Solar panel construction turns stream blue in Bonghwa

By Ko Dong-hwan

A stream in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, has turned blue after fluid from a nearby photovoltaic power station construction site upstream leaked into it, angering local residents.

It was first discovered on May 7 by residents of Hyundong, a village in the county's Jaesan Township, according to local reports. Chosun Ilbo, citing one of the witnesses, said the stream's water looked like it had been “mixed with a blue watercolor paint.”

Some of the residents, upon discovering the bizarre sight, went upstream to find the cause. Two kilometers upstream, they found the solar farm construction site, where they saw a blue fluid leaking into the stream.

The startled residents reported it to Jaesan Township Office the following day. On May 9, officials from Bonghwa County Office arrived to investigate.

The investigation led them to the construction firm that was building the solar farm. Having begun the construction in February, the company had already finished compacting soil and laying down preliminary geotechnical foundations across a 16,000-square-meter plot. They hadn't started erecting photovoltaic panels that were altogether planned to generate some 1.4 megawatts of electricity.

The company told the county officials that the source of the blue fluid seemed to be from spraypaint used to mark spots across the site where grass seedlings were to be planted. Planting grass there was intended to keep the soil from shifting, according to the county officials. The company also claimed the paint is harmless to humans.

According to the company, the spraypaint markers must have been washed away by rainfall on May 7 and washed into the stream. “Spraypaint needs some time to dry so we never use it on wet days,” one of the company workers said, adding they did not expect to see rain on May 7.

Following the county official's investigation, the company sent a sample of the blue spraypaint to the Korea Testing and Research Institute for toxicity testing and provided the results to Bonghwa County Office. The test report confirmed the paint was harmless to humans and plants.

“It has been found that the paint was the one of those markers often used on soil for agricultural farming where pesticides are to be sprayed,” a county official said.

But even after the test results were revealed, local residents said they are still concerned about the discolored stream. The stream had been designated by the Ministry of Environment as the cleanest “first-grade” water source in the area and has been a source of drinking water for Hyundong residents.

The residents were also worried that the pollutant may have reached other parts of Jaesan and the neighboring township of Myeongho, where the stream also runs. There are about 2,000 households in both districts.

“So the water has been tested harmless and we are supposed to drink this blue water like nothing happened?” one of the residents asked. Some residents, according to Chosun Ilbo, said they would demand the company halt the solar farm construction.

Bonghwa officials sent a sample of the stream water to the province's health environment research lab for further toxicity testing.

On May 12 the construction company began pumping out water from the stream and replenishing it with fresh water.