explained, “Over the past ten years, nearly 140 billion KRW has been invested in nine sewage treatment facilities upstream and downstream of the lake and ecological stream restoration projects, demonstrating strenuous efforts.”

Furthermore, since Okjeongho also supplies water to Gangjin-myeon in Imsil-gun and is used as drinking water for residents in the western region of Imsil-gun (Cheongung, Gangjin, Deokchi, Haunam), they emphasized that public and private sectors continuously cooperate and manage the water source protection project to maintain clean water quality.

The local organizations of Imsil-gun proposed as a solution, “The Jeongeup City water supply system using Okjeongho should be changed to Yongdam Dam,” and demanded that Jeonbuk Province make active efforts such as prompt detailed design and securing budgets to resolve conflicts between the two cities and counties.

Specifically, based on the ‘Feasibility Study on Changing Jeongeup City’s Water Supply System’ promoted by Jeonbuk Province in 2019, they demanded an investment of about 120 billion KRW to connect the water transmission pipeline from Mokcheon Bridge in Iksan (via Gimje) to the Taein-myeon Office in Jeongeup, so that Jeongeup citizens’ drinking water can be switched from Okjeongho to Yongdam Dam as soon as possible.

Park Gilsu, head of the Imsil-gun Homeland Movement Headquarters, said, “We sympathize with Jeongeup city organizations’ statement that water should be protected when it is clean, and we support eco-friendly development that preserves and maintains the natural environment rather than reckless indiscriminate development, but we express regret over opposing development without any countermeasures.”

He added, “We hope to become cooperative and mutually beneficial partners for a bright future of Imsil and Jeongeup.”