Gwangju Dong-gu Accelerates Smart Sewage Management System Construction Project

Selected for the Ministry of Environment-led 'Sewer Pipeline Pilot Project'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) is accelerating the establishment of a smart sewage management system, including facilities and equipment to improve sewage odor.

On the 12th, Dong-gu announced that it was finally selected for the Ministry of Environment-led “Smart Sewage Management System Establishment Leading Project (Sewage Odor Management),” which was promoted to strengthen the safety and operational efficiency of public sewage treatment facilities.

This project is one of the Korean Green New Deal projects newly promoted by the Ministry of Environment this year to resolve residents' inconvenience through real-time odor reduction and to eradicate safety accidents caused by poor sewage work environments, including ▲smart sewage treatment plants ▲smart sewage pipelines (urban flooding response and sewage odor management) ▲sewage asset management.

Dong-gu plans to invest 16.8 billion KRW by 2023 to ▲install customized facilities and equipment to improve sewage odor according to local conditions ▲establish a sewage odor measurement and data transmission system ▲build a real-time monitoring and automatic control system.

So far, Dong-gu’s sewage system has been installed as a combined system that can cause odor generation, resulting in continuous odor-related complaints every year. Since 2016, efforts have been made to install reduction facilities by investing budgets, but significant effects have not been achieved within the limited project budget.

With the selection for this public contest project, the district plans to conduct odor grade investigations and expand and install odor reduction facilities up to small-scale septic tanks based on the results.

In addition, the project target areas will be diversified, and an automatic control system linked with existing odor reduction facilities will be established so that many residents can feel the reduction of sewage odor in their daily lives.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “With the selection of this public contest project, we have been able to establish a systematic mid- to long-term smart sewage management system, including the construction of sewage management infrastructure,” and added, “We will reduce sewage odor to relieve residents’ inconvenience during the rainy season and build a more pleasant urban environment.”