The rainy summer is over and with less precipitation South Korea's rivers will rapidly deteriorate in the dry season with pollutants flowing in from industrial facilities. Protecting the Han and Naktong rivers is of paramount importance. These two rivers supply the drinking water for the Seoul metropolitan area and the Pusan-Ulsan region to the southeast. More than a third of the nation's population are drinking water from the Paltang Lake reservoir on the Han River east of Seoul. About one million residents in Pusan and its vicinity depend on water from the lower stream of the Naktong River. (editorial)