Groundwater Overuse Areas Designated as 'Development Restricted Zones'

Current groundwater development in seven local government areas within Gyeonggi Province, including Suwon, Bucheon, and Anseong, has been found to exceed development capacity.

Particularly concerning is that groundwater usage in six of these areas continues to show steady increases, necessitating systematic and planned management through development and usage restrictions.

The province plans to invest a total of 25.8 billion won in groundwater protection and management from next year through 2014, including the establishment of a groundwater information management system and management of abandoned wells. Areas with excessive groundwater usage will be designated as 'groundwater development restricted zones' and managed accordingly. The province has announced the 'Gyeonggi Province Groundwater Management Plan' containing these measures.

According to this management plan, which targets completion by 2014, calculations based on measurement data from 2002 show that the entire province has 1.481 billion cubic meters of groundwater per year, with 145,247 locations currently using 442 million cubic meters annually.

This usage level represents 42.4% of the developable amount of 1.041 billion cubic meters per year, calculated to account for droughts occurring once every ten years.

In Suwon's case, the annual developable capacity is 6.9 million cubic meters, yet current usage reaches 20.6 million cubic meters annually, resulting in a usage rate of 297% relative to developable capacity.

To prevent indiscriminate groundwater development and systematically protect and manage groundwater resources, the province will establish and implement groundwater management plans at the city and county levels. Areas where high groundwater development and usage pose risks of depletion and ground subsidence, as well as areas near groundwater facilities with nearby pollution sources, will be designated and managed as groundwater development restricted zones or groundwater conservation districts. To this end, the province plans to invest a total of 25.8 billion won through 2014.

Meanwhile, groundwater usage by purpose throughout the province shows domestic use at 63% as the largest category, followed by agricultural use at 29% and industrial use at 7%.

The province stated, "We have established this groundwater management plan to systematically and environmentally develop and conserve groundwater resources that are being indiscriminately exploited," and added, "Through various measures, we will continue to protect and manage groundwater, a resource for the future."