South Korea Safe Water

South Korea and Safe Water

In all civilizations around the world, whether poor or rich, proper facilities to distribute safe water and an ample amount of it to its inhabitants, is absolutely necessary. South Korea is among many countries that have the majority of their population receiving safe water however, not all of South Korea's people are able to get safe water. Many Koreans are lucky enough to receive safe water to their homes. In fact, 83% receive safe water. South Korea however, is still struggling every day to maintain that percentage. Although many people of South Korea have access to safe drinking water, the issue is not the accessibility of water but the problem is the quantity of, in volume, that South Korea is able to supply to its people. There are many reasons for the struggles that South Korea faces.
South Korea's problem with distributing safe water to its population is caused by several things.
The first and major problem deals with the abundance of sewage in the rivers and other bodies of water that is used eventually as drinking water. As the population grows in South Korea, so does the sewage. Sewage companies are unable to keep up with the amounts of sewage and are "forced" to let what they cannot maintain, into the rivers. Once in the rivers the sewage will travel to other bodies of water, specifically the ocean. By allowing sewage to flow into the rivers and into the ocean the companies are hurting the fishing industry, which is a major source of food for the Koreans. Another reason that the safe water supply is having difficulties is because the population of South Korea is growing as fast as its economy. Thus, more people equal a greater demand for safe water. South Korea's water facilities are lacking in their ability to distribute ample amount of water to the current population, so as the population grows Korea must think how they are going to manage a larger who demand more
water. The government realizes that the issues about safe water and they are trying to find ways to be able to increase the amount of safe water to be distributed. South Korea is one of the country's that doesn't receive or give aid to any other countries concerning safe water. They have sufficient funding to keep the current facilities running however they realize the facilities to sanitize the water, cannot be the only source to distribute the water. So, the government decided that they would build multi-purpose dams and will continue to do so until 2011. By doing this they will secure new water resources amounting to 5.1 billion square meters. This will increase the water reserve rate to 8.5%. The Korean government also at one point thought that they could develop subterranean water supplies. Basically they wanted to take water from underground water systems because it will be cleaner and there would be an ample amount to distribute. Unfortunately, underground water development is very expensive and can be harmful to the environment, so an improved system will be necessary for it can become a major source of water in the future. Regarding the proposals set by the UN, South Korea would mainly affected by the one that pertains to Tier 2 countries. The proposal states that Tier 2 countries will contribute US $5 per capita per year though the year 2015 in support of getting safe water and sanitation aid to less developed countries. Korea firstly would like to say that some of the countries in Tier 3, are countries that are on the same economic standing at South Korea. So Korea would like the Tiers to be a reflection of economic standings not the amount of safe water per capita. The reason being is because South Korea needs to improve its water systems as well. If the Tiers do not change then South Korea will have to make a slight change to the proposal, we would have to ask that the Tier 1 countries should start paying the US $20 and the Tier 2 countries pay less than US $5 as stated but then over time as the Tier 2 countries develop their resources for safe water, the Tier 1 will pay less than $20 and the Tier 2 to will pay an amount closer to $5. The reason that South Korea feels the need to change the proposal slightly is because the population of South Korea as of July 2005 was 48,640,671 people. That would mean that Korea would have to pay $243,203,355 US Dollars a year. If the UN demands that much from South Korea, our standing of 83% of the people receiving safe water will drop significantly. Therefore, the UN must consider this proposal because if they don't they will most likely see a decline in the amount of safe water being distributed in the Tier 2 countries and an increase in the Tier 1 countries distribution of safe water. So, the situation will stay the same as a world population and nothing will have been accomplished. It is important to consider all parties involved and realize that we are all working towards a common goal, to achieve safe water distribution throughout the whole world. Having access to safe water is basic human right that everyone deserves no matter what Tier the country is in.