Water, Sewage & Effluent November December 2018 | Page 31

desire to use ‘natural
infrastructure’ rather than
hard storage, treatment, and
transmission infrastructure,
is further evidence that
they do not understand
the challenges of ensuring
water security for growing
African cities in a very
variable climate.
Wetland on Bomun Lake, Gyeongju.
In response to the financial
crisis of 2008, the South Korean
government started a large-scale
public works programme to ‘restore’
the country’s rivers. Except, to the
dismay of Korean environmentalists,
restoration involved the construction
of hundreds of dams and thousands
of kilometres of dykes. The aim
was to protect cities and farms
from flooding, but to do it in an
environmentally sensitive manner.
While the programme did not
return the rivers to their ‘natural’
state, it did create many new
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environmental features. Among
these is a lake at the Gyeongju resort,
which is now the centrepiece of a
large conference centre and holiday
resort. As importantly, the lake and
associated river canalisation have
helped to mitigate the extreme
floods that regularly threatened
homes and workplaces. While the
environmentalists grumble about
the engineering of the river, the
wide riverbed, which is almost
entirely dry except in the monsoon
season, is used for sports fields and
a car park.
About the author
Mike Muller is a professional
engineer and a visiting adjunct
professor at the Wits School of
Governance. A former DG of Water
Affairs and Commissioner of the
National Planning Commission,
he now also advises on water and
development matters.
Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2018
29
innovations
Can we learn from Korea?
A restored river in Gyeongju has wide banks to accommodate floods, with a
narrow channel to maintain some ecological functions in the dry season.
I tell students that their