Here in Gwangju, there has always been plenty of rain. We are at the base of Mudeung Mountain. 

I didn’t quite understand the announcement from our apartment’s PA service. Thankfully, my wife could explain that the Gwangju reservoirs are at a low level, about 20 percent. So, they are announcing that we have to begin conserving water. We also got some related emergency messages on our smartphones.

Now I am trying to assess the cause of this shortage. 

Climate change? It is supposed to exacerbate already existing problems. But there hadn’t been previous water concerns that I know about.

La Niña? I know the weather pattern is a cause of drought in some parts of the world, but I don’t see anything on the maps. https://www.raoen.org/2022/09/28/climate-change-and-la-nina-in-oceania-and-asia/

Gwangju population? There are 1.5 million people now. There were 1.3 million people 20 years ago. https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/21750/gwangju/population

It could be a combination of these three issues. For the most part, Gwangju is immune to climate change. We are far enough inland that the typhoons have weakened by the time they blow by us. There had been enough water, even floods resulting in the river bike path getting washed away. That is a minor inconvenience. Now that we must conserve water, I feel included in the new normal that others have experienced worldwide. (a new normal that won’t be the norm for long)