Busan City Launches Integrated Management for 'District and County Combined Sewer Pipeline and Manhole Dredging'!

Selection of Priority Dredging Sites for Sewage Pipelines Flowing into Low-Lying Flooded Areas and Rivers

Installation of Odor Blocking Facilities in Urban Covered Rivers to Resolve Residents' Perceived Inconveniences

Busan City will integrate the maintenance of combined sewer pipelines and manholes, which were previously managed independently by each district and county, under unified city management.

The term "combined sewer" refers to a system that discharges both stormwater and sewage through the same sewer pipeline.

This integration aims to establish a systematic approach to the dredging work that had been sporadically conducted by districts and counties, transforming the routine annual tasks into practical operations where the effectiveness of sewer pipeline and manhole dredging can be directly observed.

For integrated management, the city first selected low-lying urban areas with a history of flooding and sewer pipelines flowing into rivers as "priority dredging sites," and will manage dredging records centrally to clarify the dredging work system.

Due to the recent increase in disaster-level heavy rains and the raised flood control performance targets, it is necessary to expand the cross-section of sewer pipelines. However, given the limitations of large-scale budget investments and timely implementation, securing flow capacity through dredging of existing pipelines is currently a priority.

Until now, districts and counties have mainly conducted dredging projects in areas with complaints such as foul odors, resulting in poor management of project performance. To address this, the city will select priority dredging areas and manage dredging records annually.

Additionally, the city will directly handle the disposal of dredged soil, which has been the biggest challenge for districts and counties, not through private consignment but at a dredged material reduction facility operated by Busan City. By directly resolving the disposal of dredged soil, which accounts for about 25% of dredging costs, the saved budgets of districts and counties will be reinvested in dredging construction to maximize project effectiveness.

Dredged soil with high moisture content must be dried before disposal, but securing drying space is difficult due to odor and pest issues, causing private companies to struggle with dredged soil disposal. To solve this problem, the city installed a dredged material reduction facility on the spare land of the Gangbyeon sewage treatment plant.

The dredged material reduction facility washes dredged soil to separate recyclable aggregates and waste, and the wash water generated in this process is connected to the Gangbyeon sewage treatment plant for treatment.

The annual cost savings from dredged soil disposal through the dredged material reduction facility amount to 2 billion KRW.

The currently installed dredged material reduction facility can process about 13,200 tons of dredged soil, approximately 18% of Busan City's total volume. The facility will first handle dredged soil from the selected priority dredging areas, and up to six additional units will be installed in the future to process all dredged soil generated in Busan City.

Along with this, the city will introduce an incentive system based on dredging performance and prepare support measures for the maintenance of dredging vehicles and street sprinklers to reduce non-point source pollution, encouraging active dredging construction by districts and counties.

The city plans to provide incentives at the end of the year based on the dredging performance of districts and counties.

Furthermore, maintenance costs for street sprinkler vehicles, which clean dust on road surfaces to reduce pollutants flowing into rivers during rainfall, will also be supported.

By actively removing non-point source pollutants from road surfaces, pollutants flowing into rivers during rain will be preemptively cleaned, improving river water quality and securing sewer pipeline flow capacity to prevent flooding.

In addition, the city will actively address residents' discomfort by installing odor-blocking facilities at the outlets of covered urban streams.

Covered urban streams function similarly to combined sewer pipelines, and sewage accumulates downstream of these covered streams, causing foul odors at the outlets, which are a major source of urban odor problems.

Accordingly, Busan City will prioritize sewage odor reduction projects at 19 major covered urban streams and, in collaboration with districts and counties, expand these efforts to small streams and drainage ditches to improve river water quality and resolve odor issues.

On October 26, the city held a meeting with construction and road management departments of districts and counties to discuss integrated sewer management plans.

The meeting was chaired by the Director of the Environmental Water Policy Office and attended by heads of construction and cleaning departments from all 16 districts and counties.

After gathering opinions from districts and counties through department head meetings, the city plans to establish and distribute a comprehensive integrated management plan within the year, specifying priority dredging sites, timing, and practical management methods.

Lee Geun-hee, Director of the Environmental Water Policy Office, stated, "Sewer pipelines are the veins of the city. Just as waste buildup in blood vessels causes problems throughout the body, accumulation of dredged soil in sewer pipelines can cause issues throughout the city, making timely dredging very important. By integrating dredging plans, which were previously dispersed by administrative districts, under Busan City's management, we will maximize the effectiveness of dredging projects."

He added, "To preemptively block pollutants flowing into rivers during rainfall, we will conduct regular road surface cleaning, and install odor-blocking facilities at the outlets of covered urban streams so that citizens can feel the effects of maintenance projects. Through Busan City's integrated dredging management and budget support for reducing non-point source pollution, we will prevent urban flooding, improve river water quality, and enhance Busan's urban quality."

Busan City Hall.

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