North Gyeongsang council inspects Gyeongju's Deokdong Dam amid heat wave, drought

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Council visited the Deokdong Dam area in Gyeongju on Tuesday to assess heat wave and drought damage and review the current state of water supply, with council leadership, standing committee chairs and Gyeongju-area lawmakers in attendance.

Participants received briefings from relevant agencies on the overall heat wave and drought situation across the province, as well as on the dam's water supply status and drought response measures. They then toured the site to check on efforts to secure a stable water supply.

Deokdong Dam, built in 1975, is a key drinking water source with a total storage capacity of 32.7 million cubic meters and an effective storage capacity of 27.9 million cubic meters. It supplies 50,000 cubic meters of residential water daily to Gyeongju's urban areas, including Bulguk-dong and Oedong-eup.

The council said it plans to continue conducting on-site inspections of damage caused by extreme weather events — including heat waves and droughts — and to pursue field-focused legislative activities aimed at stabilizing residents' daily lives and minimizing harm to local communities.

"I saw firsthand that reservoir levels have fallen to less than half of normal, and felt the severity of the drought," council Speaker Kim Hui-su said. "We will work to develop wide-ranging countermeasures and support plans to prepare for abnormal weather patterns such as the increasingly routine summer droughts and heat waves."