Four Local Governments Including Tongyeong, Sacheon, Geoje, and Goseong in Gyeongnam to Unify Water Charges

Ministry of Environment, Local Governments, and K-Water Sign Mutual Agreement to Unify Water Charges
Over 30% Fee Discrepancy... Uniform Application from April Next Year

Reference photo

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The water rates of four local governments in Gyeongnam?Tongyeong City, Sacheon City, Geoje City, and Goseong County?will be unified.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of Environment will sign a 'Mutual Agreement for the Unification of Resident Water Rates' with the four local governments in the western Gyeongnam region and the Korea Water Resources Corporation at the Nakdong River Basin Environmental Office's main conference room.

The event was attended by Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of Environment; Kang Seok-ju, Mayor of Tongyeong; Song Do-geun, Mayor of Sacheon; Byeon Gwang-yong, Mayor of Geoje; Baek Du-hyeon, Governor of Goseong County; and Park Jae-hyun, President of the Korea Water Resources Corporation, who signed the agreement to unify the currently different water rates charged by each local government.

Tongyeong, Sacheon, Geoje, and Goseong receive about 98% of their tap water supply from the Namgang Dam wide-area water supply system. Since 2010, the Korea Water Resources Corporation has been entrusted with integrated operation management according to the local water supply integration plan.

However, because they operate separate water rate systems due to different administrative districts, there has been a rate difference of more than 30% between regions.

The Ministry of Environment, after practical consultations with the local governments and the Korea Water Resources Corporation, agreed on an agreement focusing on ▲ unification of residential water rates ▲ reduction of wide-area water rates ▲ efforts for policy support. The key points of the agreement are as follows.

The four local governments will reduce and unify the residential water rate charging system from a maximum of six tiers to three tiers and improve the system by applying the same rate per tier.

The Korea Water Resources Corporation will improve operational efficiency through linked operation between water facilities and cost reduction, and expand win-win cooperation among water service providers by partially reducing the price of wide-area water supply. The Ministry of Environment will actively consider policy and institutional support to maintain the unification of water rates within the region.

After signing the agreement, the respective institutions will implement detailed procedures and apply the same residential water rates in the four regions starting from April 1 next year.

Vice Minister Hong Jeong-gi stated, "The efforts to improve the water service in this region over the past 10 years have borne fruit today," adding, "We will continue to make every innovative effort to eliminate regional disparities so that the public can equally enjoy tap water."

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