Exclusive Did Suwon City Spread 'Carcinogenic Substances'… "Possibility Exists"

Questions have been raised about whether Suwon City's facility modernization project construction work may have contributed to groundwater contamination spread at the Suwon Agricultural and Fisheries Distribution Center.

According to Suwon City and others on the 7th, when groundwater contamination was confirmed at the agricultural and fisheries distribution center site in 2018, the city ordered the Agricultural Technology Center to submit a groundwater contamination assessment report that same December.

The assessment scope included the agricultural and fisheries distribution center site and surrounding areas. The subsequent task directive required the installation of groundwater observation wells to investigate groundwater flow and hydraulic characteristics, assess contamination status and hazards, and establish contamination prevention measures.

While the groundwater contamination assessment was proceeding, facility modernization project construction also ran concurrently.

The second phase of the facility modernization project began construction on March 11, 2019, and contamination soil remediation and verification work in the construction area reportedly began on May 27 that year. In the facility modernization project timeline released by Suwon City, the groundwater contamination assessment completion date was recorded as August 31 of that year.

During construction, excavation reached 7.5 meters underground. At the 356th Suwon City Council Urban Environment Committee administrative inspection held in November 2020, when City Councilman Moon Byung-keun at the time asked about the excavation depth during agricultural and fisheries distribution center construction, a city official at the time responded, "We excavated 7.5 meters."

The situation of operating a water pump at the construction site was also raised during the inspection at that time. Councilman Moon presented construction site video footage and asked, "How did you handle the groundwater that came out then?" and claimed that water was pumped up using a water pump. A city official explained that the water was rain that occurred during heavy downpours or the rainy season.

The excavation depth coincides with the previously investigated groundwater level. The groundwater level confirmed by the (Foundation) Gyeonggi Environmental Science Institute at three groundwater collection points within the market in October 2018 was 7 to 9.3 meters underground.

When asked whether large-scale excavation work to 7.5 meters underground at this groundwater level would generally require groundwater pumping, the Institute responded, "Yes, that is my understanding."

The direction of contamination spread also differed from the investigated groundwater flow direction. The Institute determined that the spread direction of contamination ranges shown in surveys from 2016 and 2023 did not match the investigated groundwater flow direction.

While the Institute acknowledged being unable to identify the precise cause, it suggested the possibility that artificial activities such as discharge groundwater or large-capacity well pumping may have affected the surrounding groundwater system, creating non-natural flow toward the northeast of the survey area over a long period and spreading contamination.

In particular, in response to a court fact inquiry asking whether there is a possibility that groundwater flow changed and contamination spread due to large-scale groundwater pumping during the modernization project process and under the premise that there were no other artificial activities nearby, the Institute answered, "Yes, there is a possibility."

Concerns about contamination spread also extended to areas surrounding the agricultural and fisheries distribution center. In consultation records disclosed during the 2020 Suwon City Council administrative inspection, a plan was included to conduct detailed surveys of soil and groundwater at three sites where oil contamination was problematic, including a nearby gas station, and then conduct joint remediation. The records also included provisions that if additional contamination is confirmed at the nearby gas station site, Suwon City will conduct remediation up to that point.

Suwon City denies the possibility that modernization project construction may have affected groundwater flow.

A Suwon City official stated, "During excavation work (in the modernization project), we did not touch the groundwater depth" and "because there is a substantial difference between the depth at which groundwater flows and the excavation depth, it is impossible for excavation work to affect groundwater flow."

전시언 기자 yourside@news-s.kr