Busan’s 30-year desire for “clean drinking water”…Uiryeong residents protest, frustrated after two weeks
Posted: 2024-04-30 18:41:23
Reporter Park Tae-woo wideneye@busan.com
The Uiryeong-gun “Clean Water Coexistence Agreement” has ended
There was strong opposition, including the formation of a resident countermeasures committee.
Forced criticism without gathering local opinions
The City intends to implement the contents after listening to public opinion
The bad news started with the administrative procedures.
The Nakdong River near the Gimhae Mary water intake station in Gyeongsangnam-do. Journalist Jeong Jong-hoe jjh@
The “Clean Water Supply Coexistence Agreement” agreed between Busan City and Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do (reported on the front page of the Busan Ilbo, April 16) was unilaterally terminated after two weeks due to strong opposition from Uiryeong residents. As this agreement, which was supposed to pave the way for the provision of safe and clean drinking water, which had been a long-awaited dream of the citizens of Busan for 30 years, has been shattered, it is feared that the water source of the Nakdong River diversification project’ to solve Busan’s chronic water problems will encounter difficulties.
According to the city of Busan on the 30th, Uiryeong-gun notified the city on the 26th that it would terminate the mutual development agreement to diversify the water source of Nakdong River. It has only been two weeks since Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun and Uiryeong-gun Mayor Oh Tae-wan signed the agreement at the Uiryeong-gun office on the 12th. The agreement mainly stipulated that in exchange of collecting 220,000 tons of filtered water per day from the Nakdong River in the Uiryeong region and supplying it to Busan and East Gyeongsangnam-do, Busan would purchase agricultural products from the Uiryeong region worth 20 billion won per year. . It also includes a provision that the city of Busan will prioritize preventing harm to farmers in the watershed by shutting off water intake when a shortage of agricultural water is expected.
However, the reason why the agreement between the two local governments was broken is interpreted as the result of strong opposition from residents in the areas affected by the taking of filtered water from the Nakdong River, such as the formation of a committee of countermeasures after the agreement. The countermeasures committee increased the level of opposition by calling for the cancellation of the agreement and the resignation of the county governor, arguing that Uiryeong-gun signed the agreement unilaterally without the opinions and consent of local residents.
In relation to this, Uiryeong-gun bowed his head and said: “In the future, the county will prioritize the interests of county residents and residents of the project area as the top priority when examining the diversification of water sources of the Nakdong River Project.”
The city of Busan is discussing countermeasures in a perplexed atmosphere over the sudden termination of the agreement. It is known that the city expressed through an official letter to Uiryeong-gun its intention to continue discussions for the implementation of the contents of the agreement after gathering public opinion, rather than deciding to immediately cancel the agreement.
A city official said: “Our policy is to respond to the current situation as carefully and calmly as possible,” and added: “We have communicated to Uiryeong-gun our intention to move forward with the agreement after gathering public opinion as much as possible.” It was reported that Uiryeong-gun did not provide any specific response to this.
Some point out that it was difficult to start the project of diversification of water sources, which should have been carried out on the basis of gathering public opinion from residents, through administrative agreements between local governments. The city had planned to sign a win-win development agreement with Uiryeong-gun, followed by Changnyeong-gun and Hapcheon-gun, but as things went wrong from the start, the goal of providing clean water to Busan in 2028 has become inevitable.
Reporter Park Tae-woo wideneye@busan.com
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