Seoul City Implements Customized Management for Sewage Odor by Area... Pilot Project in Hoegi Station Area Until November

Targeting Sewer Odor Grade Reduction from 5 to 2 Around Hoegi Station... Intensive Management Using Patented New Technologies
Establishment of 'Seoul-Type Sewer Odor Reduction Basic Plan' Based on Pilot Project Results

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is introducing the ‘Seoul-type Sewage Odor Target Management System’ to create premium streets free of sewage odors by managing areas where sewage odors occur with customized measures. The plan is to set odor improvement target grades for each area and apply the latest odor reduction technologies tailored to achieve these goals.

On the 28th, Seoul announced that it will conduct a pilot project until November in the Hoegi Station area of Dongdaemun-gu, known for severe sewage odors despite a daily average foot traffic of 50,000 people including university students and transfer passengers.

Until now, sewage odor management has been carried out mainly in areas where complaints were received without separate standards. This has caused discrepancies in odor management by region, raising the need for customized management suited to local characteristics. To address this issue, Seoul has been conducting a service project since June last year to establish a basic plan for reducing sewage odors in Seoul.

Through this pilot project, Seoul plans to apply and develop various new technologies to sewage treatment tanks, the root cause of odor generation, and sewage pipelines, analyze the before-and-after results, and complete a Seoul-type basic plan for sewage odor reduction applicable throughout the city by the end of the year. This will be used as a consistent guideline for all 25 autonomous districts to manage odors.

Currently, Seoul aims to raise the sewage odor grade of the Hoegi Station area, which is rated the worst at grade 5 out of 1 to 5, to grade 2 (good) by applying three patented latest technologies. The project budget is a total of 560 million KRW.

The three latest technologies are ▲‘Spray Odor Reduction Facility,’ which finely sprays water to dissolve odor substances in water ▲‘Air Injection Type Sulfur Oxidizing Microorganism Carrier Device for Sewage Treatment Tanks,’ which removes odor substances in water by adding microorganisms to the treatment tanks ▲‘Pole-type Odor Removal System,’ which adsorbs and removes odor gases at room temperature using a composite adsorbent.

Additionally, Seoul plans to develop and apply a ‘Real-time Odor Monitoring System for Sewage Pipelines’ by adapting the ‘Simple Composite Cross-section’ of sewage pipelines developed by the Ministry of Environment and a system used to measure odors from manure storage tanks in animal farms.

Based on the basic plan, Seoul intends to fully introduce the Seoul-type Sewage Odor Target Management System and manage all areas at odor grade 3 level starting in 2022. In particular, management will be strengthened to grade 2 level in areas with high foot traffic such as subway stations or where odor complaints are frequent.

Han Yoo-seok, Director of the Water Circulation Safety Bureau of Seoul, said, “We will conduct a pilot odor reduction project around Hoegi Station, where 50,000 people including university students and transfer passengers pass daily, to reduce the inconvenience caused by sewage odors to citizens. Based on the pilot project, we will establish the Seoul-type basic plan for sewage odor reduction by the end of the year, and from next year, we will fully promote the project in 25 autonomous districts to create premium Seoul streets free of sewage odors.”

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