K-water Offers 50-70% Discount on One Month Water Usage Fees to Local Governments and SMEs

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), under the Ministry of Environment, is promoting a plan to reduce up to 70% of the fees for dam water and metropolitan water supply used for one month to support small business owners and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing economic difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Dam water refers to water provided by K-water from dams and sluice gates it manages to local governments and companies. Metropolitan water supply is water taken from dams, treated by K-water to be suitable for uses such as tap water, and then supplied to local governments and companies.

First, fee reductions will be promoted targeting 131 local governments nationwide that receive dam water or metropolitan water supply from K-water. The local governments will first reduce water fees for regional SMEs (including small business owners) and then apply to K-water for dam and metropolitan fee reductions.

The fee reduction period corresponds to one month of the period during which the local government has reduced water fees for SMEs under its jurisdiction. The actual reduction amount will be linked to the volume of water fee reductions by each local government. Reflecting the usage ratio of dam water and metropolitan water supply, 50% of the usage fee is expected to be reduced.

In addition, K-water will reduce fees for about 1,100 SMEs that directly receive dam water or metropolitan water supply. The reduction target is SMEs with usage under 1,000 tons in February of this year, which will receive a 70% reduction in usage fees without a separate application.

K-water expects this reduction to ease the burden of water and metropolitan water supply fees by up to approximately 9.5 billion KRW.

Park Jae-hyun, president of K-water, said, "I hope this fee reduction will help small business owners and SMEs overcome economic difficulties and alleviate the financial burden on local governments. We will continue to strive to fulfill our social responsibility as a public corporation working together with the people."

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