30% of Nationwide Groundwater Facilities Unregistered and Neglected... "Illegal Activity Eradication Agreement"

"This Year, 45,000 Unregistered Groundwater Facilities Surveyed to Promote Environmental Pollution Prevention"

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government declared that 30% of groundwater development and utilization facilities nationwide are unregistered or abandoned, and announced plans to join hands with the groundwater industry to eradicate unregistered facilities.

On the 26th, the Ministry of Environment announced that on the afternoon of the 27th, it will sign a voluntary agreement on groundwater pollution prevention practices at the Government Sejong Complex together with the Korea Groundwater and Geothermal Association and nine representative groundwater development and utilization construction companies from across the country.

The nine participating companies are Hanmaek E&C, Korea Groundwater Corporation, Cheongju Groundwater Development, G&Tech, Haneul Engineering, Seogyo Construction, Deokho Partnership Company, Haedong Development, and Geo Engineering.

Source: Ministry of Environment

The agreement was promoted to eradicate the occurrence of illegal groundwater facilities such as unregistered facilities and abandoned wells. It aims to establish reasonable contract standards for the related industry.

Unregistered facilities refer to groundwater development and utilization facilities that have not received permission or notification according to Articles 7 and 8 of the Groundwater Act.

Abandoned wells refer to disused wells that failed development or have ended use but have not been properly backfilled or naturally buried (or collapsed), and are excluded from management targets. These facilities pose a risk of groundwater pollution.

According to the Ministry of Environment's "2019 Groundwater Survey Yearbook," as of 2018, there were approximately 1.64 million groundwater development and utilization facilities nationwide, with an annual usage volume of about 2.9 billion tons.

Among these, it is estimated that more than 500,000 facilities are actually being used without registration or are abandoned. However, since this is based on a full survey of groundwater facilities from 2009 to 2014, the actual number may be higher.

The Ministry of Environment plans to organize a system to ensure that groundwater facilities are properly managed within the institutional framework through various opinion channels such as groundwater expert forums.

The government and the groundwater industry that entered into a voluntary agreement. (Source: Ministry of Environment)

After the agreement, the Ministry of Environment will promote institutional improvements for preventing illegal groundwater facilities and developing the groundwater industry, investigate unregistered facilities, conduct pollution prevention projects, and carry out public awareness campaigns.

The Korea Groundwater and Geothermal Association will work on establishing a fair contract basis, opening and operating a reporting center for illegal groundwater facilities, supporting the registration conversion of unregistered facilities, and providing education for groundwater technicians.

Groundwater construction companies will actively cooperate in eradicating illegal construction, restoring failed development facilities to their original state, and complying with the obligations of construction companies under the Groundwater Act.

Additionally, the Ministry of Environment announced plans to investigate 45,000 unregistered groundwater facilities within this year.

By 2024, about 500,000 unregistered facilities will be investigated. Pollution prevention projects will also be promoted step by step.

Various promotional activities such as video distribution and booklet publication will be carried out.

Shin Jinsoo, Director of the Water Integration Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Environment, said, "The voluntary efforts of construction companies will play a significant role in preventing the occurrence of illegal groundwater facilities," adding, "Through this cooperation, the public will be able to use cleaner and safer groundwater."

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