[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Presidential Committee on National Water Management will sign the "Mutual Cooperation Agreement on Integrated Water Management Cooperation Tasks among Public Institutions" on the 25th.
This agreement involves the National Water Management Committee working with Korea Rural Community Corporation, Korea Water Resources Corporation, and Korea Environment Corporation to promote 20 cooperation tasks across four major areas, linked to the National Water Management Basic Plan scheduled to be established in the first half of next year.
The four major areas consist of ▲ sustainable water use ▲ water environment for natural restoration ▲ water safety in response to climate change ▲ creation of new water value.
The 20 cooperation tasks were selected by the "National Water Management Committee-Public and Research Institutions Integrated Water Management Council," launched last June, focusing mainly on areas where collaboration is possible based on each institution's unique duties.
The Integrated Water Management Council is a national-level broad cooperation council centered on the National Water Management Committee, involving seven public and national research institutions to implement integrated water management policies that citizens can experience, covering various aspects from disaster response to citizen-oriented national water management measures.
Participants include Korea Rural Community Corporation, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Environment Corporation, Korea Environment Policy and Evaluation Institute, Korea Rural Economic Institute, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, and Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology.
The council shares water management policies and issues to create integrated water management outcomes that citizens can feel, and promotes joint water-related investigations and research, as well as the discovery of cooperation tasks through inter-agency collaboration.
The National Water Management Committee and water management public institutions have decided to prioritize six preliminary tasks. The remaining 14 mid- to long-term tasks are planned to be actively pursued starting next year.
The six preliminary tasks include ▲ establishing a foundation for emergency linkage plans to respond to abnormal climate through sharing water resource facility location information (GIS) ▲ joint cooperation to advance the Yeongsan River water balance analysis model ▲ cooperation to enhance dam flood response capabilities ▲ joint use of a scientific investigation platform to identify water environment pollution ▲ joint use of prevention infrastructure for responding to water pollution accidents ▲ and publication of integrated water management information collections.
The National Water Management Committee plans to expand cooperation areas from next year and continuously hold consultations among institutions to discover new tasks.
Heo Jae-young, Chairman of the National Water Management Committee, said, "This agreement has established a cooperative platform among public institutions with secured execution power," adding, "The cooperation tasks will serve as a starting point for creating integrated water management outcomes that citizens can experience."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
