Field crops wither and die. In Dongducheon, a city with army bases north of Seoul, which turned off or restricted water supplies, the array of water wagons resembles military drills. These may turn into annual and national scenes in just a few years, unless we move quickly. Based on the 30-year drought cycle, Korea will experience a water shortage of 400 million tons in 2004, and the gap will grow to 2 billion tons by 2025. Already, Population Action International, a U.N. body, categorized South Korea as a country stressed by water scarcity back in 1990.
Officials cite high population density and irregular rain patterns by month, year and region.
The main reason is that we let three fourths of it evaporate, go underground or flow back to sea. The quality of the other one fourth is even more of a serious problem. The public's trust in the safety of tap water hit a new low early this month when viruses that can cause respiratory and brain problems were found at water purification plants on the outskirts of the capital city. An earlier survey also showed that about seven percent of the neighborhood springs contain carcinogens. According to Time magazine, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says drinking water is shaping up to be the single most contested resource on the planet.