President’s proposal to desalt seawater in drought-hit city draws skepticism
President Lee Jae Myung checks countermeasures against drought at the Obong Reservoir in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Saturday. Joint Press Corps
President Lee Jae Myung has been met with skeptical responses after suggesting desalting seawater from the East Sea to help prevent another severe drought in Gangneung, Gangwon Province.
Industry insiders view the suggestion as too expensive, saying desalination is best suited for wealthy nations suffering extreme drinking water shortages.
Lee proposed the idea during a visit to the drought-hit eastern town on Saturday, asking Gangneung Mayor Kim Hong-kyu if the city had ever considered preventing future crises by desalinating seawater.
"Seawater is infinite and the East Sea has good water quality," Lee said. "If the city builds a desalination facility near the sea, it will only need purification facilities, so high costs can be avoided."
Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung, who accompanied the president, referenced the use of desalination plants in the Middle East and said Doosan Enerbility could build such facilities at low costs, leveraging world-class technologies.
However, the mayor told Lee that the cost of desalination remains too high for securing adequate water.
An official from a major plant construction firm concurred, saying desalination is not viable for Gangneung at this time.
"Korean firms mainly completed desalination projects in the Middle East, where water is more expensive than oil," he said. "African countries are also short of water but cannot afford to build or operate desalination plants."
He added that desalination would only become cost-effective if Korea endures more extreme weather and faces acute water shortages.
A desalination facility in Busan, which has been idle since 2018 / Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan Government
According to Korea Water Resources Corp., most Korean desalination plants are small and located on remote islands, with only a few larger facilities near a petrochemical complex in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, and the POSCO steel mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, supplying water for industrial use.
Even Busan’s large desalination plant, constructed in 2014 for 195.4 billion won ($140 million), has been idle since 2018 as environmental activists claimed possible radioactive contamination due to its proximity to a nuclear power station. This year, the city decided to restart the plant by 2030, dedicated to industrial use only.
Additionally, major Korean companies are withdrawing from the water treatment sector to refocus on core businesses.
GS E&C sold its entire stake in GS Inima, a Spanish wastewater and desalination company, to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company for $1.2 billion last month. LG Chem also divested its water solutions division, which produces reverse osmosis membrane filters for desalination plants.