Dugging into Riverbeds for Groundwater: Farmers Struggle to Find Water for Paddies

[Anchor]

Although the intense heat has abated somewhat, worsening drought conditions in the southern regions are deepening farmers' concerns. With agricultural water supplies running dry, some areas have even resorted to digging pits in riverbeds just to secure water.

Reporter Kim su-yun brings us the story from the field.

[Reporter]

A reservoir in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do.

The bottom of the reservoir is cracked like a turtle's shell.

Even the traces of flowing water in the waterways connected to the reservoir have completely disappeared.

Paddy fields unable to receive water are severely cracked, and the rice leaves have withered and turned yellow.

[Shin Young-kwon / Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: Look at those dried-up rice paddies up there. If it doesn't rain, it's the end.]

Water is being pumped from nearby streams into the reservoir, but it falls far short of what is needed.

The reservoir storage rate in the Gyeongsangnam-do region stands at 33%, which is less than half of the average year.

In particular, Miryang's reservoir storage rate is at 25%, making it the most critical condition 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 different reservoir locations.]

Places have even begun digging pits in the dried-up riverbeds.

After digging 2 to 3 meters deep into the riverbed, they are trying to gather even the groundwater flowing beneath it to supply nearby agricultural land.

The groundwater pumped from this pit dug in the middle of the river is gathered into this pumping station via a water pump.

The water gathered here heads once again toward nearby agricultural land.

Drought has 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 in an agricultural water drought state, and 3 of them are at the severe stage.

[Shin Oh-shik / Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: If it continues not to rain like this, it will likely be very difficult to harvest this year's rice and field crops.]

Gyeongsangnam-do has tallied that heatwave and drought damage has occurred across 1,800 hectares of agricultural land within the province, an area equivalent to 2,500 soccer fields.

(Video by Jung Kyoung-moon | Design: Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.