Gyeonggi-do National River Flood Management Becomes 'Smarter'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will establish a 'Smart Flood Management System' by 2022 to automatically control river sluices and floodgates in 17 national rivers within the province according to heavy rain conditions.

The Smart Flood Management System is a project promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to respond more quickly and effectively to frequently occurring localized heavy rains by applying various information and communication technologies (ICT) to automate the opening and closing of sluices.

In particular, it is also part of the Korean New Deal policy currently being promoted across the government (in the river sector of the SOC digitalization area).

Until now, river sluices have been manually operated based on the experience of local government officials or local residents, which has caused problems such as flooding damage to farmland and houses when timely opening and closing was not possible due to time and weather constraints.

The project targets 627 sluices and floodgates in 17 national rivers including the Hangang, Osancheon, Anseongcheon, and Imjingang. To this end, the province secured 16.1 billion KRW in national funds, the largest scale among metropolitan local governments nationwide.

Once equipped with the Smart Flood Management System, comprehensive control rooms in each local government will be able to check the status of sluices via CCTV and river water levels via automatic water level gauges in real time, and operate sluices and drainage facilities automatically, remotely, or on-site as needed to efficiently manage water levels.

The province will continue to consult with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to ensure national funds are injected sequentially, and will do its best to promptly start the project in each local government so that detailed designs and some system upgrades for all sluices and floodgates can be completed within the year.

Ko Gang-su, Director of Rivers at the province, said, "With the introduction of a smart management system for aging facilities, we will be able to respond to disasters more efficiently," and added, "We plan to make this project the cornerstone for introducing automated sluice systems throughout the province in the long term and do our best to create a safe and smart river management system."