Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water), marking its 50th anniversary this year, plans to ensure safety and welfare and nurture the water industry. In his New Year’s message, K-water CEO Lee Hak-soo presented three tasks to promote water management over the next 50 years.
First, Lee stressed the foremost policy task that K-water, a sole public entity specializing in the development of the water industry, will have to implement over the next 50 years – the preventing of water disasters, safety management, the improving of water welfare, and the enhancing the principle of equality. To this end, he said, K-water will strengthen water management according to each sphere, taking into account regionally characteristics, including water amounts, water quality and ecological features of major streams, including the top four rivers, while establishing open platforms that can be put into practice in collaboration with diverse water management organizations.
Second, he said K-water will be committed to nurturing the Korean water industry and ramping up its global competitiveness by making the most of the water management technologies and expertise the corporation has accumulated throughout the past 50 years. K-water will build a national integrated water management system based on smart water management using ICT technologies designed to brace for future climate change dangers, while striving to create jobs by fostering the water industry.
While stepping on the gas to develop new and renewable energies using water, K-water will expand the development of water-front spaces for the benefits of people, said K-water President Lee, urging his executives and staff members to innovate work in a creative fashion and promoting technology innovation through R&D activities.
Lastly, Lee said that K-water will eliminate unnecessary things by establishing a corporate culture based on integrity, trust and innovation, and make the corporation a productive and efficient organization based on choice and concentration.
K-water to Replace Old Pipelines for Water Supply by 2030
K-water has vowed to provide clean water to the public by launching a smart water management system supported by advanced information and communications technology and replace all pipelines that are more than 30 years old from the beginning of this year.
"As the only government-owned company in charge of controlling water resources based on a new system, we'll do our best to help ensure people are satisfied," said K-water CEO Lee.
The CEO said he will be at the forefront of a drive to ensure K-water becomes a leader in global water management systems. The only state-owned company whose main responsibility is controlling water resources in the country has set aside 4 trillion won to upgrade and replace pipes more than 30 years old over the next 15 years to supply clean tap water to everyone in Korea, declared CEO Lee during an interview with a local media outlet on Nov. 11.
He also remarked that the company will expand its Smart Water Project in tandem with a government plan to support the water industry to be a 50-trillion won industry by 2030, centered around the Water Cluster Complex being built in Daegu, and also by providing support to the companies at the head of developing water control-related technology.
In the process, exports of water control technology from Korea would amount to 10 trillion won annually, creating 70,000 new jobs, bringing the number of jobs in the water industry to around 200,000 in the target year. "By doing so, we'll be able to create jobs through the development of special technologies," he said. "Our business model for water management is both scientific and forward-looking, and will help us expand our overseas operations in line with government policies."
K-water aims to lead the industry's growth by developing a smart water grid and an integrated water management system, according to Lee. It will also expand its overseas operations to strengthen its international role through close cooperation with foreign water resources organizations, the former professor added.
"We need to always keep the nation and the people in our minds so that K-water can become the top water resources management company in the world. We should manage K-water well so that it will be able to save the people from water-related disasters by protecting their properties."
Noting a drastic increase in the number of diseases related to climate change, which have doubled in recent years, the K-water CEO said K-water will build a new water circling system combining the nation’s largest rivers, including Han, Naktong, Kum and Seomjin, after analyzing their water quality, water volumes and ecology and develop an integrated water control system.
The integrated water control system refers to securing water from reservoirs and supplying it to end-users, and the remaining water will be used elsewhere, controlling the entire process. K-water will use sensors to check water quality by the hour to make sure only fresh and healthy water is supplied through its system, an example of what Smart Water City is all about.
