Big water shortage in Gangwon-do.

Wow, I had no idea this was going on until reading Gangwon Notes today. From an article two days ago:

According to the Ministry of Environment, 99,244 people living in 807 villages nationwide are currently suffering from an acute water shortage. About 275 villages including Samcheok in Gangwon Province, Chungju and Gongju in Chungcheong Province, among others, are forced to rely on water trucks or fire engines to carry water to them four times a week. At the same time, Taebaek in Gangwon and Okcheon and Yesan in Chungcheong have also restricted water supplies to specific times.

About 17,000 households in the Taebaek area are surviving on about 50 percent of what is needed daily, with tap water running for just three hours a day.

``If the tap water runs once or twice in the morning, we save water for laundry and dish washing. We fetch potable water from a spring on the mountain, which takes about 20 minutes on foot,'' a 65-year-old resident said.

In 2008, the southern part of the country had a mere 46 percent of the average rainfall in previous years. The total rainfall in 2008 was 158 milliliters, the third lowest since 1973.

The weather phenomenon La Nina ― an increased cooling phase in the eastern Pacific with a strengthening of trade winds causing a dry period ― has affected the Korean Peninsula and caused the drought, weather experts say.

And more about the situation in Taebaek city:

“Some schools provide bread and milk for lunches because they can’t cook cafeteria meals,” [Mayor] Park [Jong-gi] said.

. . .

Tap water supply was completely shut off for 3,250 people living in eight mountainous villages in Cheolam and Jangseong, making it necessary for people to visit natural water sources in the region every day to get their drinking water.

Here's some on-the-ground coverage from Dave's ESL Cafe.