Cities Seeking Urban Wetland Restoration

A restored wetland near apartment complexes in Seoul.

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

CHANGWON ― A growing number of Korean cities are considering restoring destroyed urban wetlands to improve the living conditions of people and nature alike.

Numerous inland rivers and natural wetlands were routed using concrete blocks or filled in for development, resulting in worsening water quality and making the areas vulnerable to flooding.

In response, from the beginning of the century, some city governments initiated urban wetlands restoration projects but many of them failed to achieve what they initially expected for lack of knowledge and experience.

In a symposium on restoration of urban wetlands in the Ramsar Convention, Thursday, Environment Ministry official Lee Kyu-man introduced successful ways of urban wetland restoration used by various provincial cities.

Noting that artificial straightening or transforming of rivers is not recommended any longer, Lee said, ``It's needed to restore the original characteristics of the wetland harmonized with the surroundings.''

``Successful cities removed artificial facilities interrupting the eco-link between upper and down river such as weirs and dams and took apart fish ladders failing to perform their function,'' Lee said. ``Minimizing the installation of artificial facilities such as sports facilities nearby wetlands is also important.''

He stressed restoration projects should be focused on restoring the original characteristics of wetlands in harmony with the surroundings.

A series of projects to restore wetlands have made a notable improvement to water quality of major rivers here, he added.

According to the Environment Ministry, the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the Han River in Seoul was recorded at 1.2 last year from 1.5 in 1999. The BOD of Nak-dong River in South Gyeongsang Province slipped to 1.2 in 2007 from 1.5 in 1996. The ministry defines ``good water'' as water where the melanian snail can live, whose BOD is 3ppm or less.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr

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