Editorials
Water strategy becomes urgent as extreme droughts become routine
As extreme droughts become more frequent, Korea must build resilient water infrastructure and maintain long-term policies beyond political shifts.
A fire truck supplies water to a rice paddy near Donam Reservoir in Buk District, Daegu, on the afternoon of Aug. 12 following a prolonged severe drought. The reservoir’s storage rate, which normally remains around 70 percent, has stood at zero since Aug. 3.
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Around 200 fire trucks from across Korea were recently dispatched to drought-stricken South Gyeongsang under a national firefighting mobilization order, with Army, Navy and Air Force personnel also set to join relief efforts. A prolonged dry monsoon and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) have depleted agricultural reservoirs and forced restrictions on drinking water supplies.
Climate disasters struck Yeongdong in 2025, the Honam area — the southwest region encompassing Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces — in 2022 and Yeongnam this year. It is impossible to predict where they will strike next.
As climate-related disasters become more frequent and destructive, Korea must treat extreme droughts and floods as constants and develop a bold national water-management strategy. Expanding water infrastructure is particularly urgent.
The Honam region, where a semiconductor megaproject is planned, faces potential water shortages and needs exceptional measures to secure supplies. The current Yeongnam drought is considered a once-in-20-years event, yet 99.6 percent of the 3,422 reservoirs managed by the Korea Rural Community Corporation were designed for ordinary droughts occurring once every 10 years or less. They must be substantially reinforced to withstand more severe droughts occurring at intervals of 20 years or longer.
The United Nations issued its first official report warning of global warming and climate risks in 1990, yet Korea’s response has been slow and inconsistent. Plans to prepare for heat waves, droughts and floods have repeatedly shifted with the ideological orientation of successive administrations.
The Lee Myung-bak administration drafted a long-term dam construction plan for 2012-21 that included 14 potential dam sites, but the Moon Jae-in administration halted it in 2018. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration later proposed 14 new climate-response dams, seven of which the Lee Jae Myung administration canceled last September.
Now, following concerns over securing water for new semiconductor plants in Honam, the government says it will consider building new dams. That response comes regrettably late.
Building a dam is a long-term undertaking. Selecting a site, compensating landowners and construction, which alone takes six to seven years, can stretch the entire process to 10 or 20 years. Had the 2012 dam construction plans proceeded as scheduled, today’s water shortages could have been significantly alleviated.
The government must move beyond environmental fundamentalism and urgently develop a practical water-management strategy combining new dams, improved waterworks, wastewater recycling, seawater desalination and groundwater use. Climate change is already transforming extreme drought from an exceptional emergency into a recurring threat. Korea can no longer afford water policy that changes direction whenever the government changes.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
