Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Gov't to conduct full-scale inspection of purification facilities nationwide after worm found
Incheon Waterwork officials check water quality at a fire hydrant connected to the water supply center in Gyeyang, Incheon, West of Seoul, amid the discovery of insect larvae in tap water in the region, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun ordered a full-scale inspection of local water purification facilities across the country, Monday, after a recent series of reports by residents finding insect larvae in their tap water.
According to the Prime Minister's Office, Chung requested Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae to inspect 484 water-purification facilities nationwide in cooperation with local governments as a preventive measure.
“Under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment, investigations should be conducted promptly and residents should be informed of the progress transparently so that the public anxiety does not escalate any further,” Chung said.
A worm-like organism that was discovered in tap water at an apartment in Jung-gu, Seoul, Sunday, is seen in this photo provided by the resident. Yonhap
The move follows a number of such cases reported in Incheon, west of Seoul, starting July 9. Since then, Incheon has received 580 complaints of such larvae being found in tap water, and the city's water authority collected 149 of them.
Cases had also been reported in parts of Gyeonggi Province and Seoul, and the southern city of Busan as of Monday.
The previous day, a resident of a studio apartment in central Seoul, reported that he found a centimeter-long, larva-like creature in the bathroom. The complainant said the worm was as thick as a hair and moving when discovered.
The Seoul Waterworks Authority which had collected and examined such larvae, determined that they didn't come through the city's water pipes, but possibly from the drain of the building.
“The apartment building was built 15 years ago, and its underground reservoir appeared not to be well managed. In addition, we found a similar case reported to the management office a month ago,” the city's waterworks official said. “The inspection was focused on determining the condition of a water tank in the building's basement, and we also collected tap water from the apartment and analyzed it to see whether there were any foreign organisms in it.”
In the initial examination, there were no issues with the building's basement water tank, but some insects were found outside the tank.
Seoul city officials said they have conducted an inspection of all 101 water-purifying facilities and reservoirs in Seoul following similar reports in Incheon, but there were no such cases detected so far.
Residents of a multiplex housing unit in Jungnang-gu, northeastern Seoul, reported to the Eastern Waterworks Office that they found insect larvae in their tap water, July 15. The waterworks office said it has received no more complaints in the area.