President Choi Kye-yoon of Korea Water Resources Corp.(Photo: Courtesy of K-water)

President Choi Kye-yoon of Korea Water Resources Corp.(K-water) said  tap water consumers at home will be able to tell where they get their  piped water from and the quality of water as the new facilities will be imported and put into use in the middle of this year. 

 The year 2014 will go on record as the year that will see a great change in the tap water supply system as the paradigm for the supply of tap water will be changed entirely. The new system incorporating ICT and water management system technologies will be combined together to make the tap water supply system can be confirmed at any place at any time under the so called “smart grid system,” the K-water CEO said, adding that such well-known  ICT companies IBM has already been engaged in the development of technologies to secure a large share of the market. He said Korean IT firms should jump into the R&D activities to develop the technologies so that Korea would continue to lead the IT market in the world.

 The CEO said K-water will select the testing ground for the smart water grid in the middle of the year and the company declared this year being the year for changing the water management system to the smart water grid system  at its New Year ceremony on Jan. 2.

 K-water set up the Emergency Manag-ement Promotion Team following an open discussion on its management policies to resolve its debt problems amid the huge debts incurred by government-owned companies have been the subject of a sharp concern around the country with the government determined to solve them at any cost this year. 

 K-water has decided to cut the increase rate of debts and freeze the salaries of its executives as part of the measures to tighten the company’s operation.

 Choi said K-water’s debts increased sharply due to the Four Rivers Restoration Project amounting to 8 trillion won, which is totally different from other companies’ debts in nature.

 As of the end of June, last year, K-water had 13.9 trillion won in debts compared to just 2 trillion won in 2008 before the  four rivers restoration project got kicked off.

 By the end of this year, the government promised to help K-water to recover  the debts from the rivers restoration project and K-water will discuss the matter with the government  to recover the funds that K-water spent on the national project.

 At the same time, what’s requires immediate attention is the public doubts on the need for the project and other negative images for the project. K-water will take actions to phase out those negative matters including public doubts on the project from this year.

 The rivers restoration project, one of the key projects pushed by the government has been the subject of social issue with pros and cons on the need for the project focused on the quality of water and the safety of weirs built in those rivers.

 President Choi said time has passed to still talk about them; it is a waste of time as we should think about the removal of greenery of water that is said to have developed due to the project. The removal of those weirs will be costly and likely to create greater problems. Those problems can be solved if we try, Choi said, adding that they should take control of the maintenance of the rivers including the weirs. 

Choi said K-water expects to sign an official agreement on the rivers restoration project to be undertaken by the Thai government to control major rivers in that country modeled after the rivers restoration project in Korea. The official signing has been delayed due to the political unrest in the Southeast Asian country but likely to be signed in February, Choi said, adding that the talks are being held continuously with the Thai authorities on the project. K-water has been selected as the priority bidder on two of the nine projects on the control of the rivers in Thailand and K-water was named the priority bidder for the rights to take care of the water ways and reservoirs construction projects valued at 6.3 trillion won in June of last year.