The persisting drought has begun to take an increasingly heavy toll on crops across much of the nation. As weather forecasters warn that the drought is highly likely to last until next April, the government needs to step up efforts to secure water resources and minimize damage.

The hardest hit region has been South Chungcheong Province, where the accumulated rainfall from January to September this year totaled 754 millimeters, slightly more than 60 percent of the 30-year average of 1,188 millimeters.

About 2,000 farmers with rice paddies in the reclaimed land on the western coast of the province have reported damages to the provincial government.

They claimed some 6,000 hectares of rice fields has been affected by the severe drought, the most in decades. The extent of the damage is hard to calculate as other crops have also been affected.

To cope with the water shortage, the provincial government has begun to enforce restrictive water rationing in eight cities and counties on its western coast. Tap water supply in these municipalities has been cut by 20 percent.

As the drought is forecast to get worse rather than better, the provincial government has also pressed the central government to construct an irrigation system to divert water from the Geumgang River to Boryeong City.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the ruling Saenuri Party agreed to complete the 21-kilometer-long irrigation pipe line by next February to ensure farmers do not suffer another crop failure due to water shortage. If built as planned, the irrigation pipeline would be the first case of using water from the nation’s four major rivers -- the Hangang, Nakdonggang, Geumgang and Yeongsangang rivers -- to fight a drought.

The four rivers were refurbished by former President Lee Myung-bak amid an outcry from opposition parties and environmentalists. The 16 newly built dams of the four rivers contain more than 700 million tons of water, but it remains useless because the dams are located far from the drought-stricken areas.

To bring the water closer to the affected areas, irrigation systems have to be built. But spending money on anything related to the four rivers could spark controversy as a whopping 22.2 trillion won has already been poured into Lee’s widely unpopular signature project.

Yet the ministry said it would promote irrigation pipelines in other regions as well to make better use of the water resources of the four rivers. 

The ministry’s decision is well advised in light of the increased drought risk due to climate change. In recent years, droughts have become more frequent and more severe. To better cope with repetitive droughts, the government needs to do its utmost to secure water resources. It would be foolish if the abundant water resources of the four major rivers are left untapped.

The government is advised to conduct a detailed study before embarking on expanding irrigation systems to avoid stirring up unnecessary controversy.

To expand water resources, it is also necessary to elevate banks around agricultural reservoirs and dredge sediments in smaller rivers and tributaries.

While securing more water resources is important, efforts to reduce water consumption are just as important, if not more so. The government needs to stage a nationwide water conservation campaign.