Daegu City will hold a community meeting with residents of the Seo-gu area, where odor complaints are frequent, to discuss the current status of odor management and possible improvement measures.
This meeting will take place at 7:00 p.m. on July 17 at the Seo-gu District Office's Citizen Hall, targeting residents of the Seo-gu area where odor-emitting sources such as the Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex and environmental infrastructure facilities are concentrated, especially those living in the Pyeongni New Town and nearby neighborhoods.
This event has been organized to explain the odor reduction policies that Daegu City and Seo-gu have implemented so far, to listen directly to residents' experiences regarding odor issues, and to expand communication between residents and administrative authorities, thereby alleviating public distrust.
To address the odor problem in Seo-gu, Daegu City designated the Seo-gu Dyeing Industrial Complex as an odor management area in June 2024 and strengthened administrative regulations on businesses that emit odorous substances.
In addition, from 2019 to 2024, the city invested KRW 62.3 billion to replace outdated air pollution prevention facilities at 152 small-scale businesses with state-of-the-art equipment, making continuous efforts to reduce the emission of hazardous air pollutants.
Furthermore, to address odor complaints in the western and northern regions, an Odor Improvement Task Force (TF) has been operating once a month since January 2024. This task force consists of odor experts, public officials, representatives from the Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation, and stakeholders from the Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex. The group shares progress on odor reduction initiatives by each institution and discusses further improvement measures.
As a result of these efforts, according to an odor survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment through the Korea Environment Corporation from April to December 2024, complex odors decreased by 25% compared to the previous survey in 2020. Designated odorous substances (fatty acids) decreased by an average of 40%, although the reduction varied by location, and the total amount of odor emissions dropped by 72%.
Additionally, odor dispersion modeling showed that the area affected by odors shrank significantly, from a 2 km radius around the Dyeing Industrial Complex to just 0.5 km.
Kwon Osang, Director of the Environmental Water Resources Bureau of Daegu City, stated, "The opinions presented by residents at this meeting will be of great help in formulating practical odor reduction measures," and added, "Going forward, Daegu City and Seo-gu will continue to respond proactively together to ensure that Seo-gu residents can enjoy a pleasant living environment."
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