Status of Community Drinking Water in Korea and Implications for Appropriate Management

Abstract

Community drinking water (CDW), mostly naturally flowing groundwater, plays important roles in supplying drinking water for urban and rural residents in Korea. Over 1,600 CDW facilities are distributed throughout the country, many of them situated in the outskirts of metropolitan cities. A large proportion of Korean people have become dependent on CDW for drinking due to a distrust of piped water's quality and a strong belief in the special medicinal effects of some CDWs. However, administrative and official management and the control of CDW facilities have been inadequate when compared with the strict examination and control of commercial bottled water, which is physically treated groundwater from deep bedrock aquifers. In this study, even though signs of anthropogenic contamination were not generally found, the tested chemical compositions of selected CDWs featured high enrichment of some constituents including Ca, Mg, Na, and HCO3 with natural origins such as water-rock interactions. Careless consumption of particular CDWs, which has no scientific basis, will not guarantee health improvement. Consequently, more intensive management of CDW facilities and a long-term interdisciplinary examination of the health effects of CDWs are needed to effectively protect people's health.