The government is overhauling the "National Water Management Plan," which is currently required to be drawn up once every 10 years. The strategy aims to prepare in advance for future water shortages, as facility investment surges in advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, which require large volumes of water. Some argue that a long-term national blueprint is needed for dam and weir management, which is overturned each time the administration changes.
According to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment on Friday, the government is pushing to redesign the national water policy planning system by revising the Framework Act on Water Management and the Water Resources Act. The goal is to reshape various water plans, currently drawn up once every 10 years, into a continuous framework like the Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand, the top-tier plan in the energy policy field. The specific direction of the revision is expected to be announced within the year.
The move reflects a judgment that water will become an infrastructure as essential to industry as electricity going forward. In the Honam region alone, where Samsung and SK hynix plan to invest more than 800 trillion won to build semiconductor fabs, major dams ran dry during the worst drought in 2023.
"Even combining all the storage of dams near Gwangju amounts to only 1 billion tons, falling short of Soyanggang Dam (2.9 billion tons) or Daecheong Dam (1.49 billion tons)," a senior official in the semiconductor equipment industry said. "Especially considering that signs of climate change are becoming clear and countries like the United States and Japan are also expanding their dams, a long-term measure is essential."
In fact, the Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand, Korea's top-tier energy plan, sets a 15-year planning period and is drawn up every two years. It is a "rolling plan" that changes the overall direction by reflecting changes in power supply and demand in virtually real time. By contrast, the National Water Management Plan is drawn up once every 10 years. The first plan was created in 2021, and the second plan will not be presented until 2031. "There is a recognition that the existing system has many components but is highly rigid and lacks connectivity with previous plans," a government official said. "We will overhaul the statutory plans across the board."
