[Anchor]
We continue with news on the drought hitting the southern regions. As the drought worsens day by day, alarms have been raised over agricultural water supplies. Reservoirs have already hit rock bottom, and farmers are even digging up riverbeds to draw whatever groundwater is left.
Reporter Kim Su-yun went to the scene.
[Reporter]
A reservoir in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do.
The bottom of the reservoir is cracked like a turtle shell.
Even traces of flowing water have disappeared from the waterways connected to the reservoir.
Paddy fields deprived of water are severely cracked, and rice leaves have withered and turned yellow.
[Shin Young-kwon / Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: Look at those dry rice paddies up there. If it doesn't rain, it's over.]
Water is being pumped from nearby streams into the reservoir, but it is far from enough.
The reservoir storage rate in the Gyeongsangnam-do region stands at 33%, less than half of the average year.
In particular, Miryang's reservoir storage rate is 25%, making it the most severe in Gyeongsangnam-do.
[Jung Soo-hong / Head of Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: We are mobilizing all available resources to pump raw river water to three locations (reservoirs).]
Some areas have even resorted to digging pits in the dried-up riverbeds.
After digging 2 to 3 meters deep into the riverbed, they are trying to gather and supply even the groundwater flowing beneath it to nearby agricultural land.
The groundwater pumped from this pit dug in the middle of the river is gathered here at the pumping station via a water pump.
The water gathered here heads toward nearby farmland once again.
Droughts have begun in 58 cities and counties nationwide, with the majority concentrated in Gyeongsangnam-do.
Among the 18 cities and counties in Gyeongsangnam-do, 17 are under agricultural drought conditions, and three of them are at the severe stage.
[Shin Oh-sik / Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: If it doesn't rain like this, it will likely be very difficult to harvest this year's rice and field crops.]
Gyeongsangnam-do has estimated that heatwave and drought damages have occurred across 1,800 hectares of farmland in the province so far, an area equivalent to 2,500 soccer fields.
(Video by Jung Kyoung-moon, Graphics by Kim Min-young)
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