A number of K-water officials including President of K-water Research Institute Choi Byung-man, L, and an official 

of International Water Association are lined up for a photo after K-water officials are presented with two awards 

at the  East Asia Region Water Industrial Reform Awards ceremony held on June 3 in Singapore hosted by IWA.

Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) won two awards at the East Asia Region Water Industrial Reform Awards ceremony held on June 3 in Singapore and hosted by the International Water Association (IWA), K-water said on June 4.

One of the two awards is in the area of design for its Capital Area Tap Water Improvement and the other in the small-scale industry sector for K-water’s Split-type Tap Water Distribution System, the company said.

The Capital Area Tap Water Improvem-ent Project involves the repair and maintenance of large pipes without digging — meaning fixing them from the inside — to save costs and avoid traffic jams on the streets since the work doesn’t require barricades to prevent cars from coming near the worksites. 

The Split-type Water Distribution System involves the control of water supply and quality based on special features of a region, a revolutionary improvement for tap water supply systems.

President Choi Kye-woon said K-water’s winning of the two awards is very significant in that it showed the world its advanced water management system and gave global recognition to the technologies involved in managing tap water in Korea, adding that the company will continue to forge ahead in improving the tap water management system.

K-water has decided to lead the movement to solve the water problems in Asia by sponsoring the first Asia Water High Level Roundtable on June 4 in Singapore, its first event toward that end. Around 15 high-level leaders in Asia, including Vice Gov. Bindu Lohani of the Asia Development Bank (ADB), attended the event to take on water-related issues, citing examples from each country in the region and sharing professional ideas to address those problems following general discussions on the issues.

K-water signed an MOU with the ADB for cooperation in the area of water resources combining the ADB’s experiences in extending financial help to developing nations and K-water’s know-how on managing water resources to help solve water problems in developing countries in the Asian region.

President Choi said K-water will further solidify its plan to help other countries in the region on water management issues at the second Asia Water High Level Roundtable scheduled to take place in November and the 7th Water Forum to be held in Daegu next spring, as well as continue to expand K-water’s plan to help other countries in the Asian region. He said such efforts by K-water would in the end help Korea play a dominant role in the global water market in the days ahead, widening the chance to build up Korea’s wealth in a new sector of the world economy.

The IWA is partnering []on a new initiative to promote Performance Based Contracts for reducing global water losses. As part of the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) — a Danish led initiative in collaboration with the governments of China, Kenya, Mexico, Qatar, and Korea and a number of leading businesses and international organizations — the IWA has signed a letter of intent to cooperate with partners including The European Investment Bank, The Ministry of the Environment of Denmark, Veolia Environment, and The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO). The partners are committed to addressing the problem of urban water leakage in order to secure sustainable, long-term, urban green growth.

Many utilities face difficulties tackling water leakage due to lack of technological, financial, and human resources. The partnership seeks to explore how organizations that do possess these resources can be involved. Incentiizing the contractors to obtain energy and water savings for utilities can be effectuated by tying their compensation to these performance indicators. The 3GF partnership aims to explore and propagate this type of performance-based contracting as a new cost-efficient instrument to minimize Non-Revenue Water. Per-formance-based contracting can become an interesting and viable business model for tackling leakage and ensuring sustainable water management.