Tap Water to Go on Sale for Drinking
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
From October, people will be able to buy tap water at local supermarkets or convenient stores alongside Evian or Perrier.
The Ministry of Environment said Monday it will allow commercial sales of tap water. There are already several brands of bottled water of a kind released by local governments, such as Arisu of Seoul and Sunsoo of Busan. However, these bottles were given to the public free of charge at large public events only and were not sold to ordinary citizens.
The ministry said it hopes the marketing of such water will not only expand the drinking water market but also elevate public recognition of tap water safety.
The tap water will have passed through clean new pipes and will therefore be safe to drink.
``It will also be much cheaper. We expect a 500-milliliter-bottle to cost around 100-200 won while those in the market normally cost around 500-900 won,'' ministry official Lee Young-seok said.
He added it will be helpful to the poor.
The ministry will give the water distributors autonomy in bottle management. The makers can have hands-on control over cleaning or sterilization as well as bottle recycling and reuse for the sake of efficiency.
``If they're profitable, makers will be able to invest more money in pipeline maintenance and other facilities to keep up quality,'' Lee added.
However, whether the business has commercial viability is questioned as most people still distrust the quality of tap water. The outlook is not that promising given that tap water is considered public property, experts said.
The sale of tap water is part of the government's plan to put water management under the control of the nation. The plan includes increasing water quality at the eight water purification plants across the nation and spending 1.9 trillion won by 2014 to extend the water supply system to rural areas. The quality of the water will be communicated in real time on the internet by an index system.