Reservoir Water Levels at Half of Normal Years... Digging Into Dry Riverbeds

[Anchor]

The drought in the southern regions is becoming increasingly severe. As reservoirs hit rock bottom, some areas are even digging into dry riverbeds to pump up and use groundwater.

Reporter Kim su-yun has the story.

[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 that couldn't be supplied with water are severely cracked, and rice leaves have withered and turned yellowish brown.

[Shin Young-kwon / Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do: Just look at those dry paddy fields up there. If it doesn't rain, it's the end.]

Water is being pumped from nearby rivers into the reservoir, but it falls far short.

The water storage rate in the Gyeongsangnam-do region stands at 33%, which is less than half of the normal year's level.

In particular, Miryang's water storage rate is at 25%, marking the most severe level 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 into the dry riverbeds.

After digging 2 to 3 meters deep into the riverbed, the plan is to gather even the groundwater flowing beneath the surface to supply nearby agricultural land.

The groundwater drawn from this pit dug in the middle of the river is collected into the pumping station here through a water pump.

The water gathered here is then sent once again to nearby agricultural lands.

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 water drought status, and 3 of them are at the severe stage.

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

Gyeongsangnam-do has compiled data showing that heatwave and drought damage has occurred across 1,800 hectares of agricultural land in the province so far, an area equivalent to 2,500 soccer fields.

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