Seoul Arisu Water Quality Test Covers 336 Items... 5 Additional Items Included

From 331 Items in 2020 to 336 Items in 2021... 5 Additional Unregulated New Substances Expanded
Proactive Addition of Test Items Beyond Legal Water Quality Standards... Conducting Detailed Water Quality Inspections
Water Quality Test Results Regularly Published on the Waterworks Headquarters Website's Water Quality Information Section

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The quality management of Seoul's tap water, "Arisu," is becoming more meticulous.

On the 4th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that to provide citizens with safer Arisu, it will add and expand five unregulated new substances that require management beyond the legal water quality standards, and from this year, a total of 336 items will be regularly tested.

Accordingly, Arisu will undergo precise water quality inspections for the "60 items of drinking water quality standards" under the Ministry of Environment regulations, the "111 surveillance items" with strengthened standards set by Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the "165 unregulated new substances" as proactive surveillance items.

The newly added water quality test items this year are five types of unregulated new substances, including two persistent substances, "perfluorinated compounds 2 types (PFBA, PFBS)," carcinogenic substances "acrylonitrile" and "acrylamide," and "bisphenol-S," a substitute for bisphenol-A, the main component of epoxy coatings in water pipes.

Unregulated new substances refer to items that require management beyond the legal water quality standards. Since 2007, Seoul has proactively selected and monitored these items to ensure the safety of Arisu.

To strengthen the safety of Arisu, the city has expanded the water quality test items annually and conducted water quality inspections according to international standards. As a result, the number of water quality test items steadily increased from only 53 in 1995 to 336 in 2021.

Seoul's water quality inspections are conducted on raw water, purified water, and bottled Arisu, with monthly, quarterly, or annual cycles depending on the items. The results over the past 10 years have all met the drinking water quality standards. The inspection results are published monthly on the Seoul Waterworks Headquarters website under water quality information.

Additionally, the Seoul Water Institute announced plans to develop and apply a system that can drastically reduce labor and exposure time to hazardous reagents required for water quality testing at the inspection sites.

Lee In-geun, director of the Seoul Water Institute, said, "To produce Arisu that citizens can trust and drink, we regularly test not only the legal water quality standards but also strengthened water quality surveillance items," adding, "Furthermore, we will proactively investigate unregulated new trace substances and expand test items to do our best in making Arisu safer."

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