Amateur experiment is not new politics

Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has pledged that if elected, he will suspend projects being promoted for the restoration of the nation`s four major rivers and conduct a study to decide whether to remove river barrages. This proposal is more striking than that of main opposition Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, who said he will form a "people`s verification" committee to correct environmental damage caused by the restoration project. These pledges mean the potential scrapping of a project costing 22 trillion won (20.2 billion U.S. dollars) so far and resulting in considerable achievements, including flood prevention and the securing of sufficient water capacity.

The key to the restoration project is the building of 16 barrages for a combined 620 million tons of water in reservoirs nationwide. Certain environmental groups have urged the elimination of the barrages, citing a precedent set by Germany. Unlike European countries, however, South Korea has a wide precipitation gap among seasons that results in most rainfall coming between July and September. The streams of Korea`s four major rivers had been suffering from severe droughts in spring but secured sufficient water due to barrages. This also led to better water quality and flood prevention. Damage to the four rivers in this year`s rainy season was half that of a usual year. North Korea, on the other hand, suffered deadly flood damage after experiencing heavy rainfall this year.

With dredging work lowering river beds, barrage removal will only lower water levels and make it difficult to draw water for farming and residential purposes. Six hundred water-intake facilities are installed around the four rivers for stable maintenance of water levels. If the barrages are eliminated and water levels are lowered, a considerable number of such facilities will have to be built. Is candidate Ahn even aware of the costs of his proposal? He said barrages will be removed to restore wetlands, which can play its role only if the river`s water level is maintained for sufficient flow. Poor water flow also reduces fish habitat space and destroys the river ecosystem and the landscape of waterfront areas, ultimately dampening the people`s leisure activities.

The algal blooms in the Han River this year started from the water system of the Bukhan River and were irrelevant to the four-river project. The cause of the algal blooms has yet to be identified, but even if they formed because river water was locked in a barrage, the costs of environmental damage must first be compared with the savings resulting from droughts and flood control before devising any complementary measures. To insist on removing the barrages before proper assessment is premature.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-Soon, a lawyer-turned-politician, said while running for the office last year that he would remove barrages in the Han River`s southeast Jamsil and western Shingok sections. Upon inauguration, however, he reversed his stance due to lack of alternatives to prevent flood damage and worsening of water quality. Candidate Ahn said, "We should remove the barrages if the costs needed to manage them are higher than removing them." This shows his shortsighted perspective and failure to first examine the positive effects of the four-river restoration project and the negative side effects of barrage removal. He needs to properly compare costs between maintenance and removal.

The Korean people are too busy with their own lives to examine the complex causes and results of government policies and filter the good from the bad. Politicians who provide biased views might sound plausible to the public. Those in charge of running the country need the ability to make responsible, wide and in-depth judgments. The lives of 50 million people should not be put in the hands of amateurs.