[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-seon] As it has been over a week since red water came out of the tap water in five myeon areas of Gunwi-gun, Gyeongbuk on the 26th, efforts are being made to reduce damage to residents by distributing bottled water to affected residents.
Starting from some villages in Hyoryeong-myeon, Gunwi-gun on the 20th, complaints about red tap water spread to Bugye-myeon, Ubo-myeon, Uiheung-myeon, and Sanseong-myeon areas. Gunwi-gun formed an emergency situation room and launched an urgent restoration to stabilize water quality and minimize resident damage.
After the turbidity of the Hyoryeong water reservoir in Gunwi-gun exceeded the standard value (above 0.5 NTU) around 4 a.m. on the 20th, the red tap water gradually expanded, exceeding the standard at Uiheung and Hubo, and by the 22nd, the Sanseong water reservoir also exceeded the standard.
Gunwi-gun, which had been conducting end-of-line flushing and turbidity monitoring immediately upon detecting signs of abnormal turbidity in the water reservoirs, held an emergency countermeasure meeting chaired by County Governor Kim Jin-yeol with officials from the Korea Water Resources Corporation at the Gunwi Comprehensive Water Purification Plant situation room at 8 a.m. on the 23rd as the red water occurrence area expanded. On the same day at 2 p.m., a situation assessment meeting was held in the second conference room of the county office with attendance from the Daegu Regional Environmental Office and Gyeongsangbuk-do officials, inviting Moon Jin-hwan, Executive Director of Korea Comprehensive Technology, and Professor Kim Young-hoon of Andong University as advisory committee members.
Initially, officials presumed the cause to be ‘foreign substances on the inner wall of the transmission pipe due to external impact,’ but through the situation assessment meeting, they agreed that the possibility of external impact was low and that a detailed investigation was necessary to identify the cause.
Gunwi-gun sent four guidance text messages starting at 5:36 p.m. on the 22nd to restrict drinking tap water and provide related information. Through a departmental cooperation system, on the 23rd and 25th, all county office employees were mobilized to distribute about 90,000 bottles of 2ℓ bottled water to 5,800 households in the five myeon areas where red tap water was coming out.
Additionally, three 8-ton water trucks were supported to supply mainly schools and restaurants. This support will continue until water quality stabilizes.
Kim Jin-yeol, County Governor of Gunwi-gun, said, “I first apologize to the residents who are experiencing inconvenience,” and added, “We will do our best to restore the situation as soon as possible to minimize damage and enable a return to daily life.”
A Gunwi-gun official said, “It takes time to identify the cause because the turbidity of the tap water suddenly increased,” and added, “Since 4 a.m. on the 24th, turbidity has decreased at the water reservoirs, but red tap water is still coming out in some households in certain areas, so we are taking measures such as delivering bottled water.”
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