SEOUL — The third Seoul Metropolitan Fora was held with the theme of the "River in Metropolis" on Oct. 26-27 at the Seoul Metropolitan Museum’s auditorium where seven water resources experts from the United States, United Kingdom, France and Japan held in-depth discussions with five Korean scholars.
The Seoul Metropolitan Fora is an international conference for the advancement of urban studies and affairs inaugurated by the University of Seoul in 1996.
The SMF 2000 was devoted to the discussion of issues concerning cities and rivers — the Han River in Seoul, London’s Thames, the Mersey in Manchester, La Seine in Paris, the Hudson in New York and the Sumida in Tokyo.
Human civilization started with rivers. Hence, civilization has had to deal with flood control, drinking water supply, waste water treatment and the preservation of water quality and quantity for humans, wildlife, flora and fauna.
The City of Seoul has just established a comprehensive master plan for the Han River, and is determined to execute it. Therefore, "River in Metropolis" was a very timely symposium.
I enjoyed the outstanding presentations from Korean and foreign scholars and managers during those couple of days. A comparative outlook is always an intelligent building block of scientific inquiry.
All rivers are different as all faces are different. The Han River’s length, width, rainfall, evaporation rate and socio-cultural setting are quite different the from Sumida, Thames, Mersey, Seine, and Hudson, but I discovered some of their relevance to the Han River.
All rives in the 21st century are under pressure from population growth, industrial growth in the basin, and most of all, environmental quality. We are all concerned about and in pursuit of environmentally sound water resources management. This is a mandate from the United Nations Environmental Program, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Health Organization, the Asia-Pacific Summit, Asia-Europe Summit and the World Trade Organization among others.
The Han River master plan in 1982 was made in haste for flood control as well as for the 1986. Asia Games and 1988 Summer Olympics. River banks along roads were designed for the increasing number of cars, not for humans on a stroll wanting to take in the scenic view or wildlife. Not far away from the river banks are walls of high-rise apartment buildings, which are far from natural or desirable conditions for humans and the ecology.
I believe beautiful forests should be in the place of high-rise apartment buildings. In other words, the present state of the Han River is deplorable. Man’s accessibility to the Han River is limited.
The future of the Han River must be more naturally tuned to the environmental plan and design. Human accessibility to the water front, natural parks and wetlands should be readily available. An "art work" footbridge should be constructed between the North and South side of the River.
The Han River’s water quality has remarkably improved in recent years. Freshwater crabs are found in the water near Chamsil. This is a great improvement.
However, the river cannot be clean without cooperative efforts of all citizens and local governments along the Han River. The City of Seoul alone cannot make it happen.
Major tributaries to the Han River are extremely polluted. Kyonganchon, Wangsukchon, Tanchon, Chungnangchon and Anyangchon streams are polluted. They all originate from Kyonggi Province. These tributaries should be made clean.
From time to time, massive dying of fish in Chungnangchon has been reported in the media. Last Nov. 3, a KBS-TV reporter asked me: Why is this so? There can be many answers, but I indicated the urban runoff. Much waste from the houses, buildings and factories in Seoul and other cities are swept into the tributaries mixed with rainwater.
Oil spills are not reported even though the streets are full of oil. All citizens and all farmers should realize that urban and farm runoffs pollute the river seriously. They are so-called "non-point sources" of pollutants.
South Korea’s nature and environment cannot fully accommodate 45 million people’s needs. Nature has its own limit. It cannot accommodate population growth and economic growth. We should understand this as the axiomatic truth.
Rivers in any metropolis should be restored to their original state. But I think that is an impossible task.
We should, however, exert our foremost efforts to return the Han River to its former natural state as much as possible. That is our duty, obligation, and mission.