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Speaker 1: This is AC N A podcast.

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Speaker 2: Water. Some call it Liquid Gold. It's the planet's most

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Speaker 2: precious resource and it's easy to take for granted when

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Speaker 2: it's available for many of us at the turn of

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Speaker 2: a tap. But for some that luxury is hard to

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Speaker 2: come by.

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Speaker 2: South Korea is the 10th largest economy in the world

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Speaker 2: and unbelievably for one million people there finding water has

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Speaker 2: become a struggle. How did one of the richest countries

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Speaker 2: in the world get to this point? I'm your host,

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Speaker 2: Teresa Tang. In this episode of C N A correspondent,

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Speaker 2: we talk to about whether things are going to get

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Speaker 2: worse before they get better and what can be done

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Speaker 2: to save this essential element.

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Speaker 2: Hi. Hi, Teresa. So I moved to Singapore from Canada

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Speaker 2: about six years ago. And one thing I was really

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Speaker 2: thankful for was the fact that you can drink the

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Speaker 2: tap water here

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Speaker 2: because I know clean water from the faucet is not

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Speaker 2: a privilege that a lot of the planet enjoys. I

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Speaker 2: want you to take us to Chola Province. Why is

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Speaker 2: there a water crisis there? Well, first of all, this

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Speaker 2: Chola province is this province, way down in the south

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Speaker 2: part of South Korea. And the reason is really simple,

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Speaker 2: there's just simply no rain here in South Korea these days.

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Speaker 2: You know, we do get a few days of drizzle

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Speaker 2: here and there. But apart from that,

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Speaker 2: we haven't really had much rain here. And so for

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Speaker 2: the story, I traveled down to the Chala province and

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Speaker 2: even in this main city of Guangzhou, there were concerns

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Speaker 2: of water. And you were able to see this plaque,

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Speaker 2: cars and banners telling people to try and save water.

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Speaker 2: And you know, the dams over there in Hangzhou, they

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Speaker 2: were drying up. The water level is way below what

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Speaker 2: they were in the past and what is needed to

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Speaker 2: give to for the residents there

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Speaker 2: to spy on. There's this place called Tong Dam there

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Speaker 2: too where, you know, I went to visit and it

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Speaker 2: didn't seem at all like a dam and it was

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Speaker 2: just like as if I was in a desert. Oh

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Speaker 2: my gosh, it was like really dry and it wasn't

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Speaker 2: just even even the word dried. Yes, I think the

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Speaker 2: word a desert would describe this place much better. And apparently,

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Speaker 2: you know, even last year, the situation here was bad

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Speaker 2: because there's only about 800

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Speaker 2: millimeters of rain, which apparently was only about 60% of

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Speaker 2: what they got the year before that. And so this

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Speaker 2: is an issue that's been ongoing here in Korea. And

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Speaker 2: this year many of the officials were saying that they

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Speaker 2: don't think they'll even get last year's amount. And so

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Speaker 2: this is a big concern here in South Korea right now. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: those half filled dams in your story. I saw the pictures.

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Speaker 2: It's very disturbing because it gives you a sense of

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Speaker 2: just how much water they're supposed to be.

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Speaker 2: Ok. So what does this crisis look like for people there?

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Speaker 2: I know you spoke to some who are directly affected

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Speaker 2: by this water emergency. Can they even believe South Korea

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Speaker 2: is facing a crisis like this? Given it's one of

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Speaker 2: the richest nations in Asia. Well, you know, I think

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Speaker 2: apart from what those people in province, think when I

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Speaker 2: started doing this research, it was really hard for me

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Speaker 2: to believe that this was happening here in South Korea.

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Speaker 2: And this was not where in another

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Speaker 2: country, you know that we see in the news and

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Speaker 2: so doing this story and learning about this was really

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Speaker 2: fascinating for me too. But also even today this afternoon,

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Speaker 2: I was talking to people here in the Central Seoul

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Speaker 2: about this and they have no idea what's happening down

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Speaker 2: in the South in Chaa Province. The people apart from

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Speaker 2: those in Chaa Province have no idea that this country

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Speaker 2: has this water crisis. And so that

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Speaker 2: it's very surprising too that the central government has not

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Speaker 2: really told or told many of the people here in

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Speaker 2: Central Seoul and the local media hasn't really touched on that.

