According to the environment ministry on Thursday, the new initiative that will enable South Korean health authorities to systematically manage the underground environment at greater depths passed the country’s preliminary feasibility test earlier this month, signaling that the project will go into effect from next year. (Image: Ministry of Environment)
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute are set to invest over 1 billion dollars over the next seven years with an underground environmental pollution management project passing a preliminary feasibility study.
According to the environment ministry on Thursday, the new initiative that will enable South Korean health authorities to systematically manage the underground environment at greater depths passed the country’s preliminary feasibility test earlier this month, signaling that the project will go into effect from next year.
Previously, the Ministry of Environment focused on developing technology to study and assess the level and scale of underground pollution at shallow depths of up to 10 meters, but the increasing utilization of underground space for the subway and other types of underground infrastructure in recent years has prompted the environment ministry to take action.
A number of environmental technologies are expected to be developed by 2024, including a method to protect the environment deep in the ground that has been rendered vulnerable due to the growing use of underground space. Another type of technology that identifies and predicts the whereabouts of pollutants will also be developed.
Other plans will see the development of a monitoring system that will run in conjunction with information and communications technology to identify leaks of harmful substances into the ground and take care of the damage at an early stage, as well as one that assesses and controls the health threats facing people living in underground spaces.
“From the protection of underground pollution to purification, inspection, and follow-up care, we plan to develop an advanced comprehensive environment management system encompassing all stages in order to keep the underground environment clean and sustainable,” said Kim Ji-yeon, the head of the department of Soil and Underground Water.
M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
