Promoting alternatives to connect reservoirs with water tunnels vs. not enough to prepare for floods

“Pushing for alternatives to connect reservoirs with water tunnels” vs. “Not enough to prepare for floods.”

(Uiryeong = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Young-min = The construction plan for Garyecheon Dam, which was promoted by Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do and the previous government to respond to floods, has been put on hold.

According to Uiryeong-gun and others on the 6th, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on the 27th of last month that it would pursue an alternative project to connect Seoam Reservoir and Gami Reservoir through the existing water tunnel instead of building Garyecheon Dam.

However, as the military has judged that it is difficult to control floods with this facility alone, it plans to determine the direction of response after confirming the results of the review by the Ministry of Climate Change.

The military plans to visit the Ministry of Climate and Climate Change as early as next week to confirm the review process and basis for this decision.

Previously, the Yoon Seok-yeol government announced 14 candidate sites for climate response dams, including Garyecheon Dam, in July 2024.

The Garyecheon Dam construction plan involves spending about 76 billion won to raise the existing Seoam Reservoir embankment by about 11m.

Through this, it was planned to increase the storage capacity of Seoam Reservoir from approximately 2.05 million ㎥ to 4.9 million ㎥.

The military attempted to reduce the risk of flooding in the urban area of Uiryeong-eup by securing storage space in Seoam Reservoir during floods.

The county explained that during heavy rains last year, the water level of the river near the downtown area of Uiryeong-eup rose to the verge of flooding, citing this as the basis for the need to build a dam.

On the other hand, some residents and environmental groups have argued that it is possible to respond to flooding without raising the embankment of Seoam Reservoir by using the existing Gami Reservoir and water tunnel.

The waterway tunnel connecting the two reservoirs was installed when Gami Reservoir was created in 2013.

It is a facility with a length of 720m and a diameter of 3m that was built to store water from Seoam Reservoir in Gami Reservoir and use it for agricultural purposes and river maintenance.

The storage capacity of Gami Reservoir is 3.24 million ㎥.

The Ministry of Climate Change explained that by using this water tunnel to send water from Seoam Reservoir to Gami Reservoir and then to Namgang River through Yongdeokcheon Stream, it is possible to bypass the urban area of Uiryeong-eup.

As a result of expert review, it was determined that linking the two reservoirs would be more effective in preventing floods than raising the Seoam Reservoir embankment.

However, this runs counter to the judgment that the military has made clear so far.

In a response to a civil complaint posted on the county office website in January last year, the county said, "Gami Reservoir and water tunnel are facilities built to secure water for agriculture and rivers, and cannot be used for flood control purposes."

Since the amount of water that can be moved through the water tunnel is insufficient, the government has maintained the position that the Garyecheon Dam must be built to prepare for urban flooding.

A military official said, "We have previously reviewed the use of a water tunnel connecting the two reservoirs, but I understand that it was determined that the amount of water that can be moved is insufficient to prepare for flooding. We plan to gather internal opinions after hearing an explanation on what basis this conclusion was made."