Yongin City Mobilizes to Resolve Baegam and Wonsam Water Supply Issues... Promotes Duplication of Water Supply Pipelines

Surge in Water Demand Due to Semiconductor Cluster Development
City Holds Talks with SK hynix to Adjust Construction Water Use
Short- and Long-Term Measures for Stable Water Supply in Baegam and Wonsam
All-Out Efforts to Minimize Inconvenience for Residents

Yongin Special City in Gyeonggi Province has launched both short- and long-term measures, including the duplication of water supply pipelines and the expansion of water reservoirs, to resolve water supply instability in the Baegam and Wonsam-myeon areas of Cheoin-gu. As the amount of water supplied has surged due to large-scale development projects such as the creation of the semiconductor cluster, the city is accelerating both emergency responses and fundamental infrastructure expansion to alleviate ongoing inconvenience for residents.

On the 19th, Youngseok Seo, Director of the Waterworks Office of Yongin Special City (right), met with SK hynix construction officials to request the reduction of construction water usage. Provided by Yongin City

According to Yongin City on May 20, the Yangji, Wonsam, and Baegam areas of Cheoin-gu receive their household water supply from the Pyeongchang water reservoir. However, due to the development of nearby industrial complexes, water usage has increased significantly, leading to instability in the household water supply.

While the Ministry of Environment's standard states that the Pyeongchang water reservoir can supply up to 13,200 cubic meters per day, the daily average water supply has recently increased to 25,550 cubic meters due to the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster General Industrial Complex, the materials and components complex, and the construction of rental dormitories.

In response, the city has drawn up both immediate and long-term measures to prevent further inconvenience for residents. The plan is to implement emergency actions that can be resolved quickly, while also steadily pursuing fundamental alternatives to ensure a stable water supply.

The city's emergency measure is to adjust the supply of 1,300 cubic meters of construction water that is temporarily being provided daily to the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster General Industrial Complex.

To this end, on May 19, a city official met with SK hynix construction officials and requested that construction water usage be restrained during peak household water use hours, specifically from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The city expects that as construction water use in the industrial complex decreases, the supply of household water to the Baegam and Wonsam-myeon areas will stabilize within this week.

Additionally, the city anticipates that once SK hynix installs its own water reservoir in June and begins using its own construction water, the water supply previously provided to the Wonsam area will be distributed, thereby alleviating the load on the Pyeongchang reservoir.

Separately, in order to ensure a stable water supply in the Baegam-myeon area, the city is proceeding with the 'Baegam-myeon (Pyeongchang 5 Block) Water Intake Point Duplication Project', which will add a new water supply branch from the Pyeongchang reservoir by July.

The plan is to duplicate the water supply pipeline from the Pyeongchang reservoir, which currently enters Baegam via Wonsam, increasing it from one pipeline to two in order to ensure a stable water supply.

The project, which began this month, is currently in the design phase. The city will invest 260 million won to construct new pressure reducing valve and flow meter rooms, complete the pipeline installation and cleaning in some sections, and finish the water system conversion by July, when water usage is expected to surge.

In addition, the city is conducting leak detection and repair work to improve the low water flow rate (74%) in the Baegam-myeon area. With the expansion of the Yongin Water Purification Plant completed in December last year (from 100,000 to 200,000 cubic meters), the water supply for the Cheoin-gu area is also expected to increase.

In the mid- to long-term, the city plans to expand the Pyeongchang reservoir to establish a fundamental solution for stable water supply.

As large-scale industrial complexes and supporting facilities are established, water usage in the area is expected to surge, so the city intends to develop measures in advance to prevent inconvenience for residents.

To this end, the city is in the process of partially revising the 'Yongin City Waterworks Maintenance Master Plan' and plans to request approval from the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment in early June.

A Yongin City official said, "We apologize to the residents who have experienced inconvenience due to the unstable water supply in the Baegam-myeon area recently. Although large-scale construction projects for the development of Yongin are underway throughout the city, we will make every effort to stabilize the water supply by mobilizing all available resources to ensure that residents of nearby areas are not adversely affected."

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