South Korea: Soldiers, fire trucks, Coast Guard ship deployed to supply water to drought-hit Gangneung

Seoul, Sep 5 (IANS) Full-scale efforts have been launched to supply water to the eastern coastal city of South Korea's Gangneung battling its worst-ever drought on record, with soldiers, helicopters, fire trucks and a Coast Guard patrol ship deployed, officials said Friday.

Last Saturday, the government declared the city's drought as a state of disaster after the water storage level of Obong Reservoir, which supplies 87 per cent of household water to the Gangneung area, fell to a record low of 15.7 per cent.

The reservoir's water level has continued to decline, reaching 13.2 per cent as of 11 a.m. Friday, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous day.

In a bid to replenish Gangneung's water supply, the National Fire Agency has mobilised 71 fire trucks, while the Coast Guard has dispatched a 5,000-tonne vessel tasked with patrolling the East Sea to carry water into the city.

The defence ministry has also deployed some 800 troops and around 400 water tankers, while 10 helicopters were mobilised Friday to drop water into Obong Reservoir.

Authorities poured 26,416 tonnes of water into the reservoir on Thursday and plan to supply 29,792 tonnes of water on Friday.

On top of such efforts, the city of Gangneung said it would partially limit supplying water to 123 large-scale water users, including residential complexes of some 45,000 households and major accommodation facilities, from Saturday.

If the water storage level falls below 10 per cent, the city plans to roll out further water conservation measures in phases, such as restricting water use from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. or even every other day, Yonhap news agency reported.

Other nearby areas are also suffering from the drought, with the coastal city of Samcheok and the county of Jeongseon experiencing drinking water shortages.

Samcheok has been delivering drinking water to 683 residents across 24 towns since Sunday, while Jeongseon started making such deliveries to 318 residents across 6 towns on August 21.

The water level of Gwangdong Dam, which supplies water to parts of Samcheok and Jeongseon, has currently fallen to 39 per cent.

--IANS

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