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Speaker 2: They would once in a while. But I don't think

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Speaker 2: the people really realizes the seriousness of this issue. But definitely,

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Speaker 2: you know, there's people living that Chala Province and even

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Speaker 2: in that Kangxi city alone, they tell me that the

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Speaker 2: situation is very real. It's hard for me to believe

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Speaker 2: that there is a water shortage.

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Speaker 2: I receive text messages every day that ask residents of

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Speaker 2: Guangzhou to cooperate in saving water. We cannot simply ignore

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Speaker 2: these messages. Even if it's uncomfortable, we must endure it.

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Speaker 2: What else can I do when it's not raining? This

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Speaker 2: is how we have to live. I put water in

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Speaker 2: a plastic bottle to use in the bathroom, do the

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Speaker 2: laundry all at once and turn on water little by

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Speaker 2: little when I need it.

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Speaker 2: Given the situation, I think it does offer an opportunity

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Speaker 2: for people to consider how to conserve water. Maybe not

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Speaker 2: be so wasteful. And I feel like for the older

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Speaker 2: generation Y Silk, I know for my grandparents, for example,

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Speaker 2: they didn't flush the toilet if they didn't have to.

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Speaker 2: If you know what I mean? If it's yellow, let

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Speaker 2: it mellow if it's brown, flush it down.

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Speaker 2: But you really forget how important water is to our

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Speaker 2: daily lives and livelihoods actually. Can you talk to us

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Speaker 2: about how this shortage is impacting business in that region? Well,

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Speaker 2: it is having a big impact especially on the tourism

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Speaker 2: and with COVID pandemic now gone on. Many of them

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Speaker 2: were hoping that the tourists will be able to come

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Speaker 2: back and their livelihoods will be able to pick up.

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Speaker 2: But parts of the Chala province here in Korea are

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Speaker 2: known for their beautiful water, their pristine

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Speaker 2: watering fact. And you know, they have a lot of

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Speaker 2: the touristy sites. There, there was this place called One

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Speaker 2: Do where we went to and one of the restaurant

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Speaker 2: owner there was telling me how sometimes she would have

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Speaker 2: to turn away the tourists or customers coming in because

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Speaker 2: she simply did not have enough water to cook or

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Speaker 2: clean her kitchen or do anything inside that restaurant. And so,

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Speaker 2: you know, they're not able to take in customers a

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Speaker 2: lot of the inns or the accommodation places. I mean,

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Speaker 2: especially those you see, they simply

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Speaker 2: and not taking customers because this is a place where

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Speaker 2: they only get water supply two times in one week.

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Speaker 2: And so they have to save the water during those

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Speaker 2: two days that they do get water. And during the

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Speaker 2: rest of that week, they have to live off that

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Speaker 2: water that they have saved. So it's hard to believe

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Speaker 2: that this is actually happening here in Korea. But that

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Speaker 2: is the case in 2023 2 and in South Korea. But,

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Speaker 2: and so, you know,

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Speaker 2: it is hurting their livelihood and tourists, a lot of

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Speaker 2: the tourists go there not knowing that this is happening.

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Speaker 2: And the owners were saying that they do have the

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Speaker 2: same water and they just hope that the customers use

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Speaker 2: it up and then they all leave before the next

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Speaker 2: time they can fill it up because they don't want

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Speaker 2: a lot of Koreans to know about this because they

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Speaker 2: still do want the customers to come back. And so

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Speaker 2: it's tough for them. This area. Wando is also very famous,

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Speaker 2: very seaweed and abalone,

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Speaker 2: but talking to them apparently right now, it doesn't have

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Speaker 2: a direct impact yet. But they are very worried because

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Speaker 2: even the Abalones need to live off the water, the

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Speaker 2: natural resources that come out of it. And they're just

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Speaker 2: worried too. And like for the seaweed, you would have

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Speaker 2: to wash the salt off it to be able to

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Speaker 2: export it overseas, but they didn't unable to do that

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Speaker 2: because there's just simply no water and they have to conserve. So,

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Speaker 2: of course, the big question is why, right? Why is

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Speaker 2: this happening

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Speaker 2: coming up? We're going to talk about climate change and

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Speaker 2: its role in all of this more with after this?

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Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Julie Yu and I'm the host

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Speaker 2: of the climate conversations. Each week, I speak to guests

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Speaker 2: who give us tips on how we can protect the earth.

