2009년 1월에 울주군 범서읍 두산리, 큰마을로 이사를 왔으니 약 17년 전의 일입니다.
지난 수요일 저녁 7시에 큰마을경로당에서 두산리장이 소집한 <주민모임>이 있었습니다. 주민들의 의견을 취합할 몇 가지 현안이 기다리고 있었기 때문입니다. 그 첫 번째는 동네 뒷산 중턱에 자연습지를 포함한 일원에 태양광 발전시설을 하려는 움직임을 파악하였기에 과연 그것이 안전한 지에 대한 의견수렴 때문입니다.
또 하나는, 행정구역은 울산광역시 범서읍에 속한 동네이지만 아직도 상하수도 시설이 되어 있지 않는 낙후된 농촌마을이기에 상하수도 시설을 관공서에 요청하는 일입니다. 게다가 큰 비만 내렸다면 한 차례씩 떠내려가는 14번 국도 옆에 있는 임시방편의 다리보다 제대로 된 다리를 설치하기 원하는 현안 때문이었습니다.
산중턱의 자연습지가 있는 곳에 대규모(수천 평) 태양광 발전시설이 들어설 경우, 거의 매년 수해를 입는 아래쪽 큰마을에는 수해 피해가 심화되고 산사태 위험이 급격히 증가하는 심각한 상황을 피해 갈 수 없습니다.
자연습지는 집중호우가 내릴 때 스펀지처럼 거대한 양의 빗물을 머금었다가 천천히 아래로 흘려보내는 ‘홍수조절(천연댐)기능’을 하는데 태양광 패널과 진입로를 설치하기 위해 습지를 매립하고 토목 공사를 진행하면 습지의 물을 가두는 능력이 통째로 사라집니다.
그러면 비가 내리는 대로 지표면을 따라 그대로 계곡과 아래쪽 큰마을로 단시간에 쏟아져 내리게 됩니다. 게다가 이미 수해를 자주 입는 마을이기에 홍수의 정점(피크 유량)이 훨씬 높아져 침수 피해가 더 잦고 깊어질 수밖에 없습니다.
게다가 동네 뒷산은 15도 이상의 경사지가 곳곳에 있기에 비가 많이 올 때 토양이 불안정해지기 쉬운 취약 지구이기에, 수천 평 규모의 태양광 패널이 설치되면, 패널 자체는 물을 흡수하지 못하는 거대한 지붕 역할을 하게 됩니다.
패널 위로 떨어진 빗물은 한 곳으로 모여 바닥으로 강하게 떨어지며, 이는 주변 토양을 강하게 깎아내는 ‘우점 침식’을 일으키고 게다가 공사 과정에서 나무를 베어내면 토양을 잡아주던 뿌리의 힘마저 사라집니다.
그러므로 마을에 미치는 영향은 심각할 것입니다. 집중호우 시 빗물이 지하로 스며들지 못하고 표면을 따라 흐르면서 흙과 돌을 쓸고 내려가는 토사유출이 심해집니다. 최악의 경우, 물을 먹은 토양이 버티지 못하고 무너져 내리는 산사태가 발생하여 산 아래 큰마을을 직접적으로 덮칠 위험이 큽니다.
그동안도 우리 동네 큰마을은 이미 주변 하천이나 하수관로의 배수 용량이 한계에 도달해 있다는 것은 분명합니다. 거기에다가 산중턱 수천 평 부지에서 지면에 흡수되지 못하고, 한꺼번에 방출되는 빗물은 순식간에 계곡을 타고 내려오는 것은 누구나 예상할 수 있습니다. 지금도 마을을 관통하는 배수 시설이 산에서 내려오는 물의 양을 감당하지 못해, 개천둑이 자주 무너지고 있는 형편입니다.
작년 여름의 홍수로 인한 둑을 보수하는 작업도 얼마 전에 겨우 끝을 내었습니다. 더 많은 빗물이 여과 없이 쏟아져 내리면 마을 길 전체가 거대한 물길로 변하는 현상이 발생할 수 있습니다. 특히 요즈음처럼 기후변화로 인해 집중호우의 강도가 커지고 빈번해지는 상황에서, 큰마을 위쪽 산중턱 자연습지를 훼손하는 것은 안전상 대단히 위험한 선택이라는 사실을 공감하기에, 과거 어떤 반상회 모임보다 더 많은 사람이 모여서 태양광 발전시설을 반대하기로 의견일치를 보았습니다.
