SOUTHERN REGION SEES EXTREME DROUGHT

[Anchor Lead]

The central region is seeing heavy rains lately, but the southern region has very little precipitation. The drought level in three Nakdonggang River dams has been raised to "warning". Environmental authorities say the drought in dams is unlikely to be relieved soon.

[Pkg]

The upstream part of the Yeongcheon Dam in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province has revealed its bottom. It looks completely parched. For the first time since 2009 the drought level in the dam has been raised to "warning." The upstream area located 2 km from the top of the dam is covered with grass because of the prolonged drought.

[Soundbite] Kim Jin-koo(Yeongcheon Resident) : "There's almost no water in the dam now. Very little water is left at its bottom. If the drought continues, it will dry out in less than two months and there will be no water for farming."

The drought level in the three dams in the Nakdonggang River area - Yeongcheon, Andong and Imha - has been raised to "warning" this month. Environmental authorities are currently managing 12 drought-prone dams. Because of the unstable atmospheric conditions of the monsoon front, the Seoul metropolitan area and the central region have been hit by torrential rains, whereas the southern region was hit by droughts. The average precipitation in the Nakdonggang River area during this monsoon season is 75 mm, only a third of the precipitation recorded in the Hangang River area. If the drought in the southern region continues, environmental authorities plan to either use water from Suyangje Reservoir or reduce the supply of maintenance water in streams to secure water reserves.

[Soundbite] Park Jae-hyung(Korea Water Resources Corporation) : "If the current drought continues, we'll have to reduce water released to the downstream area from mid-July for maintaining streams and growing crops."

Rain is forecast for the southern region early next week. But the projected precipitation is far too low to provide relief to severe dam droughts.