WATER LEVELS DROP AT RESERVOIRS

[Anchor Lead]

Many reservoirs are losing water because of the prolonged heat wave. One of them is Boryeong Dam, which supplies water to the northwestern part of Chungcheongnam-do Province. Its water level is now low enough to issue a drought warning.

[Pkg]

Boryeong Dam supplies 260,000 tons of potable and industrial water daily to eight cities and counties in the northwestern part of Chungcheongnam-do Province. Recently its water level dropped to some 31 percent, low enough to issue a drought warning. This is due to low precipitation during this year’s monsoon season. This area saw only 155 mm of rain for the summer, half the amount recorded last year.

[Soundbite] Kim Bong-soo(Korea Water Resources Corporation) : "Even during the monsoon season, the water level in the dam fell to about 30 percent because precipitation was half of previous years."

To prevent the dam from drying out further, the Korea Water Resources Corporation has cut in half the amount of maintenance water discharged from the downstream area.
If the hot, dry weather continues and the water level in the dam drops to the drought alert level next month, 110,000 tons of water will have to be infused into the dam from the Geumgang River daily. But if water consumption surges due to the prolonged heat wave, supplying water in sufficient amounts could become a challenge.

[Soundbite] Do Jong-won(Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Gov‘t) : "Statistics of the past five years show deploying diversion tunnels from mid-August is inevitable to prevent the worst-case scenario such as restrictions in water supply."

Water in Boryeong Dam fell to around 10 percent during a severe drought in 2015, prompting authorities to restrict water supply in 8 cities and counties in the northwestern part of Chungcheongnam-do Province. Currently multi-purpose dams nationwide are about 57 percent full. That’s slightly higher than in previous years, but if the heatwave continues, water shortages may occur nationwide.