The South Korean government announced water quality improvement measures for the Nakdong River, but they did not include plans for weir management, leading to criticisms of the measures being incomplete.
The South Korean government has provided new measures aimed at improving the water quality of the Nakdong River, which is a crucial water source for approximately 13 million residents in the Yeongnam region. However, the strategy has been criticized for omitting a key issue: the management of weirs that have been linked to the occurrence of harmful green algae. Concerns have been raised that the lack of action on this front, which was already apparent during the previous administration, indicates ongoing stagnation in resolving this critical environmental issue.
The measures announced during a joint meeting led by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs include goals to improve the water quality of important intake points along the Nakdong River to Class 1 levels by 2030. Despite past improvements in the river's water quality over the last three decades, crucial indicators such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Phosphorus (TP) still rank lower than those of the Han River, emphasizing the need for more effective measures to address the persistent pollution caused by green algae and industrial waste.
In response to the alarming levels of pollutants entering the river, which is predominantly influenced by agricultural runoff and livestock waste, the government aims to significantly reduce phosphorus output by 30% through various interventions. These include enhancing sewage treatment processes, managing agricultural fertilizers more effectively, and introducing advanced treatment methods in public wastewater facilities. Despite these measures, the exclusion of weir management compromises the effectiveness of the overall plan, highlighting a potential oversight in adequately addressing the root causes of pollution in the Nakdong River.
