[Breaking] Gangneung City Temporarily Accepts Doam Dam Emergency Discharge Water... Test Release Expected on the 20th

10,000 Tons of Raw Water Per Day from Doam Dam
Expected to Help Alleviate Drought as Domestic Water Source
Committee to Conduct Independent Water Quality Tests in Addition to Ministry of Environment Inspections
Emergency Discharge to Be Halted if Cross-Verification Finds Water Unsuitable for Gangneung's Domestic Use, in Consultation with the Water Quality Verification Committee

Gangneung City, which is experiencing an extreme drought, has decided to accept the use of "Doam Dam emergency discharge water" as one of the alternatives for securing raw water.

On September 10, Gangneung City in Gangwon Province announced, "After collecting opinions from resident representatives, civic groups, and the Gangneung City Council, we have decided to temporarily accept this measure to cope with the drought."

On the 8th, greenish water filled Doam Dam in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province. Photo by Yonhap News

The city plans to strictly manage the quality of the emergency discharge water and the stability of the discharge system through a Water Quality Verification Committee, which will be composed of representatives from Gangneung City, academia, and civic groups. This is to ensure that Gangneung citizens are supplied with safe and reliable domestic water.

In particular, in addition to the Ministry of Environment's water quality tests, the committee will conduct its own water quality inspections. If the cross-verification results determine that the emergency discharge water is unsuitable as a raw water source for domestic use in Gangneung, the committee will consult with the city to immediately halt the emergency discharge.

Furthermore, this emergency discharge of water through the Doam Dam water conveyance pipeline is entirely unrelated to the previously suspended power generation discharge.

This time, what Gangneung City has decided to utilize is not the 30 million tons of water stored in Doam Dam itself, but 150,000 tons of water contained within the 15.6-kilometer-long water conveyance pipeline that connects Doam Dam to the Gangneung Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Meanwhile, Gangneung City will minimize water loss as the emergency discharge water flows into the Namdaecheon River and efficiently supply water to the Hongje Water Purification Plant. This will be done by preparing construction work, supported by the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Disaster Fund and timed to coincide with the completion of the water conveyance pipeline improvement project by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's Gangneung Hydroelectric Power Plant.

The details include a project to transfer more than 15,000 tons of raw water per day, including water drawn from Doam Dam, from in front of the Guksa Female Hwangsa in Hongjedong to the Hongje Water Purification Plant.

Gangneung City stated, "If 10,000 tons of raw water per day can be secured through the emergency discharge from Doam Dam, it will greatly help slow the declining storage rate of the Obong Reservoir." The city also expressed its gratitude on behalf of Gangneung citizens to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Environment, and Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province for their overall government support in overcoming the drought.

Additionally, the Ministry of Environment and the Wonju Regional Environmental Office released the results of their water quality analysis for the emergency discharge water from the Doam Dam water conveyance pipeline.

The analysis showed that, according to experts from the Korea Water Resources Corporation and other organizations, the emergency discharge water poses no problem in meeting drinking water quality standards after purification treatment.

The Ministry of Environment and the Wonju Regional Environmental Office plan to continue to transparently release the results of water quality analyses for the emergency discharge water. Gangneung City will also transparently disclose the quality of both the inflow water to the Hongje Water Purification Plant and the tap water to its citizens.

In addition, the Ministry of Environment will provide technical support to Gangneung City through the Korea Water Resources Corporation to ensure the smooth operation of the purification process at the Hongje Water Purification Plant.

Meanwhile, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's Gangneung Hydroelectric Power Plant is currently upgrading its facilities to ensure the safe discharge of emergency water through the water conveyance pipeline between Doam Dam and the power plant. A test discharge is expected to take place around September 20.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.