 |
|
A view of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project construction site at Youngpung Bridge, Youngsun Township, Mungyeong City, North Gyeongsang Province May 19. (Courtesy of The National Countermeasures Committee for stopping the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project)
|
Breakneck construction pace has left sites vulnerable to consequences of inadequate planning
By Choi Sang-won
The construction sites in the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project are facing regular flooding by river waters following rainfall as large-scale dredging confounds predictions in water level changes. It was confirmed that the construction site for Haman Weir in South Gyeongsang was inundated following rainfall of over 100 millimeters on May 10 to 12. With other effects on the four rivers’ tributaries already under way, including “reverse erosion” that has seen embankment and levee soil swept away by the faster currents of water, concerns about flood damages are growing ahead of the rainy season.
Following inundation of the Haman Weir site in Nakdong River’s Zone 18 on the afternoon of May 13 after river waters topped a temporary steel barrier, the water could not be removed from the site for more than ten days, it emerged Saturday. This situation, along with the inundation of other project construction sites such as Gangcheon Weir on the South Han River, Seungchon Weir on the Yeongsan River, and Sangju Weir on the Nakdong River, is being attributed to a failure to predict water level changes resulting from rainfall.
Kwandong University civil engineering professor Park Chang-geun said, “Dredging throughout the four rivers has rendered the existing flood warning system useless.”
“Since the terrain of the river beds is continually changing, the development of another system appears unlikely at the moment,” Park added.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
