총 36페이지

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TheOwlofMinerva
Before Green Rivers
ByJangHo-joon
EditorialConsultant
lue-green algae filled some parts of the major rivers in Korea including the Han and Nakdong rivers for
a week, causing people to suffer from stinking tap water with green tidemarks. The Seoul metropolitan
government issued an algae warning on Aug. 9 and took measures such as releasing water from adjacent
dams.Duetothetorrentialrain,thedensityofalgaehasbeenalleviatedsinceAug.17.
The Ministry of Environment declared that the summer heat wave and drought, affected by the worldwide climate
change,hadcausedthemultiplicationofthesealgae.Incontrast,someexpertsandenvironmentgroupsassertedthat
thenewlyestablisheddamshadbeenthemainreasonforthealgaeoutbreak.Whenconsideringthosedams,theyalso
criticized the ineffectiveness of the “Four Major Rivers Restoration Project” by the Lee Myung-bak administration,
whichhaddeclaredtheconstructionofdamstostorewaterasitsmainfocus.
Therecentconflictbetweenthesetwogroupsseemstobeobsessedwithcriticizingeachother,whileattemptingto
make their own claims persuasive to the masses. Several newspapers describing the photographs of the rivers filled
withblue-greenalgaerefertoitasthegreentealatte.Thenewlycoinedphrase“greenalgaelatte”isoftenusedtopour
scornonthemajoractsoftheLeegovernmentincludingtheaboveproject.Ontheotherhand,thosewhosupportthe
government’sstancelookontheiropponentsaspeoplemoreconcernedwithagitatingotherswithstrangestoriesabout
thegreenalgae.
Although disagreements about the cause of the algae outbreak persist, the increase of algae occurs due to a variety
of reasons. Algae proliferate when abundant daylight brings higher water temperature with sufficient nutrients such
asnitrogenandphosphorus.Thevelocityofamovingfloodalsoaffectsthemultiplicationofthoseplants,becauseit
is easy for them to duplicate when the water is not flowing. Therefore, the decreased flow of water caused by a dam
constructioncreatedasiteforalgaemultiplicationwith,inaddition,anincreasedwatertemperatureduetotheglobal
warming.Facilitieslikeagriculturalsites,ranchesandhousesneartheriversaffecttheincreaseinalgaebecausethey
releasewaste,whicharenutrients,intotheriver.
It is time to worry about the solutions to this phenomenon. Time spent arguing about what the main cause was for
theriversfilledwithalgaeneedstobelimited.Thecitygovernmentsshouldengagetoalleviatetheanxietyofpeople
by removing the offensive smell of the dead algae with water-purification programs. The dams built on the major
riversshouldguaranteetomaintaintheirnaturalwaterflow,servingonlyaswaterstorageareasforemergencies.The
constructionofadditionalfacilitiessuchasaccommodationandbicycleroadsfortouristsshouldbecheckedlestthey
damagethegeographicalfeaturesoftheareaandreleasewasteintothewater.
The green algae in the rivers is not an indicator that the main projects of the Lee government have totally failed,
furthermore,itisalsonotthetopicofastrangestory.Itisimportanttoappreciatethatthisphenomenonistheresultof
humanactivities,whichneedstobesolvedforourdescendants.
firestorm@hufs.ac.kr
www.theargus.org

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