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2023. January VOL. 658
- 2023. January VOL. 658
- ENG
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2023. January VOL. 658
1
On December 2, 2022, K-water and the Korea Federation of Water Science and Engineering Societies jointly held the ‘2022 Water Academic Symposium’ at the Westin Josun Seoul. The event was held under the theme of the ‘Status and Challenges of National Water Management Technology in the Era of Climate Crisis’, and consisted of Chapter 1 titled ‘The 2nd K-water Academic Awards’ and a celebratory lecture, and Chapter 2 titled ‘Water Academic Symposium Session’ followed by a general discussion. The ‘Water Academic Grand Prize’ was given to Professor Kim Jung-hoon at Korea University, who contributed to application of the optical technique, which is the foundation of artificial intelligence, to water resources engineering, and the ‘Young Water Academic Scientist Prize’ went to Professor Lee Yoon-ho at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology(in water environment field), Professor Gwon Hyeon-han at Sejong University(in water safety field), and Professor Yoo Do-geun at University of Suwon(in water utilization field). The AI Symposium Chapter 2 was conducted comprising three sessions given as △Climate crisis and disasters, and water safety, △Sustainable Smart water use, △Management of water environment where nature and humans coexist, followed by an in-depth discussion led by Professor Jeong Se-woong at Chungbuk National University.
2
K-water obtained the ‘Level 4 Database Quality Certification(DQC-M)’ from the Korea Data Agency.
The ‘Database Quality Certification’ is the Korea Data Agency’s certification system that was established in 2008 to secure data quality of the information system, which is developed and used by the public and private sectors. There are five levels(1 ~ 5) for classification and the higher the level, the higher the data quality.
The Level 4 certification obtained by K-water is a stage in which data quality management is performed through quantitative measurement and it is granted by evaluating the data management system encompassing organization, policy, procedure, and control in accordance with 16 detailed criteria and 59 items stipulated in the ‘Data Management Maturity Model.’ The Level 4 certification, which is the highest certification level to date, was targeted not for a single system, but for all 53 systems operated and managed by K-water, and this achievement is significant in that it was officially recognized for securing the highest level of data management capability among public institutions.
3
On December 6, 2022, K-water signed an agreement with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority(hereinafter referred as “LCRCA”) to strengthen the technical cooperation for successful development of the Mersey Tidal Power Project and realization of carbon neutrality.
The Mersey Tidal Power Project is the UK’s largest renewable energy development project in the public sector with an investment of GBP 4-15 billion, in order to generate 2 ~ 7 TWh electricity per year with the Mersey River, Liverpool, slated for operation by 2030. This agreement was signed at the request of LCRCA, which has a strong reputation for K-water’s technology related to tidal power generation. The main contents are as follows: △Technical exchanges on investigation, design, construction, and operation for tidal power development, △Discussion on participation in the Mersey tidal power project, and △Carbon neutrality, and comprehensive cooperation plans such as R&D and personnel exchanges for water-energy-urban connection. K-water expects that this agreement will lead to additional overseas expansion through step-by-step participation in the Mersey tidal power project.
4
On December 10, 2022, the Asia Water Council(AWC) representing S. Korea was elected as the World Water Council(WWC)’s Board of Governor(BoG) at the WWC General Assembly in Paris, France.
The WWC BoG Election is classified into five colleges, and the AWC was elected as the BoG of college 5: Professional and academic organizations. In particular, the AWC was selected as the WWC BoG once again following 2018. Established in 1996, the World Water Council is the world’s largest public-private partnership policy organization in the water sector to discuss solutions for global water problems, which are increasing due to climate change. The new BoG elected this time assumes a role in determining and supervising the various activities and budgets of the WWC for the next three years. In addition, it will keenly participate in the 10th World Water Forum to be held in Indonesia in 2024 through active discussions to solve global water issues. Meanwhile, the AWC was launched in 2016 led by the Korean government and K-water for international cooperation on Asian water issues, with K-water being in charge of the secretariat.
5
On December 14, 2022, ‘the 16th K-water College Student Supporters’, a national communication program marking its 16th year in 2022, concluded its 5-month-long activities through the online completion ceremony. The ceremony consisted of a preview of a web drama in which supporters directly participated, awarding excellent activity teams, sharing promotional activities, and granting a blockchain-based NFT certificate to supporters. The web drama was produced as a 3-minute-long video based on the themes of ‘carbon neutrality’ and ‘safety of tap water’, and will be released on the K-water Supporters’ YouTube channel to communicate with the public. There were 132 college student supporters who produced a total of 3,016 promotional contents by actively utilizing web drama, short-form video challenges, and metaverse, thus broadening the public’s understanding on ESG. Meanwhile, the 16th K-water college student supporters carried out monthly missions for public communication, such as eco-friendly waterway trips, cooking recipes with tap water, interesting water experiments, and water industry’s 60-second challenge, and focused on promoting the importance of water and the environment.
6
On December 14, 2022, K-water and NAVER entered the ‘Joint Development Agreement to implement RE100 and expand ESG value.’ K-water is leading the government’s carbon neutrality policy to respond to climate change by declaring transition its system to a climate crisis management system in November 2020, joining the RE100 membership as the first-ever Korean public institution, and establishing the ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap’ in the water sector. This agreement was formed on the basis of a strong shared mantra between the two organizations on the need of realizing a carbon-neutral society in order to overcome the climate crisis. Under this agreement, the two companies plan to support NAVER’s RE100 implementation by utilizing K-water’s eco-friendly renewable energy, and carry out comprehensive cooperation such as joint development of renewable energy, and public promotion and spread of carbon neutrality. Meanwhile, this agreement is an example of cooperation between the public and private sectors for realizing RE100 and carbon neutrality, and they plan to solidify it as a successful real-world case of public-private cooperation.