그리하여 ‘태양광 설치 반대 주민 대책위원회’를 구성하고 주민 반대 서명부(연명부) 작성하는 일을 이미 시작했습니다. 주민들의 의견이 잘 전달되어 청정 큰마을이 보다 안전한 주거지로 남기를 바랍니다.
It was in January 2009 that we moved to Keun-maeul (Big Town) in Dusan-ri, Beomseo-eup, Ulju-gun, so it has been about seventeen years since then.
Last Wednesday at 7 PM, there was a residents' meeting convened by the village head of Dusan-ri at the Keun-maeul Senior Center. This was because several urgent pending issues were waiting to gather the opinions of the villagers. The first issue arose because we learned of moves to install a large-scale solar power facility across an area that includes natural wetlands halfway up the mountain behind our village, and we needed to collect feedback on whether such a project is truly safe.
Another issue was that, although our neighborhood administratively belongs to Beomseo-eup in Ulsan Metropolitan City, it remains an underdeveloped rural hamlet without modern water and sewage infrastructure, leading us to formally petition public authorities for water and sewage systems. Furthermore, we gathered because of the pressing need to install a proper, permanent bridge rather than the makeshift one next to National Route 14 that gets washed away whenever heavy rains fall.
If a massive solar power facility (spanning thousands of pyeong) is built where the natural wetlands lie on the mountainside, Keun-maeul below—which already suffers flood damage nearly every year—cannot avoid worsening flood devastation and a drastically heightened risk of landslides.
Natural wetlands function as a "flood control system (natural dam)" during torrential downpours, absorbing immense quantities of rainwater like a sponge and releasing it slowly downhill. However, if the wetlands are filled in and heavy civil engineering works are undertaken to install solar panels and access roads, the wetland's water-retention capacity will vanish entirely.
Then, as soon as rain falls, it will rush along the surface straight down the valley into Keun-maeul within a very short time. Moreover, because our village is already prone to frequent water damage, the peak flood flow will surge far higher, inevitably making inundation more frequent and severe.
Furthermore, the mountain behind our village has slopes exceeding 15 degrees in many spots, making it a vulnerable area where the soil becomes unstable when heavy rains fall. If thousands of pyeong of solar panels are installed, the panels themselves will act as a colossal, non-absorbent roof.
Rainwater striking the panels will converge in concentrated torrents and crash hard onto the ground, causing severe rill and gully erosion that aggressively strips away the surrounding topsoil. In addition, when trees are cleared during construction, the binding strength of roots that held the earth together is also lost.
Consequently, the impact on the village will be catastrophic. During torrential rains, rainwater cannot soak into the ground; instead, it runs along the surface, worsening soil and rock runoff. In the worst-case scenario, water-saturated soil will collapse into landslides, posing a grave threat of directly engulfing Keun-maeul at the foot of the mountain.
Even until now, it is evident that the drainage capacity of the surrounding streams and culverts in our village has already reached its breaking point. On top of that, anyone can foresee that rainwater shed all at once from thousands of pyeong on the mountainside—unable to penetrate the soil—will surge down the valley in an instant. Even today, the drainage conduits cutting through the village cannot cope with the volume of water rushing down from the mountain, causing the stream banks to collapse frequently.
The repair work on the embankments damaged by last summer's flooding was only recently completed. If even greater volumes of water pour down unfiltered, the entire village road could turn into a massive waterway. Especially in these times when torrential rains are becoming heavier and more frequent due to climate change, everyone agreed that disturbing the natural wetlands on the mountainside above Keun-maeul is a reckless and perilous choice for our safety. Thus, more residents gathered than at any previous neighborhood meeting, reaching a unanimous consensus to oppose the solar power installation.
Accordingly, we formed the "Residents' Countermeasure Committee Against Solar Facility Installation" and have already begun gathering signatures on an opposition petition. I earnestly hope that the voices of the residents will be clearly heard, so that our pristine Keun-maeul may remain a safer place to live.
Dit was in Januarie 2009 dat ons na Keun-maeul (die Groot Dorp) in Dusan-ri, Beomseo-eup, Ulju-gun verhuis het, so dit is nou al sowat sewentien jaar gelede.
Verlede Woensdagaand om sewe-uur was daar 'n inwonersvergadering by die Keun-maeul-seniorsentrum wat deur die dorpshoof van Dusan-ri byeengeroep is. Dit was nodig omdat verskeie dringende hangende sake gewag het op die insette van die dorpenaars. Die eerste saak het ontstaan nadat ons bewus geword het van planne om 'n sonkragstasie op te rig teen die berghelling agter die dorp, oor 'n gebied wat natuurlike vleilande insluit. Ons moes vasstel of so 'n projek werklik veilig is.
