Suwon City Gains Attention as 'Water Circulation City' Through Rainwater Recycling System
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] As rainfall has increased beyond normal levels due to prolonged monsoon season, Suwon City's 'rainwater recycling system' is drawing attention.
Suwon City is steadily building a rainwater recycling system while creating a 'water circulation city'. Currently, there are 317 public and private rainwater storage facilities installed throughout the city. The total storage capacity is 103,983.48 cubic meters of rainwater, which is enough to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
There are eight rainwater retention tanks located at Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon Sports Complex, and Gwanggyo Middle School, with a total storage capacity of 47,090 cubic meters.
Suwon City selected the 'Rain City Suwon Season 2 Project' as a major campaign promise for the sixth-term civilian administration. In 2014, it launched a pilot 'Green Rainwater Infrastructure Development Project' in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, creating 'green rainwater infrastructure' for the first time in the nation at the yard of the Jangan-gu Office.
The office yard was equipped with permeable blocks, rainwater infiltration trenches, rainwater retention tanks with 300 cubic meters storage capacity, and underground infiltration channels. In 2015, rain gardens, rainwater infiltration flower beds, and trenches were created in the Uman and Ingye-dong areas.
In 2016, Suwon dismantled the city hall's fence and created rain gardens and rain traffic gardens. Bicycle roads with permeable pavement, rainwater blocking fences to prevent non-point source pollution, and rainwater utilization facilities such as permeable blocks were installed using 'Low Impact Development (LID) techniques' on roads near the planned Suwon City Council building and surrounding pavements at City Hall intersection.
The Low Impact Development technique is an eco-friendly method that reduces rainwater runoff and non-point source pollution, bringing the urban water circulation system close to pre-development conditions.
In 2017, the 'Green Rainwater Infrastructure Development Project' began. The project, which continues through this year, has installed plant cultivation pots, permeable pavement, and bioswales using Low Impact Development techniques in four neighborhoods including Maetan-dong.
Water stored in rainwater retention tanks is utilized in 'automatic road surface water sprinkling systems'. Rainwater supply devices in the form of gas pumps have been installed at six locations including Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon Sports Complex, Gwanggyo Middle School, Dasan Park, Iui Archery Range, and Hadong 1021. Anyone can use the rainwater contained in these supply devices.
The 'automatic road surface water sprinkling system' operates at three locations around Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon Sports Complex, and Gwanggyo Middle School. When special alerts for fine dust or heat waves are issued, accumulated rainwater is sprayed on roads.
Road surface water sprinkling vehicles also utilize rainwater. Each time they operate, they use 5 to 10 cubic meters of rainwater collected in rainwater retention tanks.
Suwon City plans to continuously develop projects that recycle rainwater and treated wastewater (gray water) for environmental, landscaping, and industrial use to establish a stable water supply system.
Meanwhile, Suwon City's 'Smart Rain City Suwon' project was consecutively selected for the silver award in the innovation category at the Green World Awards 2018 hosted by 'The Green Organization' last year, and the internationally prestigious 'Energy Globe Award 2018 National Award' hosted by the Environmental Foundation's 'Energy Globe', receiving recognition for its achievements globally.
A city official stated, "We will continue to advance water circulation projects by utilizing rainwater storage facilities such as rainwater retention tanks to use wasted rainwater as a water resource," and added, "We will continuously identify efficient water management methods."