Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City to Improve and Expand Its Tap Water Quality Testing Management System!

내용

The Busan Water Authority announced that it will improve and expand its tap water quality testing parameter management system to proactively respond to emerging trace contaminants that have recently been detected in, or raised concerns about potential risks to, its water sources and the Nakdong River water system.

First, the Busan Water Authority will expand and restructure the existing water quality testing system. The current three categories - drinking water quality standard parameters, water quality monitoring parameters, and self-monitoring parameters - will be expanded to four with the introduction of a new category called “management parameters.”

Drinking water quality standard parameters are subject to legally mandated standards. Water quality monitoring parameters require monitoring for purposes such as establishing water quality standards. Self-monitoring parameters are voluntarily tested by water utilities for water quality management.

The newly established “management parameters” will include substances that have drawn attention from the media, academia, and other sectors, particularly those with a high likelihood of being detected in water sources and requiring special management. A total of 12 parameters will be newly designated in 2027, including five pesticides, five pharmaceutical substances, and two protozoa.

Beginning next year, 2027, Busan Metropolitan City will monitor raw and treated water at its four water treatment plants as well as 27 locations throughout the Nakdong River water system once every quarter for the newly designated parameters. It will also assess removal efficiency through water treatment processes, including granular activated carbon, advanced oxidation, and membrane filtration, and establish optimal management measures to ensure the safety of tap water.

In particular, the number of self-monitoring parameters tested by the Busan Water Authority will also increase beginning in 2027. The number of water quality testing parameters for treated drinking water will rise from 311 to 338, while the number for raw water, meaning water withdrawn for supply through the public water system, will increase from 292 to 313.

The 338 parameters for treated water consist of 60 drinking water quality standard parameters, 30 water quality monitoring parameters, 236 self-monitoring parameters, and 12 management parameters.

The 313 parameters for raw water consist of 39 drinking water quality standard parameters, four water quality monitoring parameters, 258 self-monitoring parameters, and 12 management parameters.

The Busan Water Authority expects that proactively adding unregulated contaminants to its self-monitoring parameters in response to rapidly changing water quality conditions, including climate change and the emergence of new chemical substances, will contribute significantly to ensuring the safety of tap water in Busan Metropolitan City, which uses the Nakdong River as a drinking water source.

In addition, the Busan Water Authority will pursue qualitative advancement of the water quality testing parameter management system through risk assessment, going beyond simply increasing the number of parameters tested.

Going forward, it will use a risk assessment program to comprehensively analyze and evaluate water quality testing parameters and, following consultation with experts, manage them in an integrated and coordinated manner by adding or replacing parameters and adjusting testing frequencies as necessary.

The risk assessment program, developed by the Seoul Water Institute, is designed to provide a comprehensive evaluation reflecting factors including the human health risk of each parameter, detected concentrations and frequencies, international management trends, and the level of public concern.

Kim Byung-gi, Director of the Busan Water Authority, said, “To ensure the safety of Busan’s tap water, which uses surface water from the Nakdong River as its source, we are expanding water quality testing parameters for both raw and treated water and improving the management system.”

He added, “Beyond simply increasing the number of testing parameters, we will continue to make every effort to produce and supply safe, clean tap water by advancing the water quality testing system on a scientific basis.”