Nog 'n kwessie was dat, hoewel ons buurt administratief onder Beomseo-eup in die Metropolitaanse Stad Ulsan val, dit steeds 'n agtergeblewe landelike dorpie sonder behoorlike water- en rioolinfrastruktuur is, en ons die owerhede formeel om hierdie geriewe wil versoek. Daarby was daar ook die dringende behoefte aan 'n behoorlike, permanente brug in plaas van die tydelike bruggie langs Nasionale Roete 14 wat telkens wegspoel wanneer swaar reën val.
As 'n grootskaalse sonkragaanleg (oor duisende pyeong) opgerig word waar die natuurlike vleiland teen die berghelling lê, kan Keun-maeul daaronder—wat reeds byna jaarliks onder vloede ly—nie die verergering van vloedskade en 'n drastiese toename in die gevaar van grondverskuiwings vryspring nie.
Natuurlike vleilande dien tydens wolkbreuke soos 'n spons wat reusagtige hoeveelhede reënwater absorbeer en dit stadig ondertoe laat vloei—'n natuurlike dam wat vloede beheer. Maar as die vleiland opgevul word en siviele ingenieurswerk gedoen word om sonpanele en toegangspaaie te bou, verdwyn hierdie waterbergingsvermoë heeltemal.
Dan sal die reënwater eenvoudig langs die oppervlak afstroom en binne 'n baie kort tydjie regstreeks deur die kloof na Keun-maeul daaronder stroom. Omdat die dorpie bowendien reeds gereeld deur wateroorlaste geteister word, sal die piek van die vloedvloei veel hoër wees, wat oorspoelings meer gereeld en dieper sal maak.
Boonop het die berg agter die dorp op talle plekke hellings van meer as 15 grade, wat dit 'n uiters kwesbare gebied maak waar die grond tydens hewige reën maklik onstabiel raak. As duisende pyeong met sonpanele bedek word, sal die panele self soos 'n reusagtige, ondeurdringbare dak funksioneer.
Die reënwater wat op die panele val, versamel en stort met geweld op die grond neer, wat hewige sloot- en spoelgronderosie veroorsaak en die omliggende bogrond aggressief wegkalwer. Wanneer bome bowendien tydens konstruksie afgekap word, gaan die houkrag van die wortels wat die grond bymekaargehou het ook verlore.
Die impak op die dorp sal dus rampspoedig wees. Tydens stortreën kan die water nie in die grond wegsak nie, maar vloei oor die oppervlak en spoel grond en klippe saam met groot krag af. In die ergste geval kan versadigde grond meegee en 'n massiewe grondverskuiwing veroorsaak wat Keun-maeul aan die voet van die berg regstreeks kan tref.
Dit is reeds lankal duidelik dat die dreineringskapasiteit van die omliggende strome en rioolpype in Keun-maeul sy uiterste grens bereik het. Boonop kan enigiemand voorsien dat die reënwater van duisende pyeong teen die berghelling, wat nie in die grond kan wegsak nie en meteens vrygestel word, in 'n oogwink deur die kloof sal afstorm. Selfs nou kan die dorpsdreineringskanale nie die volume water wat van die berg afstroom hanteer nie, en die stroomwalle stort gereeld ineen.
Die herstelwerk aan die walle wat tydens verlede somer se vloede beskadig is, is eers onlangs voltooi. As nog meer water ongefilter afstroom, kan die hele dorpspad in 'n kolossale waterstroom verander. Veral in hierdie dae wanneer die intensiteit van stortbuie weens klimaatsverandering toeneem en meer gereeld voorkom, het almal saamgestem dat die vernietiging van die natuurlike vleiland bo Keun-maeul 'n uiters gevaarlike keuse vir ons veiligheid sou wees. Gevolglik het meer inwoners as ooit tevore bymekaargekom en eenparig besluit om die oprigting van die sonkragfasiliteit te weerstaan.
Ons het daarom die 'Inwoners se Teenvoeterkomitee teen Sonkraginstallasie' gestig en reeds begin om 'n petisielys teen die projek op te stel. Ek hoop van harte dat die stemme van die inwoners gehoor sal word, sodat ons ongerepte Keun-maeul 'n veiliger heenkome mag bly.