[Editorial] Lessons of a dead lake

To create the dead lake of Shihwa-ho, a staggering 380 billion won in budget funds was wasted and now that the deed is done, there is no one willing to take responsibility for it. At least there are lessons to be learned from the causes of the mishap: namely reckless development and government policy failures.

First of all, how did it come about that such a large-scale development project, which compassed two cities and one county, was launched without the completion of a feasibility survey? Such a survey would have had to be based on a comprehensive national land development plan and conducted as a means of utilizing the facilities left idle amid the recession in the Middle East region.

Even taking into consideration the fact that the project was pushed ahead under an authoritarian regime, it is incomprehensible that a plan to build a man-made lake using polluted water from an industrial complex was approved and implemented without checks from related government agencies.

The Shihwa-ho case is typical of the environmental destruction that results when government policy failures combine with collusive ties between the political and business sectors. In Korea, there have been plenty of construction projects designed to rescue embattled construction enterprises, especially at times of business downturns. Large-scale development projects that have the potential to negatively affect the natural environment are often undertaken on the pretext of boosting the construction sector. When this happens, examinations of the impact on the environment and local populace, as well as the transportation, water supply and sewage systems are generally neglected.

Former presidents Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tae-Woo cannot avoid blame for ignoring the advice of experts by continuing with dam building and taking only stopgap measures to deal with resulting problems. In one past case, a huge quantity of fish was killed and residents of Inchon, Ansan and other areas near a dead lake complained about offensive smells. But it was too late and the environmental damage has never been repaired.

Although Shihwa Lake was deluged with seawater with the regular opening of sluice gates beginning in 1997, the government on three occasions deferred its decision to take action, thus provoking public criticism. It is very disappointing that the Environment Ministry announced a policy measure to sustain the lake using seawater. Discouragingly, the current government refused to recognize the mistakes committed by past administrations and only came up with half-baked explanations aimed at concealing the policy failures and lost budget funds. The ministry said that by filling the lake with sea water, nearby beach road was shortened by 101 km, thus easing transportation problems for nearly 5,000 residents and reducing the damage to neighboring forests.

In order to avoid making the ongoing Saemangum reclamation project in North Cholla Province a second Shihwa-ho now that some 60 percent of the 33-km dam construction work has been completed, the government needs to work out measures to improve the quality of the fresh-water lake. Since the Saemangum project is three times larger in scale than the Shihwa-ho project, any neglect of environmental concerns could have a disastrous effect on the West Sea.

The lesson of the Shihwa-ho incident is that large-scale development projects that could greatly affect the natural environment should be conducted in a rational, transparent and sustainable manner.