Shortage of drinking water in North Korea during severe spring drought

Drinking water is becoming more difficult to obtain for many North Koreans as the country is in the midst of one of the worst droughts since the government began keeping records in 1981, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.

And satellite evidence shows that many of the country’s reservoirs have shrunk, sometimes dramatically, over the past year.

State media reported on Tuesday that a lack of water could worsen food shortages, and there was a “national effort” to try to save crops from damage.

However, on a personal level, people have to work harder to get drinking water, a source from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told the FRG Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“There are many reservoirs, (but they dry up, so) we look for water and drink it. We carry water with a bucket, but the water supply is not working well,” he said. “We can more easily fetch water in the winter, but the spring and fall seasons are the worst. The water pumping station is running dry and we don’t have tap water.”

The source said that people go to the river bank to fetch water and purify it so that it is safe to drink.

“It is a really serious situation and we do not use disinfectants. We use coal,” the source said. “We spread sand, put a layer of charcoal, pour the water over the top and make a hole in the bucket. That’s what we drink.

view from the sky

Satellite images of reservoirs in North Korea show that spring droughts this year and last year have greatly reduced water levels, Bruce Songhak Chung, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Security and Strategy based in Korea, told RFA. South Korea.

His team used images taken by NASA’s Landsat 8 and 9 satellites to compare the April 2022 water levels in 12 reservoirs in various parts of the country with their April 2023 water levels.

“We found that water in the 12 agricultural reservoirs across…had a net decrease compared to last year. In particular, the Ransong Reservoir in Pyonggang County, Kangwon Province, had a water decline of 62%,” Chung said, adding that this would spell a “crisis” in trying to find water for irrigation.

Chung noted that the images could be used to measure the surface area of ​​the lakes, but it would be difficult to determine the volume because that requires knowledge of the average depths of the reservoirs.

“Depending on the region, some reservoirs showed an increase in water levels,” Chung said. “However, overall, we can confirm that the water in North Korea’s reservoirs has decreased this year compared to last year.”

This year’s unprecedented drought is due to weather events that have occurred over the past year, including “La Nina,” which is caused by rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming, Chung said.

That means North Korean farms could be in serious trouble, he said.

“The preparations for agriculture are in an emergency situation and it does not seem that irrigation alone will solve the problem,” he said. “If this year’s spring drought is similar to last year’s or slightly more severe, the outlook for this fall’s crop will be bleak.”

black market for water

Due to the scarcity of water, a black market for water has emerged, said the North Pyongan source.

“Water vendors carry containers full of spring water and go here and there and sell spring water for a certain amount per container,” the source said. “They sell a five liter (1.3 gallon) container, or a 10 liter (2.6 gallon) container. Water is difficult to transport and you have to bring it from a place far from the center. So you buy water when the water vendors bring it.”

Water for agriculture is even more difficult to obtain, the source said.

“Each farm has an irrigation canal and each river has an irrigation canal. In places where there is no irrigation canal, they use a pump. They pump the water with electricity. However, at the moment the fields are all dry and it is a very bad situation,” he said. “There is no problem with the areas near the river, but agriculture is difficult in the areas without nearby rivers. It’s making a bad situation worse.”

Another source, from the western province of South Hwanghae, told RFA that the irrigation canal is no longer working.

“The waterway is a mess right now,” he said. “People come and carry water on their backs, or with a cart pulled by oxen. It’s been so long without irrigation and people have no idea how hard life is here.”

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong.