AI IoT system to protect aging reservoirs from disaster

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology announced Monday that it has deployed a digital disaster monitoring and emergency response system at Inmoksan Reservoir in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.

Across the country, 16,973 small- and medium-sized aging reservoirs are managed primarily through on-site visits and visual inspections, making real-time detection of anomalies difficult. Local governments that oversee large numbers of reservoirs but lack sufficient inspection personnel face particular difficulty in quickly identifying sudden water-level surges, leaks, cracks and slope changes during heavy rainfall.

Reservoirs without sluice gates or with limited discharge capacity also require advance and emergency release mechanisms to reduce flood risk during the rainy season, while the dry season calls for flexible water-level management to secure agricultural water supplies.

A research team led by Hwang Tae-moon at the institute has been developing and testing a system for Inmoksan Reservoir in Cheongdo-myeon, Miryang. The system integrates water-level data, embankment and slope conditions, and on-site video feeds to monitor disaster risk in real time and support decision-making when anomalies are detected.

Miryang manages a large number of small- and medium-sized reservoirs, making the adoption of low-power, low-cost digital safety management technology particularly pressing.

The system employs a siphon-based emergency discharge device that can rapidly and efficiently lower water levels even at small- and medium-sized reservoirs where installing large sluice gates is impractical. The institute plans to advance the system into a fully integrated, field-ready platform linked with AI Internet of Things (AIoT)-based digital monitoring technology built around low power consumption and low cost, capable of handling everything from remote surveillance and risk assessment to emergency discharge response.

Park Seon-gyu, president of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, said that as climate change drives increasingly frequent heavy rainfall, managing the safety of aging reservoirs is a critical task for protecting lives and property. "Starting with this field demonstration in Miryang, we will lay the groundwork to expand the system to small- and medium-sized aging reservoirs nationwide and contribute to the spread of digital-based disaster response technology," he said.