Pyeongchang County Secures 52 Billion Won in National Funding for Non-Point Source Pollution Reduction Upstream of Doam Dam

Pyeongchang County in Gangwon Province announced on December 4 that it had secured 52 billion won in national funding from the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment for the installation of non-point source pollution reduction facilities and muddy water reduction projects upstream of the Doam Dam.

Pyeongchang County Office building.

The non-point source pollution reduction project aims to reduce and remove pollutants that cannot be treated by basic environmental facilities such as sewage and wastewater treatment plants during initial rainfall, using facilities such as artificial wetlands. The muddy water reduction project is intended to reduce muddy runoff caused by soil erosion from highland fields.

Due to the long retention time characteristic of the Doam Dam, the water quality has been poor, with issues such as suspended solids and algal blooms caused by inflow of total phosphorus. This has led to calls for the additional installation of artificial wetlands, which are effective in removing total phosphorus. In addition, the Doam Lake basin was the first area in the country to be designated as a non-point pollution source management area (in August 2007), and was re-designated in February 2018 based on the comprehensive evaluation of management measures in 2017. It is therefore considered a region with a high need for non-point source pollution management.

From 2026 to 2028, Pyeongchang County will invest approximately 57.1 billion won to sequentially implement non-point source pollution reduction facilities (three artificial wetlands) and six types of muddy water reduction projects (slope greening, gabions, channel facilities, ground cover for farmland, supply of onion nets, and supply of winter cover crops) in the upstream area of the Doam Dam.

Shim Jaeguk, Mayor of Pyeongchang County, stated, "We will continue our efforts to improve the water quality and restore the health of the ecosystem upstream of Doam Lake."

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