All Six Water Play Facilities at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square Meet Water Quality Standards

Tunnel Fountain and 5 Other Sites Certified Suitable as Recreational Water Facilities by Professional Water Quality Testing Agency
E. coli Not Detected... pH, Turbidity, and Free Residual Chlorine All Meet Water Quality Standards

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 2nd that all six water play facilities, which have been very popular among visitors, especially children, since the opening of Gwanghwamun Square, have been judged as ‘suitable’ as water play water features following water quality inspections.

The six water features are the three popular fountains among family visitors (Myeongnyang Fountain, Hangeul Fountain, Tunnel Fountain), the floor well, and two historical water paths.

This water quality inspection is a regular test conducted once every two weeks according to the Water Environment Conservation Act. It was entrusted to a professional water quality testing institution (a nationally certified drinking water quality testing agency) to evaluate four items including Escherichia coli. The four evaluation items are pH level, turbidity, Escherichia coli, and free residual chlorine. For accurate testing, samples were collected at points corresponding to the characteristics of each water feature, such as the outlet of the floor fountain and the middle point of flowing water.

The inspection results showed that Escherichia coli was not detected in all six locations. The pH level, indicating acidity or alkalinity, ranged from 6.7 to 7.4 pH; turbidity, indicating water cloudiness, ranged from 0.38 to 0.51 NTU; and free residual chlorine, necessary for sterilizing microorganisms in the water, ranged from 0.42 to 0.51 mg/L, all meeting water quality standards.

Seoul City plans to attach the inspection results to the information signs of water features such as fountains so that citizens can directly check the results and use the facilities with confidence, and will also disclose the results on the Gwanghwamun Square website.

Additionally, to ensure thorough water quality management of fountains and other water features, the city will conduct biweekly self-inspections starting this month, in addition to mandatory inspections by professional water quality testing institutions. The 800-ton volume of Arisu water used for the fountains will be replaced every two days, and the storage tanks holding the water will be cleaned once a week.

Meanwhile, the water features in Gwanghwamun Square, where children could enjoy water play and cool off by dipping their feet during the summer, will operate until October 31. Yeo Jang-kwon, Head of Seoul City’s Balanced Development Headquarters, said, “We will thoroughly manage and operate Gwanghwamun Square, which has reopened as a park-like plaza in the city center, so that citizens and children visiting the square can always use it safely and enjoyably.”

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