Busan holds water management committee meeting to discuss diversifying intake sources

Busan city government said Monday it held a meeting at City Hall that morning to discuss key water policy issues, including plans to diversify the city's drinking water intake sources. About 20 people attended, including Sejong University professor Maeng Seung-gyu and members of the Busan Water Management Committee.

The Busan Water Management Committee is an advisory body established under the city's basic water management ordinance to deliberate on and advise the city on water policy matters, including support for diversifying water supply sources and promoting water reuse.

The meeting covered the city's core water policy priorities: securing safe drinking water through intake source diversification, improving tap water quality, and managing rivers and groundwater systematically. Maeng presented a policy proposal on diversifying intake sources to secure safe drinking water for Busan and South Gyeongsang Province, saying that securing clean water intake sources was the city's most pressing challenge.

Maeng proposed expanding the use of subsurface flow water — water that flows through sand and gravel layers beneath or alongside riverbeds, lakes and similar bodies of water — as a proven and viable alternative, with riverbank filtration water and artificial wetlands serving as supplementary options. Riverbank filtration draws water that has passed through sand and gravel layers along rivers or lakes. Artificial wetlands are engineered facilities that enhance the natural purification capacity of wetlands to reduce non-point source pollutants through sedimentation, filtration, adsorption, microbial decomposition and vegetation.

"Riverbank filtration efforts to date have involved installing collection pipes more than 25 meters deep along riverbanks, which has drawn opposition from nearby residents concerned about falling groundwater levels," Maeng said. "The subsurface flow method, by contrast, installs filtration pipes within five meters of the riverbed using an indirect filtration approach, which carries no risk of lowering groundwater levels and has the advantage of securing a stable water supply." He added that the city should pursue a "hybrid approach" — examining multiple intake methods rather than relying on a single one — to achieve the best possible water quality and volume.

During open discussion, Shin Chun-hwan, chair of the Busan Water Management Committee and an emeritus professor of environmental engineering at Dongseo University, said the committee would spare no effort in supporting policy decisions on intake source diversification, calling it a long-standing priority for the city. He added that the committee would closely monitor the water quality verification process at a pilot facility to be installed in the lower reaches of the Nakdong River.

Choe So-nam, standing representative of the Busan Clean Water Citizens' Task Force, and Choe In-hwa, head of research planning at the Busan-Gyeongnam Ecological City Research Institute, said the subsurface flow intake method could be accepted if water quality safety was guaranteed, but stressed that existing riverbank filtration efforts should continue in parallel. They called for thorough verification through the lower Nakdong River pilot facility to build public trust.

Shim Jae-min, the city's director of environmental and water policy, said the city would work closely with the central government, the National Assembly and South Gyeongsang Province, and draw on the wisdom of the local community, to secure a clean water supply that residents can drink with confidence.