AI-Powered Water Supply Accident Detection... Personal Information Commission Approves Korea Water Resources Corporation's Preliminary Review

Consultations Held on the Lawful Collection and Analysis of Community Posts

The Personal Information Protection Commission announced on April 23 that it had deliberated and decided on the results of a preliminary adequacy review of Korea Water Resources Corporation's "Water Supply Accident Detection System."

Song Kyung-hee, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, is striking the gavel at the 7th plenary meeting of the Personal Information Protection Commission for 2026 held at the Government Seoul Complex on the afternoon of the 22nd. Photo by Personal Information Protection Commission

According to the Commission, Korea Water Resources Corporation applied for the preliminary review in order to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to proactively detect and respond to water supply accidents. The system is designed to classify posts regarding possible water supply incidents using AI, by partnering with local communities such as online mom cafes to analyze postings about daily inconveniences. When a relevant post is detected, the local office follows on-site response procedures to prevent damage.

For example, posts such as ▲"Is there a house in Jeokseon-dong with muddy tap water?" are classified as a water supply accident; ▲"My shower filter turns brown after just a week" is classified as a suspected water supply accident; and ▲"Our water was cut off because of a leak in the downstairs apartment" is classified as unrelated to a water supply accident. This system was developed by the headquarters overseeing the Yeongsan River and Seomjin River basins and will be implemented there first.

The Commission stated that it had coordinated three key matters with Korea Water Resources Corporation to ensure the lawful and secure collection and analysis of community posts. First, when forming partnerships with communities, a prior notice and feedback process must be conducted so that members are informed in advance about the collection and analysis of their posts and the specific boards involved, and are given a choice. The Corporation may only collect posts once this process has actually been implemented.

In addition, the Commission instructed the Corporation to continuously monitor whether posts detected as unrelated to water supply accidents are immediately deleted from the system, and to continuously improve the accuracy of the AI model. Furthermore, if external AI models are used for classification, requirements for outsourcing personal information processing must be met. The system must also automatically de-identify highly identifiable personal information, such as names, phone numbers, and emails, if such information is included in posts.

The Commission stated, "Once the service is launched in the near future, we will inspect whether the agreed measures are being implemented," and added, "We will continue working to create an environment where the development of new services and the rights of data subjects are harmonized."

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