Balanced growth makes the whole country a great place to live

Regional depopulation and local extinction often appear in the news. Despite government efforts to curb depopulation, Korea is being ushered quickly into the era of ultra-aged society with the total fertility rate nearing zero and the declining total population. In 2023, the Ministry of Interior and Safety listed 89 regional areas out of 229 cities, counties, and districts across the country as places with falling population. On the list are Geochang-gun in Gyeongnam Province, Yeongam-gun in Jeonnam Province, Seocheon-gun in Chungnam Province, and districts in large cities including Dong-gu and Seo-gu in Busan and some districts in Daegu. The statistics published by the Ministry have fueled fears that the roles of local communities may be undermined, and regional areas will likely shrink, degenerate, and eventually become extinct. In an effort to cope with these challenges, the government has adopted “the policy of making everywhere in the country a great place to live.” The government has set a goal of implementing 3 core strategies based on the values of fairness, autonomy, and hope to open the era of local autonomy where all citizens have equal opportunities.

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of K-water’s relocation of headquarters to Daejeon. Over the past 50 years, K-water has been at the forefront of promoting shared growth with local communities and has been a reliable partner for Daejeon citizens. The role of K-water has been particularly vital for the local economy. According to KISTI’s industry & market analysis, K-water ranked 2nd among companies operating mainly in Daejeon in terms of sales with KRW 4 trillion in sales. K-water is accelerating its efforts to take shared growth with the local community to a new level. In particular, K-water is expanding the scope of cooperation projects to a broader range of fields including working out a local innovation agenda and developing tasks and region-specific, customized joint projects. Furthermore, the scope of shared growth has been broadened to include new industries such as support for the creation of a local innovation ecosystem in climate and urban tech-focused areas. All these efforts are leading to a fresh momentum to foster sustainable development and the era of regionally balanced growth.
K-water has been making consistent efforts to grow with local communities in different parts of the country. Many of the dams managed by K-water are located in either remote regional areas or mountainous areas, both of which are at risk of population extinction. Under the circumstances, K-water is emerging as a center of the new regional era. Let’s take a closer look at K-water’s endeavors toward regional growth and shared growth with the local community.

Coexistence among local community, residents, and dams and platforms to solve local issues

K-water is operating a variety of support programs in keeping with the government policy of overcoming the local extinction crisis. Nowadays, the ecological and environmental value of dams is increasing in the face of climate crisis and in line with the changing lifestyle and cultural trend. Dams are largely valued as a natural reserve and a space for opportunities to respond to local extinction. In this context, K-water is implementing shared growth projects in areas where dams are located. Namgang Dam ran a community-based shared farm to prevent water pollution. On the farm, participants collectively grow crops and donate their harvest to charities. K-water selects an area of idle land that requires maintenance and appoints standing managers. Organic crops and vegetables are grown on the land, and K-water provides support for running the farm. The farm helps deal with water pollution and also creates jobs for local residents. Meanwhile, Chungju Dam has been working to raise its profile as a city of water by operating a canoe experience center in Jangja Swamp and creating a water sports tourism complex. With all these local community support projects, K-water helps local communities preserve their unique community identity and also operates a platform to resolve local issues. The resident-participatory platform is designed to identify urgent water-related issues within the local community and encourage local governments and public organizations as well as the private sector to work together and work out solutions to local issues and find ways to improve.
By helping find solutions to problems facing communities around dams across the country under its management, K-water helps cope with the local extinction crisis and achieve a circular economy.

K-water nurtures future local talents and incubates social enterprises

K-water has launched “K-water Scholarship” to help young students from low-income families living in areas around its dams. With brain drain resulting from a widening educational gap as one of the primary causes behind local extinction, K-water Scholarship aims to address this gap. Specifically, K-water Scholarship intends to bridge the learning gap for highly motivated local students and offer them an opportunity for high-quality education; thus helping them grow into human resources who can contribute to the development of their local community. As of 2023, 186 students have received scholarship and benefited from K-water’s support programs, bringing the accumulated total number of recipients to 230 since 2021. In addition to scholarship, K-water’s one-on-one mentoring program helps students explore and find their future career based on their aptitude and interests and acquire certifications and licenses. K-water is also involved in raising corporate competitiveness by helping social enterprises develop business ideas, providing the funds they need to commercialize the ideas, and supporting their activities. A social enterprise is a business that puts the interests of people and planet ahead of shareholder gain and gets actively involved in solving social problems. Fostering social enterprises is one of the key alternatives that can help cope with the local extinction crisis. K-water started to help 5 social enterprises in 2018; now, a total of 41 social enterprises receive support from K-water. This way, K-water is playing a part in resolving various local issues and discovering companies with strong ESG performance. K-water’s support for social enterprises is driven by the goal of promoting the balanced growth of the local economy and eco-friendliness.