Overview
As a highly populated, industrialized country, Korea faces tremendous challenge in sustainable water management. Although its average annual precipitation is 1,283mm, 1.3 times the global average of 973mm, the annual precipitation per person is 2,705m3, about 10 percent of the world's average. Furthermore, the daily water consumption per person is 380 liters, one of the highest among OECD member countries. Of approximately 128 billion tons of total precipitation, 43 percent is lost to evaporation and/or permeation and another 39 percent to seas, leaving only 33 billion tons for actual use (see Figure 1 for the breakdown of water use). Korea has 3,960 rivers and 18,800 lakes, of which only five lakes have been naturally formed. The rest were artificially created in the form of dams, reservoirs and estuary dikes mostly for agricultural use.
| Water Use in 2001 |
| (Unit: Billion tons) |
| Breakdown |
Amount |
| Total |
33.3 |
| Domestic |
7.3 |
| Industrial |
3 |
| Agricultural |
15.7 |
| Streamflow |
7.3 |
|
Drinking Water
Sanitary drinking water was first delivered in Korea in September 1908 to a
small area of Seoul. Since then, the public waterworks system branched out to
far corners of the peninsula, giving 87.1 percent of the total population with
access to sanitary water in 2000. The rest of the population relies on small-scale
waterworks relying on groundwater.
Korea enforces stringent drinking water quality standards, or the maximum allowance
of hazardous substances consumable by a person over a lifetime without suffering
any ill effects. Currently, 55 substances undergo systematic testing while 15
minor substances, including chloromethane, are classified as contaminants requiring
monitoring. The Comprehensive Measures to Strengthen Tap Water Quality underpins
the national efforts to ensure high water quality. Among the 18 short- and long-term
task forces jointly formulated by relevant ministries, the Comprehensive Measures
strengthen the control of pathogenic microorganisms and set limit on the chloride
input amount as well as new criteria for disinfection byproducts such as haloacetic
acids. In 2002, Korea became the second country in the world after the United
States to apply the Treatment Technique, which removes pathogenic microorganisms
to the safety level through strengthened filtration and disinfection procedures.
In order to brace for the looming challenges of water scarcity, Korea has been
implementing the Comprehensive Water Conservation Strategies with a view to
saving 790 million tons or 13.5 percent of the total tap water production by
2006. As part of these strategies, the government revised the Drinking Water
Management Act and the Sewerage System Act to obligate local governments to
develop and pursue demand-side water management. The revision also made mandatory
the installation of water-saving devices such as rainwater catchment systems
in sports stadiums, factories, hotels, public bathhouses and golf resorts. For
wastewater generated from subway stations and other large-scale buildings, sewerage
system usage fee is levied to induce the reuse of wastewater for toilets and
gardening.
As of 2001, Korea ran 184 final sewage treatment plants with the operation capacity
of 19.2 million tons. In 1997, the government began privatizing these facilities,
and as of 2002, 91 or 50 percent were under private management. To increase
the sewage system supply rate to 80 percent by 2005, the government plans to
invest approximately US$13 billion over 1996-2005.
 | A water treatment facility. |  | Students of Oceanographic Environmental Engineeriing test water pollution levels. |
Special Water Source Protection Measures
Marking an important change in Korea's water management, the government established
the comprehensive water quality protection measures in 1998 for the Paldang
Reservoir, which supplies 2.6 million tons of drinking water to 20 million people
in Seoul and its vicinity. Developed to counter degrading water quality, these
measures introduce the total pollution load management and the User Pays Principle.
In the past, downstream residents enjoyed clean water largely at the cost of
development restraints in upstream regions. Lower stream residents are now required
to pay 10 cents per ton, which is used to support upstream regions.
Another element of the special protection measures is the designation of a riparian
buffer zones within 500 to 1000 meters of Paldang Reservoir. Within these zones,
construction of livestock farms, lodging facilities and other large-scale point
sources is forbidden. In 1999, the Water Resource Management in Han-gang and
Community Support Act was enacted to provide a legal foundation for the implementation
of the Paldang measures. Today, delicate fish and water insects, such as silver
fish and planaria that live only in clean water, are being detected in the reservoir.
Korea proceeded with the efforts to provide clean water to every citizen by
formulating similar measures and laws for the other three major rivers. Comprehensive
water management measures for the Nakdonggang river were legislated in 1999
and for Geumgang river and Yeongsan-gang river in 2000, respectively. The National
Assembly finally approved the enactment of the Acts on Water Resource Management
and Community Support for all of these rivers in 2001. With the completion of
this last step, Korea became one of the few countries in the world that administers
holistic and precautionary policies to all of the major rivers.
