Hwaseong-si "Full-scale Promotion of Artificial Wetlands for Namyangho Water Quality Improvement"

Selected for Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction National Subsidy Project... Secured 6.1 Billion KRW in National and Local Funds
Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun "Will Successfully Complete the Project through Cooperation with Related Organizations"

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province is set to actively promote a project to create artificial wetlands for improving the water quality of Namyang Lake.

A panoramic view of Namyangho Lake spanning Jang-an-myeon in Hwaseong City and Poseung-eup in Pyeongtaek City. Hwaseong City plans to actively promote an artificial wetland project to improve the water quality of Namyangho Lake. Provided by Hwaseong City

On the 14th, Hwaseong City announced that the "Namyang Lake Basin Artificial Wetland Nonpoint Pollution Reduction Project" was selected for the Ministry of Environment's "2025 Nonpoint Pollution Reduction National Subsidy Project."

Namyang Lake is an artificial lake spanning Jang-an-myeon in Hwaseong City and Poseung-eup in Pyeongtaek City. It is a freshwater lake created in 1973 by constructing a 2,060-meter-long embankment at the estuary of Balancheon River over an area of 41.2㎢ to secure agricultural water. The basin area is 209㎢, with a total storage capacity of 38 million cubic meters.

However, due to indiscriminate development around the area, polluted water has flowed into the lake, causing the agricultural water quality standards to be exceeded in 2020, leading to its designation as a priority management reservoir by the Ministry of Environment. Since then, according to measures prepared by Gyeonggi Province, Hwaseong City, Pyeongtaek City, and the managing entity, Korea Rural Community Corporation, have shared roles to promote water quality improvement projects.

With this project selection, the city plans to create artificial wetlands with a capacity of 20,000 tons in the Namyang Lake basin to reduce nonpoint pollutants flowing into the lake. "Nonpoint pollution" refers to pollution caused by emissions from unspecified multiple sources or the entire area, where the exact discharge points cannot be identified.

The city explained that especially with this project selection, it secured 6.1 billion KRW out of the total project cost of 9.5 billion KRW for constructing the artificial wetlands, including 4.7 billion KRW from the national government and 1.4 billion KRW from the provincial government, which will help reduce the city’s budget burden.

Jung Myung-geun, mayor of Hwaseong City, said, "Through the selection of this national subsidy project, we have laid the groundwork to reduce the city's financial burden while steadily implementing water quality improvement measures for Namyang Lake. We will continue to work closely with related organizations to ensure the successful completion of the project."