Cheonggycheon

Question 1

Location

Answer 1

In Seoul in South Korea

Question 2

Why was the restoration needed

Answer 2

• no vegetation
• no evapotranspiration
• only urban drainage input
• Irregular flow rate
• poor water quality

Question 3

Background information

Answer 3

• the restoration took 2 years
• it was over 5.8 km long
• cost $208m
• took away the expressway
• added 22 bridges
• wanted to improve the people of Seoul’s quality of life

Question 4

Features of the scheme

Answer 4

• car use was discouraged during the scheme And rapid bus lanes were added
• 22 bridges added (including 12 pedestrian bridges)
• the Han river was used as source of water pumped into Cheonggyecheon river to deal with variable flow rates and maintain a regular flow rate of 40cm depth
• middle zone of project has fountains and waterfalls to increase biological oxygen supply

Question 5

Impacts on the river catchment area

Answer 5

• 120,000 tonnes of water are pumped daily from the Han river maintaining the river at a constant rate (costs $6.5m)
• provides flood protection for up to a 200 year flood event and can sustain a flow rate of up to 118 m/hr
• biodiversity increase 639% with number of plant species increasing 5x from 62 to 308 and each fish species increasing by 5x from 4 to 25
• reduction in average air temperatures by 2.5 degrees Celsius
• evapotranspiration rates increased
• biological oxygen supply improved due to addition of waterfalls
• house prices went up 50% 50m each side of the river