Busan City and Uiryeong County Take First Step Toward Win-Win Cooperation for 'Clean Water Supply'

Signing of Win-Win Agreement at Uiryeong County Office on the 12th at 3 PM, Mayor Park Hyung-jun and County Governor Oh Tae-wan Sign

Mutual Cooperation for Smooth Promotion of Ministry of Environment's 'Nakdong River Basin Clean Water Supply System

On the 12th, Busan City signed a win-win cooperation agreement with Uiryeong County (Governor Oh Tae-wan) at the Uiryeong County Office in Gyeongnam Province around 3 p.m. to mutually cooperate for the smooth promotion of the Ministry of Environment's 'Nakdong River Basin Clean Water Supply System Establishment Project' and to prioritize support for residents in the affected areas and prevention of agricultural damage during the project implementation.

On the 12th, Busan City and Uiryeong County signed a win-win agreement for the 'Nakdong River Basin Clean Water Supply System Establishment Project.'

At the signing ceremony, Mayor Park Hyung-joon, who made a surprise visit to Uiryeong County, and Governor Oh Tae-wan personally signed the agreement.

The 'Nakdong River Basin Clean Water Supply System Establishment Project' is a project to diversify water intake sources in Busan and eastern Gyeongnam to alleviate drinking water concerns of residents in these areas following the phenol incident in 1991.

The main content involves drawing 900,000 tons of water daily from riverbank filtered water in Uiryeong and Changnyeong and backflow water from the Hwanggang River in Hapcheon, supplying 420,000 tons to Busan and 480,000 tons to eastern Gyeongnam respectively.

Last year, the Ministry of Environment conducted a feasibility study and basic plan establishment service for project promotion. Through this, they devised a plan to minimize groundwater level decline in the intake areas by dispersing intake points and reducing intake volumes per point, and to enhance intake stability by drawing water from the upstream area of Changnyeong-Haman Dam.

Through this win-win cooperation agreement, the city has opened the first path for the 30-year long-cherished project of 'safe and clean drinking water supply' and laid the foundation for future project promotion, while planning to maintain continuous cooperative relations with Uiryeong County for mutual development.

Furthermore, taking this opportunity, the city plans to prioritize measures to prevent damage to farmers in the intake areas and actively review and promote various ways for mutual development between the city and Uiryeong County, including support for purchasing agricultural products from Uiryeong County.

Through the Food Integrated Support Center, scheduled to be established in 2028, the city plans to support the purchase of agricultural products from affected areas on an annual scale of 20 billion KRW, and is also exploring additional support measures to help farmers in the intake areas establish regular and stable sales channels.

At the win-win cooperation agreement ceremony, Yang Jae-saeng, Chairman of the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who has shown great interest in solving Busan's water issues, along with the President of the Gyeongnam Association in Busan, the Senior Vice President of the Uiryeong Association in Busan, and the Head of the Busan Headquarters of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, attended and delivered hometown love donations totaling 21 million KRW prepared by them and city officials, adding significance to the mutual cooperation between Busan and Uiryeong.

In particular, they plan to actively promote private sector support projects in the future, such as purchasing agricultural and livestock products from Uiryeong County.

Mayor Park personally visited the planned intake development site in Uiryeong County after the win-win cooperation agreement ceremony to closely examine the site and to meticulously prepare support and damage prevention measures for farmers in the intake areas.

Mayor Park Hyung-joon said, “I sincerely thank Governor Oh Tae-wan of Uiryeong County and all related personnel for creating this opportunity for win-win cooperation. Since the consent of residents in the intake areas is the top priority to share Uiryeong County’s precious water, I promise to do our best to provide sufficient resident support and prepare measures to prevent damage to farms.” He added, “In particular, we will closely cooperate with Uiryeong County to prevent and support residents’ damage, such as suspending water intake if agricultural water shortages are expected through continuous monitoring.”