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Speaker 2: Every once in a while. We also have interesting stories

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Speaker 2: like how Singapore's first Tesla owner prompted billionaire

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Speaker 2: Elon Musk to reach out to Prime Minister Lee Slo

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Speaker 2: or a chef who makes the juiciest burgers from only

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Speaker 2: plant based ingredients. For more stories like these, look for

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Speaker 2: the climate, conversations on our C N A and me

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Speaker 2: listen apps or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 2: When I first heard about your story Y s and

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Speaker 2: how you were covering a water shortage in South Korea

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Speaker 2: of all places. I have to admit the first two

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Speaker 2: words that came into my mind were climate change, right?

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Speaker 2: How strong is the correlation in this case? What did

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Speaker 2: experts tell you? Oh, very close. I think, you know, anybody,

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Speaker 2: everybody that I spoke to did say that it was

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Speaker 2: all related to climate change and global warming too. It

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Speaker 2: is not just a South Korean issue but it is

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Speaker 2: thing that the whole world, this global other countries all

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Speaker 2: face these days. But you know, but the funny thing is,

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Speaker 2: is because this climate change and global warming, you know,

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Speaker 2: right now we're talking about not having enough rain and

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Speaker 2: how there's this drought. But that's only during certain months,

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Speaker 2: you know, when the summer hits us and when it

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Speaker 2: becomes July, August, I'll probably be here talking to you

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Speaker 2: about the flooding situation here in Korea because we'll have floods.

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Speaker 2: And so, you know, it's either whether you have too

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Speaker 2: much rain,

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Speaker 2: you don't have enough rain. But right now, a lot

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Speaker 2: of experts are saying that it's not, they're just not

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Speaker 2: getting the adequate amount as they did in the past.

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Speaker 2: And even the weather forecasts are very different from what

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Speaker 2: it was in the past. They're not right. A lot

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Speaker 2: of time. They're wrong because it's just so hard to

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Speaker 2: predict what the weather conditions are going to be here

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Speaker 2: these days. So you talk about just waiting simply for

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Speaker 2: the rainy season to begin to maybe help the situation

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Speaker 2: a bit, but that's not really going to solve the

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Speaker 2: bigger problem here. So, what sort of longer time

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Speaker 2: term solutions does the government propose? Well, that seems like

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Speaker 2: what the South Korean government did for the last few

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Speaker 2: years because this is a problem that really, I don't

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Speaker 2: think hit South Korea just this year. It has to

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Speaker 2: be something that has to be piling up for the

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Speaker 2: last few years. And except the South Korean government didn't

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Speaker 2: really see the seriousness of this. And I think the

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Speaker 2: government thought that oh, if we get rain, hopefully in

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Speaker 2: a month or two, this will all go away. But

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Speaker 2: they realized that this is a serious issue and that's

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Speaker 2: why the South Korean government decided to

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Speaker 2: invest in about $8 million into a vessel that can

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Speaker 2: desalinate the water as it moves around from one island

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Speaker 2: to another. And so this vessel and it's called the Dreams.

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Speaker 2: It is able to convert the seawater into fresh water

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Speaker 2: for people to be able to drink. And I tried

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Speaker 2: it and you know, it tastes no different from any

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Speaker 2: other water. And So they're hoping that with this, they

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Speaker 2: will be able to move around to different islands where

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Speaker 2: they're not getting enough water and be able to give

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Speaker 2: them that water they need at least for now. And

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Speaker 2: that is the world's first mobile seawater desalination plant. Right. Yes,

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Speaker 2: it is. That's what the South Korean government says. And

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Speaker 2: that's why they think that this vessel will be needed,

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Speaker 2: not just here in South Korea, but around the world.

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Speaker 2: And so they are hoping that they will be able

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Speaker 2: to export this technology to other countries and help other

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Speaker 2: countries also facing water shortage. Wow, that's a hopeful outlook.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully that this technology can be shared to other countries

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Speaker 2: in the region and beyond while we may not all

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Speaker 2: be facing an acute water shortage, this is really a

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Speaker 2: great reminder yo to take care of water because it

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Speaker 2: is finite and it's definitely not guaranteed. Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. The TV version of C N A correspondent

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Speaker 2: airs on C N A every Wednesday at 9 30 PM.

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Speaker 2: Catch up with them any time on C N A

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Speaker 2: dot Asia. The team behind this episode is Clara Ong,

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Speaker 2: Christina Robert and me, Theresa Tang. Thanks for listening.