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Busan City Establishes Industrial Water Supply Plan for East Busan Industrial Complex, Integrating Seawater Desalination and Wastewater Reuse Systems

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced a comprehensive industrial water supply plan using the Gijang Seawater Desalination Facility, designed to alleviate economic burdens on businesses at the East Busan Industrial Complex.

On April 2 at 1:30 PM, a briefing session was held at City Hall’s Video Conference Room to discuss supplying industrial water to the East Busan Industrial Complex and establishing the Busan Water Industry Cluster, leveraging the Gijang Seawater Desalination Facility and the former Gangseo Industrial Water Treatment Plant site.

The session was attended by Mayor Park Heong-joon, city councilors Lee Seung-woo and Park Jong-cheol, representatives of local enterprises (including Kiswire, Sungwoo Hitech, Kumyang, Asan Innotech, and Kanglim Insu), East Busan Industrial Complex Development Council, and the Clear Water Industry Promotion Association. The final decision reflected active input from all participants.

This supply plan, a first in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region, will utilize treated wastewater discharged from sewage treatment plants in Gijang and Ilgwang areas. Wastewater will be filtered at the currently underutilized Gijang Seawater Desalination Facility, creating a sustainable industrial water source.

While the West Busan Industrial Complex currently enjoys industrial water at KRW 1,140 per ton, businesses at East Busan Industrial Complex have been paying KRW 2,410 per ton for domestic water, significantly burdening their operations. Since last year, Busan City has responded to businesses’ calls for more affordable industrial water solutions.

After comprehensive reviews of three options using existing freshwater sources and two options using treated wastewater, Busan City selected the method of reusing wastewater from Gijang and Ilgwang sewage treatment plants, filtered through the existing desalination facility, as the optimal solution.

The city plans to invest KRW 79.9 billion to install a 24 km water pipeline and renovate the core reverse-osmosis system at the Gijang facility. This will ensure a stable daily supply of 36,000 tons of industrial water to the East Busan Industrial Complex at a significantly reduced cost of KRW 800 per ton, substantially reducing businesses' financial burdens.

Additionally, a portion (9,000 tons/day) of the Gijang facility will be dedicated to water-industry research and development (R&D), certification, and demonstration. This space will facilitate advanced research in specialized desalination technologies, brine resource recovery, salinity gradient energy generation, and hydrogen production, thereby positioning Busan at the forefront of global water industry innovation.

Busan City aims to commence supplying industrial water by 2030, in line with the completion of occupancy at the East Busan Industrial Complex. It will actively pursue administrative procedures, including signing MOUs with enterprises, securing national government funding, and selecting private investment partners through Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) projects.

Mayor Park Heong-joon remarked, "Reusing wastewater marks a significant step towards sustainable industrial water supply and future-oriented water resource recycling, and also represents an innovative utilization of the long-idle seawater desalination infrastructure. We will implement this project without delay, transforming Busan into Korea’s leading city in water recycling and a global hub for the water industry."