Jeonbuk Province Issues 'Interest' Alert for Okjeongho Algal Bloom Occurrence

Full Effort to Prevent Green Algae Spread
Strengthening Guidance and Inspection of Pollution Source Emission Facilities

Jeonbuk Provincial Government is putting all its efforts into responding to the occurrence of green algae in Jinan Yongdam Lake and Imsil Okjeong Lake.

Jeonbuk Province announced on the 6th that it issued an 'Attention' level algae alert for Okjeong Lake as of 3 p.m. on the 5th, and is making every effort to prevent the spread of green algae. Previously, Yongdam Lake, a major water source in the province, was issued an 'Attention' level algae alert on the 1st of last month but has recently been recovering.

The cause of this green algae outbreak is known to be the prolonged heatwave this summer. The 'Attention' level alert for Okjeong Lake was issued because the number of cyanobacteria cells measured at two consecutive times at an additional measurement point exceeded the 'Attention' level standard of 1,000 cells/ml.

Scenic view of Okjeongho Lake in Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk. [Photo by Imsil-gun]

Along with issuing the algae alert, the province is strengthening guidance and inspections of pollution discharge facilities and activating a response system in cooperation with related organizations.

So far, the province has requested the Ministry of Environment to add measurement points for safe water supply and algae response, and since June, the number of measurement points at Okjeong Lake has been expanded from one at Chilbo intake to two.

In addition, a TF team for algae response at Okjeong Lake was formed with the Jeonbuk Regional Environmental Office, Jeongeup City, Imsil County, and the Korea Water Resources Corporation, focusing on preventing large-scale algae outbreaks and blocking pollutant inflow.

The province plans to thoroughly manage pollution sources near Okjeong Lake by requesting related organizations to focus inspections on major pollution sources such as livestock manure and private sewage treatment facilities.

Jeongeup City and Imsil County will additionally inspect whether livestock manure is stockpiled or discharged into public water bodies near large-scale livestock farms around Okjeong Lake. If violations are found, administrative measures will be taken immediately.

To this end, 47 guardians of the Okjeong Lake wide-area water source have been mobilized and requested to strengthen monitoring of illegal activities and purification activities in the upstream watershed.

The Korea Water Resources Corporation is also monitoring the algae situation by continuously measuring and analyzing the water quality of Okjeong Lake. Currently, algae barriers have been installed at three locations including the Chilbo power plant discharge outlet, and the water intake point has been moved to less than 11 meters deep. Additional surface aerators have been installed and operating hours extended to reduce algae occurrence.

Kang Haewon, Director of the Environment and Forestry Bureau, said, "We will actively cooperate with related organizations such as the Jeonbuk Regional Environmental Office to quickly resolve the algae alert situation at Okjeong Lake and focus administrative capabilities on supplying safe water sources."

Meanwhile, Yongdam Lake is being managed through cooperation between Jeonbuk Province, the Jeonbuk Regional Environmental Office, the Korea Water Resources Corporation, and Jinan County, and the cyanobacteria cell count has significantly eased from 6,420 cells/ml on July 29 to 47 cells/ml as of the 2nd.