No More Digging: Water Pipe Cleaning Without Excavation Needed

Busan City Waterworks Headquarters Finds Method to Clean Using Fire Hydrants

Location map of the cleaning section using the fire hydrant.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The Busan Metropolitan City Waterworks Headquarters is attempting for the first time to clean and flush water pipes using existing fire hydrants.

The Waterworks Headquarters announced on the 28th that starting from 2 p.m. on the 29th, a pilot project will be carried out in Dodobon-ri Village, Daejeo 2-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan, using existing water facilities such as fire hydrants to remove impurities like scale and sediment inside the water pipes.

Until now, scale and sediment inside water pipes have been removed by installing separate work pits. This caused inconvenience to citizens due to traffic control and road excavation.

The Waterworks Headquarters sought new cleaning and flushing technologies to eliminate these inconveniences, moving away from the previous work methods. By utilizing existing water facilities as they are, this pilot project was initiated.

The pilot project target area is a 1.3 km section at the end of the pipeline in Daejeo 2-dong, Gangseo-gu. Compressed air and water will be mixed and injected into fire hydrants installed within the work section. The inside of the water pipes will be thoroughly cleaned by water discharged at high pressure.

If the cleaning and flushing project using fire hydrants proves successful, it will have the great advantage of eliminating excessive costs from past work pit installations and traffic inconveniences caused by road excavation.

Lee Geun-hee, head of the Waterworks Headquarters, said, “In the second half of this year, we plan to accurately identify pipelines that require cleaning and flushing through a deterioration diagnosis of water pipelines throughout Busan.” He added, “Based on a smart pipeline monitoring system, we plan to provide citizens with cleaner and safer tap water through periodic cleaning and flushing.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.