- Water, Nature and Humankind
- K-water Focus ②
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K-water is striving to
help make
Korea a happy
country by promoting the value
of togetherness.K-water’s social contribution activities
- Written by Choi Haeng-jwa
- Photographs: K-water
- K-water practices the value of togetherness in a variety of social contribution activities. Since the social distancing regulation was lifted in April, K-water has been actively involved in activities aimed at sharing and coexistence, including helping farming households during the busy farming season. K-water creates and promotes the value of togetherness!
Volunteer programs tailored to the needs of local communities
Following the lifting of the social distancing regulation, K-water has resumed its face-to-face volunteer programs, which had been put on hold due to the Covid pandemic. Under the theme of “making happy local communities for all with K-water”, K-water employees are helping farming households living near dams that are suffering from the prolonged pandemic and the aging population phenomenon. At the forefront of the volunteer activities is the Love for Water Volunteers Group formed by K-water employees, which plans and implements volunteer programs tailored to the varying needs of individual local communities across the country.
On May 4, K-water’s head office held its flagship social contribution project, “Friends of the Water Market for Sharing, Haetsam Hongsam Pop-up Store”. Farmers who grow ginseng in Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnamdo Province and Jinan-gun, Jeollabukdo Province, the country’s leading ginseng production areas, near Geumggang Estuary Bank gathered together and opened a farmers’ market both online and offline, thereby helping to boost the local economy.
All of K-water employees volunteered to work on carnation farms in Gokseong-gun, Jeollanamdo Province on May 9 and on apple farms in Jinan-gun, Jeollabukdo Province on May 10 during the busy harvesting seasons when farmers struggle to find workers. On May 17, K-water CEO Jae-hyeon Park and more than 100 K-water employees visited ginseng and apple farms in Muju-gun, Jeollabukdo Province to help thin out young flowers, and have continued volunteering to help farming communities near dams in different counties, including Yeongdong-gun, Chungcheongbukdo Province, Namwon, Jeollabukdo Province, and Gurye-gun, Jeollanamdo Province.
On May 25, K-water and Holt Children’s Services held the “Family Day with K-water” event in which more than 100 people participated, including single parents and families that have adopted children. K-water and the Daejeon Tourism Organization held the plogging event along the Obakeni-gil around Daecheongho Lake, which started on May 4 and lasted for the rest of the month. The Green Shelter Campaign featuring ‘Bangwoori’, K-water’s mascot, is intended to help citizens reduce carbon emissions in their everyday life.
※ Friends of Water Market for Sharing is a new K-ESG project launched by K-water in 2022 to mark the 55th year of its foundation, as a part of its efforts to give back to the local community through effective ESG management.
No. 1 public corporation in giving back to society
Previously, K-water had conducted non-contact volunteer activities to deal with the pandemic facing the entire country. As part of such activities, K-water produced 1.4 million label-free bottles of eco-friendly processed tap water and donated them to hospitals and COVID-19 testing centers. In addition, it donated 10,000 bottles of water per month as well as upcycling knee blankets and eco bags and providing them to the Armed Forces Medical Command.
Last December, K-water employees raised a total of 62 million won in a campaign to cope with COVID-19 on the online donation platform Naver Happy Bean, and donated the money to various charities. They also conducted the “Let’s Walk Together and Fight COVID-19 campaign on the Big Walk app, reaching 1.3 billion steps in total. K-water also offered nutritious meals worth 20 million won to over 2,000 children and youths from disadvantaged families. In October 2021, K-water and the Korean Red Cross ran the 1004 Lunch Box Relay campaign to help small businesses boost their sales and prevent people from financially disadvantaged classes from skipping meals.
For families that have experienced financial difficulties amid the prolonged pandemic in the three years since 2020, K-water has reduced their water bills and in some cases exempted them from payment(for dam water and metropolitan water supply). This year, 131 local governments and SMEs, and 1,100 small businesses will be exempted from their water utility bills for the six-month period, resulting in up to 55.4 billion won in financial savings.
K-water CEO Jae-hyeon Park said, “K-water, as a public corporation, always stands by the people and will remain actively involved in various social contribution activities to promote co-prosperity with local communities and give back to society.”
