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Seoul showcases its drinking water in Singapore
A Seoul City official promotes Arisu, the official brand name of the tap water supplied in the Korean capital, and advanced water management technologies at the Singapore International Water Week Water Expo in 2024. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
By Lee Kyung-min
Municipal governments have long struggled with a persistent, deeply psychological public relations hurdle: convincing urban residents that the water flowing from their kitchen taps is genuinely safe to drink. Seoul is taking its domestic solution to that problem onto the global stage, using a major international exposition here to market its "Arisu" brand tap water while scouting for artificial intelligence (AI) to manage its future infrastructure.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it will anchor a prominent "Seoul Water" promotional pavilion at the Singapore International Water Week Water Expo, which runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Marina Bay Sands convention complex. The exhibition is among the most influential industry fixtures in Southeast Asia, expected to draw more than 1,100 companies and roughly 20,000 public and private sector participants from over 100 countries.
For Seoul officials, the gathering offers a high-profile forum to elevate the international prestige of Arisu. Korea has spent years aggressively upgrading its treatment facilities and running public campaigns to build consumer trust in municipal water, a commodity often sidelined in favor of plastic bottled water.
At the heart of Seoul’s pitch is a strict quality control narrative.
City representatives plan to showcase infrastructure that relies on 100 percent advanced water treatment, featuring a rigorous testing regimen that monitors 362 distinct chemical and environmental water quality indicators. The city will also demonstrate its digitized supply framework, which uses predictive pipeline management systems specifically calibrated for leak prevention to ensure safe delivery across the sprawling metropolitan area.
As climate change complicates resource management, municipal planners are looking to automation to optimize aging grids. Seoul officials noted they intend to closely evaluate emerging advancements in robotics, AI and digital twins, with an eye toward integrating those technologies into the capital’s existing water mains.
The initiative aligns with Seoul’s broader strategy of deploying its civic engineering as a tool for international diplomacy. By sharing its proprietary infrastructure models through overseas training initiatives, urban development projects in developing nations, and the deployment of technical specialists abroad, the city is quietly positioning itself as a primary exporter of modern bureaucratic expertise.
"This expo is an opportunity to showcase the global competitiveness of Seoul, which possesses world-class water quality management and smart water management technologies," said Joo Yong-tae, head of the Seoul Waterworks Authority.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.