- Water, Nature and Humankind
- K-water Focus ②
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K-water opens a new
era of integrated water
management in Korea.K-water held a ceremony to declare its vision for integrated water management in tandem with the launch of an integrated river management system
- Written by. Choi Hang-jwa
- Photo by. Kim Beom-ki
- A ceremony was held in Chuncheon, also known as the city of water in Gangwon-do Province, to declare Korea’s vision for integrated water management and commitment to developing the country’s water industries. Participants took this opportunity to share their ideas to create new values of water.
A timely vision declaration ceremony to mark the era of integrated water management
The Ministry of Environment declared the vision for integrated water management in line with the beginning of the ministry’s integrated river management in a ceremony held at the Water Culture Museum in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do Province on January 24, 2022. The government also announced new policies during the ceremony, which was attended by Minister of Environment Han Jeong-Ae, Gangwon-do Governor Choi Moon-soon, National Assembly member Huh Yeong, Chairman of the National Water Management Committee Huh Jae-yeong, Chuncheon Mayor Lee Jae-su, CEO of K-water Park Jae-hyeon, and Korea Environment Corporation CEO Ahn Byeong.
In January 2022, three and a half years after the Ministry of Environment (MOE) took over the water quality and flow management business from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport in June 2018, the country’s river management was also transferred to MOE, enabling MOE’s integrated water management. Previously, the central government had difficulty responding in a timely manner to natural disasters including summertime floods because dams and rivers were managed by different organizations. Integrated water management marks a new era wherein water-related policies, projects, and facilities can be designed and implemented in an organized, effective way.
MOE declared the vision “water of life that nature and humans share” at the ceremony to achieve the goal of creating new values of water. To this end, MOE presented a policy direction that can be summarized as three key ideas: the world’s leading smart water; water for all generations and life; and water that creates economic value.
K-water plans to integrate cutting-edge technology including IT and digital technology into integrated water management and create the world’s top smart water management system.
K-water, Korea’s No. 1 water
management organization,
will usher in the era of
integrated water management.
Welcome to the age of smart integrated water management
With the vision declaration ceremony, smart integrated water management is expected to be accelerated. First, K-water will create a water disaster forecasting and customized response system. AI and digital technology will be employed in all aspects of the integrated water management system from water use to disaster prevention and environment management. Sewage and wastewater as well as water supply will be remotely managed in real time, and surface water and groundwater will also be included in the integrated water management system. Furthermore, the quality of national rivers will be strictly monitored down to the nano level. An AI flood forecasting system will be created to minimize damage resulting from summertime floods, and river water level observation centers and sensors will be installed at 100 rivers across the country. Electromagnetic rain gauges will be used to collect precipitation data per unit area rather than per location. This way, K-water will be able to gather the big data required for flood analysis and forecast and build an AI-based flood forecasting system that will allow predicting whether or not floods will occur for multiple areas within a short period of time.
As a digitalized version of the integrated dams and river management system, Digital Twins is also scheduled for completion by 2027. In the same context, 161 local water supply systems of local governments this year and 31 water intake facilities and 43 water purification plants of metropolitan waterworks next year will be integrated into the smart water supply system. Following the ceremony was a policy forum wherein Minister Han, K-water CEO Park, and other participants shared their ideas. Afterward, they visited a site for a hydrothermal energy cluster and the smart flood management situation room to conclude the day.
The declaration ceremony is expected to provide fresh momentum for creating new values of water that all citizen can share and for preparing for the future by maximizing the unlimited potential that water has for us and by preventing disasters and increasing the competitiveness of the water industry.
