Five general new projects and one Ultra Lake Trail program chosen; initiative aims to boost incomes and revitalize communities near dams
Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) announced Friday that it had selected six projects — five under the "general new project" category and one under the "Ultra Lake Trail" category — through the final review of its 2026 dam support project competition for local governments.
The competition has been held since 2022 to help communities near dams build sustainable income sources by leveraging their distinctive local resources and to strengthen a framework for mutual growth between K-water and surrounding regions.
This year the competition was divided into two tracks: the general new project category and a designated track called Ultra Lake Trail, linked to K-water's dam local-branding initiative.
For the general new project track, the maximum support ceiling per project was raised from 500 million won ($325,000) to 1 billion won to more actively foster projects with a strong ripple effect on local economies.
A total of 20 applications were submitted from 15 local governments across 11 dam areas. After review by internal and external experts, five projects were selected: one receiving 1 billion won — Inje-gun in Gangwon Province — and four receiving 500 million won each, in Boeun-gun (North Chungcheong Province), Jinan-gun (North Jeolla Province), Jangheung-gun (South Jeolla Province) and Hwacheon-gun (Gangwon Province).
K-water plans to provide a total of 3 billion won in project funding, matched with local government budgets including the local extinction response fund.
The Ultra Lake Trail is a festival-style program in which participants run off paved roads through dam and lake environments and natural terrain. It was designed to raise the profile of each region and drive tourism and local economic activity.
Introduced for the first time this year and evaluated through the same review process as the general new project track, Pocheon in Gyeonggi Province was ultimately selected.
"This competition focused on identifying sustainable economic models to help dam-adjacent communities overcome the threat of regional depopulation," said Jang Byeong-hun, K-water's head of water resources and environment. "We will continue to work hand in hand with communities near dams and take the lead in revitalizing local economies."
thlee@heraldcorp.com
