Water Policy of Korea for Supplying Safe Groundwater in Rural Areas

According to a 2015 study conducted by the Ministry of Environment of Korea, municipal water is supplied to 96.1% of the total Korean population, but 3.9% of the total population (~2.14 million people) in rural myeon or villages, drink groundwater from old and/or unregistered wells that are not a part of the municipal water system. Additionally, accurate statistics are not reported without regular water quality tests, so safety measures alone are insufficient to improve water quality. In this situation, the Korean government is responsible for verifying the quality of groundwater and identifying the cause of groundwater contamination in areas with no municipal water supply. The National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) under the Ministry of Environment of Korea, conducted the ‘Safe Groundwater Supply Project (SGSP)’ between 2012 and 2016 to secure groundwater quality stability in areas without the benefit of municipal water. This survey identified groundwater quality using a detailed water quality survey and gave recommendations for supplying safe groundwater and providing future improvements and countermeasures in cases of groundwater pollution. This paper presents the SGSP and consists of water quality analysis, the exploration and exploitation of drinking water facilities, the selection of a pilot project area among high-pollution areas, and improvement measures for water quality in the pilot project area