There is an annual event held in North Korea at the beginning of each year.
It is a job to provide manure in rural areas and collect debris and send it to factories.
Even in early January of this year, large numbers of manure support and demolition support work were carried out without fail, and North Korean media reported that.
How can cities provide manure to support rural areas?
The most common way is to collect servings.
In North Korea, it is said that every year at the beginning of the year, a so-called'personal battle' is held to fill the amount of manure allotted to each house.
It is said that the'personal battle' is a battle to secure the amount of servings that must be devoted to the authorities, and even stealing others' people to fill the quota, it is said that there are times when it is impossible to laugh at keeping the people's people all night long.
Sewage treatment is not possible, river water groundwater pollution is serious
The collected human meal is scattered in fields, etc., leading to groundwater pollution.
Hygiene problems such as parasites are also serious.
In North Korea, many still use conventional toilets, although there are no accurate statistics, there are studies showing that close to 80% of the manure is not treated with sewage.
The quality of the groundwater flowing through the ground cannot be perfect.
River water pollution is also serious.
Most of the domestic wastewater as well as industrial wastewater is discharged into the river without permission.
Although there are sewage treatment plants in large cities, it is said that the facilities are not working properly due to aging facilities and lack of parts.
Power shortage is also one cause.
Due to poor sewage treatment, North Korean rivers are in severe pollution.
In the Daedong River, it is said that fish are dying from the wastewater thrown away by the citizens of Pyongyang.
The Yalu and Tuman Rivers are said to have been polluted to the extent that they were difficult to use as drinking water due to domestic wastewater and industrial wastewater flowing from North Korea and China, and fish and shellfish and algae were completely extinct in the coast of Wonsan Bay.
I can't even manage drinking water...
Upset stomach when you eat tap water
Unmanaged sewage is also a problem for environmental pollution, but it also affects the quality of drinking water.
This is because contaminated water threatens the water source.
In addition, water supply management is not properly managed in North Korea.
In the case of water purification plants, considerable investments were made in East Germany in the 1960s, but there are still some places that were constructed during the Japanese colonial rule.
Most of them are purified by the first-stage sedimentation and second-stage disinfection methods, but there are many cases where disinfection cannot be performed due to insufficient chlorine.
If the result is not good after the water quality test at the water purification plant, appropriate measures should be taken, but there is no other measure.
There are also many problems with the water supply pipe.
Most of the water supply pipes are cast iron pipes, but not only are they aging, but also water leakage is significant.
In particular, there are many places where only common water pipes are installed in cities and counties, and residents are said to have severe leakage by connecting vinyl pipes to the common water pipes, welding them, and treating them with cement.
This is why water must be boiled and eaten.
In North Korea, even where the water supply is installed, most places do not have 24 hours of water supply, but it is said that'green water' comes out in the early stages when water supply resumes.
It is said that there are many cases of stomach upset after drinking tap water in summer.
Even at this level, the capital cities are only in metropolitan areas such as Pyongyang and Kaesong.
In general Si/Gun areas, as mentioned above, there are many places where only common water pipes are installed, and in rural areas, wells or chopjangs (a facility that pumps water by placing a pipe in the ground to pump water) are used.
In the reality of using a lot of wells and snails, groundwater contamination due to discharge of manure, etc., increases the risk of waterborne infectious diseases.
Lack of power is also one of the causes of poor water supply.
Due to the lack of power, the water purification facilities are not properly operated, and water cannot be pumped up to the high ground.
In the case of apartments, water is not supplied to the upper floor, so it is said that there are many cases where water is drawn down to the first floor.
New water and sewage facilities in North Korea need to be built...
Short-term measures are also needed
The problem is that even basic data to solve these problems are not well prepared.
There are still some cases where the water supply and sewage networks of the Japanese colonial period are still in use, but there are some places that do not have a water and sewage network drawings at all.
This is because the old drawings disappeared through the Korean War.
If unification is achieved, in the long run, new water and sewage facilities in North Korea will need to be built.
However, as it will take a long time to complete the maintenance of water and sewage facilities, short-term countermeasures are also needed.
The short-term solution to the drinking water problem is to boil water.
Since the quality of tap water is not good, it is important to boil drinking water to ensure safety.
However, it would be cumbersome to boil fresh water, so it is necessary to support large amounts of tea such as barley tea, corn tea, and buckwheat tea.
Teas such as barley tea and corn tea are not bulky or heavy, so large-scale support is possible if there is enough stock in South Korea.
In the long run, if new water and sewage facilities are to be built in North Korea, it will be necessary to charge water bills as in South Korea, which may be unfamiliar to North Koreans.
This is because, in the socialist system, the water usage fee is insignificant and is usually included in the house usage fee, so there is no perception of buying and eating water.
However, as the water situation in North Korea is so bad, researchers believe that if only clean and stable water supply becomes possible, North Koreans will be willing to pay the water usage fee.