KRC Invests 42.5 Billion KRW in Green New Deal for Rural Water Quality Management

Korea Rural Community Corporation plans to establish 90 automatic water quality monitoring stations for rural water use by 2022. The photo shows the current method of measuring water quality through sample collection.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] Korea Rural Community Corporation will invest a total of 42.5 billion KRW by 2022 in a project to establish an automatic water quality measurement network for rural water using information and communication technology (ICT) to measure water quality in real time. This project improves the existing water quality survey method, which involved collecting samples on-site and transporting them to a laboratory for analysis, by installing automatic measurement devices on-site and digitizing the measured data, thereby building green infrastructure for clean and safe agricultural water management.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs discovered and supported this project as part of the Korean Green New Deal. Once the automatic water quality measurement devices and water quality information system are completed, it will be possible not only to monitor reservoir water quality in real time but also to collect and utilize various data, enabling prediction of water quality changes and proactive water quality management through big data and artificial intelligence analysis.

The Corporation has been operating a water quality measurement network since 1990 for agricultural water quality management, conducting quarterly measurements at 975 reservoirs and continuously implementing water quality improvement projects based on the results. However, with increased economic activities and pollutant inflow recently, water pollution incidents have risen annually from 11 cases in 2015 to 43 cases in 2019. Among these incidents, oil pollution and livestock waste/sewage inflow account for 46%, highlighting the growing importance of identifying pollution sources and responding quickly in case of pollution accidents.

Accordingly, the Corporation plans to first install automatic measurement devices at 30 reservoirs this year for water pollution monitoring and install a total of 90 reservoirs with 360 points by 2022. Installation will prioritize large reservoirs among major nationally managed reservoirs, considering the severity and scale of damage in case of water pollution incidents.

Additionally, the Corporation plans to build a water quality management platform that can predict environmental accidents in advance and proactively manage water quality through analysis using water quality-related big data and artificial intelligence, with services to be provided starting in 2023.

Kim In-sik, President of Korea Rural Community Corporation, said, "Starting with the rural water automatic water quality measurement network project, we will actively utilize digital technology in water quality management to prevent water pollution accidents and do our best to build green infrastructure that supplies clean water and produces safe eco-friendly agricultural products."

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