Busan City Confirms Removal of Hoedong Water Source Protection Areas 'Wolpyeong, Dumyeong, Imgok'

Three Villages in Jeonggwan-eup, Gijang-gun... Wolpyeong, Dumyeong, and Imgok Totaling 0.246㎢
City Fulfills Long-standing Promise After 20 Years... Restoring Trust in Waterworks Administration

Busan City announced on the 19th that the cancellation of the 'Hoedong Water Source Protection Area' designation for the three villages of Wolpyeong, Imgok, and Dumyeong in Jeonggwan-eup, Gijang-gun has been confirmed.

This comes about 20 years after the city promised to lift the water source protection area designation as part of incentives to residents during the establishment of Busan Memorial Park in 2005. However, the Ministry of Environment approved the cancellation on the condition of maintaining a constant water quality grade 2 through sewage pipe maintenance and other measures.

Source Water Protection Area Release Targets: Three villages in Jeonggwan, Gijang-gun (Wolpyeong, Dumyeong, Imgok). Provided by Busan City

Initially, the Ministry of Environment reportedly set the condition for lifting the water source protection area as 'satisfying an average daily water quality grade 2.' The relevant water source failed to meet the grade 2 water quality standard for a total of 41 days over the past three years.

In response, the city argued that maintaining a constant water quality grade 2 is difficult due to factors such as Nakdong River water intake and non-point source pollution, and that not lifting the water source protection area designation due to 'exceeding the water quality grade for a total of 41 days in the past three years' was an excessive regulation, actively demanding the cancellation.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun strongly requested the lifting of the water source protection area designation during a meeting with the Minister of Environment in November last year. Subsequently, Deputy Mayor Lee Jun-seung and Kim Byung-gi, head of the Waterworks Business Headquarters, also visited the Ministry of Environment several times to convey the will of Busan citizens and strongly demanded the cancellation.

Eventually, on January 20 of this year, conditional approval was obtained from the Ministry of Environment, followed by practical procedures such as ▲public notice ▲review and feedback on residents' opinions ▲publication in the city gazette. The final cancellation was confirmed through the 'Water Source Protection Area Cancellation Notice' on the 19th.

However, while approving this cancellation, the Ministry of Environment set compliance conditions including ▲implementation of water quality management measures to maintain constant water quality grade 2 ▲preparation of measures to prohibit indiscriminate development in the area where the water source protection area was lifted.

In response, Busan City plans to continuously promote water quality improvement measures such as installing facilities to reduce non-point source pollution to maintain grade 2 water quality.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan said, “This cancellation decision has made it possible to proceed with the expansion project of the columbarium at Busan Memorial Park, fulfilling a long-standing promise to Busan citizens and serving as an opportunity to restore trust in waterworks administration.” He added, “We will continue to make greater efforts to improve the water quality of the Hoedong Reservoir and to manage the environment systematically.”

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