Governor Won Hee-ryong: "Seogwipo Tap Water Stabilization Phase"

No Larvae Found in Tap Water Supply System for Over 5 Days... Samdasoo Supply Also Suspended

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, recently addressed the controversy over tap water in Seogwipo City, stating, “I bow my head and apologize to the residents for the inconvenience caused by the larvae incident over the past month. The tap water has now entered a stabilization phase.”

This tap water stabilization measure comes 29 days after the first complaint about chironomid larvae in the tap water was confirmed on the 18th of last month, and half a month after the suspension of operations at the Gangjeong Water Purification Plant and the start of alternative supply on the 1st.

According to Jeju Province on the 16th, Governor Won held a press conference at the Jeju Provincial Government press room the day before and said, “The volume of alternative supply has been maintained normally for the past half month, and larvae have not been found in the water supply system for five consecutive days,” adding, “From today, you can use tap water with confidence. I sincerely thank you for trusting the administration and waiting patiently for such a long time.”

He particularly emphasized, “We will identify the cause of the larvae incident and prepare measures to prevent recurrence, presenting fundamental and comprehensive remedies,” and stressed, “We will inspect and improve the overall management of Jeju’s water supply facilities to ensure that such a larvae incident never happens again.”

This measure was taken because no larvae have been found in the water supply pipes for more than five consecutive days since the alternative supply from the Gangjeong Water Purification Plant began.

Since the 1st, Jeju Province has been removing remaining larvae in the existing pipes through 24-hour forced drainage and monitoring of the alternative supply pipeline following the suspension of operations at the Gangjeong Water Purification Plant.

As a result, no larvae have been found since the 9th in the supply pipes of 34 fire hydrants directly connected to households.

Jeju Province plans to actively implement follow-up measures such as supporting water tank cleaning costs and filter replacement costs for households where residual larvae are found.

Additionally, as the tap water stabilization measure has made tap water drinkable, the supply of Samdasoo to community centers and educational institutions will be discontinued.

Jeju Province plans to apply a 50% reduction rate to the water bill for December based on the date of the tap water stabilization measure. The reduction target includes 31,320 households affected by the tap water larvae incident.

Jeju Province will complete facility reinforcements at the Gangjeong Water Purification Plant by the end of this month, including strengthening insect screens, coagulation facilities, and installing precision filters, and plans to gradually resume operations starting next month.

From the 1st of next month, after conducting a week of trial operation and monitoring, if complete blockage of larvae inflow is confirmed, the normalization of the Gangjeong Water Purification Plant will be announced. Once the plant is normalized, the alternative supply measure will end.

Meanwhile, Jeju Province is conducting a thorough inspection equivalent to a detailed technical diagnosis of 16 water purification plants in the province through the K-water technical diagnosis team led by the Ministry of Environment.

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