President Park Jae-hyeon of Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) delivers his New Year’s message via an in-house broadcasting system on Jan. 4. (Photo: K-water)

President Park Jae-hyeon of Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) said the year 2021 is a first year of efforts to elevate Korea to the world’s top-tier country of water welfare and water safety.

In his New Year’s message on Jan. 4, President Park said, “The Year 2020 was one year in which climate crisis had turned into reality and we felt a heavy of responsibility for water disaster, and preparations for a water management paradigm shift were made for a new normal era.”

President Park revealed four core management tasks to shift into climate change management paradigm with a tempo quicker one step and a strong execution, ensure sustainable growth and make water management achievements the way people can sense and in an innovative fashion.

First, President Park said, K-water will focus all capabilities on bearing fruits in water welfare for people and water safety by putting into practice strategies in a speedy fashion.

K-water pledged to supply water any people can trust and drink by realizing an integrated dam renovation, taking into ecosystem, culture and safety, a safe, integrated water management regime like basin smart water management system, seamlessly implementing modernization of tap water in provincial areas and smart water management (SWM), ramping up support to smaller local autonomous bodies and make efforts to reduce water-vulnerable areas.

K-water will devote itself to becoming the world’s top-tier integrated water platform company by building water-specialized city model focusing on its smart water management technologies and digital water platform and contributing to easing global water shortages.

Secondly, he said, K-water will aggressively support government policies of unifying stream management and implementing Korean New Deal and carbon neutrality projects and become a strong assistant of the government.

The corporation pledged to provide full support to the prior preparations for unifying a stream management to lay a groundwork for complimenting the unification of national water management and seamlessly implement the Korean New Deal tasks to transform water management facilities — ranging from water safety cities to dam quality and quantity integrated water management–into eco-friendly and digital infrastructure.

K-water also will nurture floating photovoltaic power and hydrothermal energy as its representative eco-friendly energy projects while spearheading efforts to attain the nation’s carbon neutrality and climate change responses by spreading low-energy water management such as carbon neutrality of metropolitan purification plants.

Thirdly, he called for practicing integrity, safety, and compatibility of work and family life to be reborn as a public entity trusted and loved by people and staff.

Lastly, President Park emphasized that K-water should become a public entity that serves as a partner trusted and depended by people by creating social values deemed essential in the difficult times.

He said K-water will continue dramatic overhauling of unessential regulations and the implementing of fair contracts so that SMEs, the roots of the national economy, can attain innovative growth while ramping up the social safety net of the underprivileged using water and sustainable foundation of local communities.

President Park said K-water will focus on mobilizing capabilities to implement social responsibilities such as creation of good jobs, a reduction in water charges to those in vulnerable brackets, and support to SMEs and small business owners’ rents and youth’s rental houses to inject courage and hope to the lives of people struggling with the protracted spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

President Park said, “K-water will make the year 2021 a year in which we, as Korea’s representative integrated water management entity, armed with a strong determination, a fast execution, and top expertise, will repay people with outcomes and do ourselves to solving global water issues.”