Water quality in Busan North Port's Starlight Waterway improves 30% from last year

The Busan Port Authority (BPA) announced Tuesday that the appearance and water quality of the scenic Starlight Waterway at North Port have improved through sustained environmental maintenance and systematic water quality management.

The BPA has carried out ongoing environmental upkeep of the waterway, deploying specialized equipment to remove aquatic weeds and collect floating debris, and installing floating trash barriers to prevent waste from entering the channel from outside.

Those efforts have yielded measurable results. Compared with the second quarter of last year, levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) improved by 66%, dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) by 71%, and dissolved oxygen (DO) saturation by 20%, pushing the overall seawater quality index up by about 30%. A marine water quality assessment firm said "the sustained environmental improvement measures carried out to date have contributed positively to improving water quality in the scenic waterway, taking into account changes in key water quality indicators and on-site conditions."

The BPA said it plans to continue monitoring water quality trends through regular assessments and to strengthen field-based environmental management, including aquatic weed and floating debris removal and control of external pollutant inflows. However, it noted that achieving long-term, fundamental water quality improvement will likely require Busan city to advance a separate sewage pipeline project to address wastewater flowing in from the old city center behind the waterway.