Suwon City pursues becoming environmental capital and manages rainwater resources

‘Rain City Suwon’ awarded the SBS Water Environment Grand Prize

Suwon City pursues becoming environmental capital and manages rainwater resources 

The ‘Rain City Suwon’ project carried out by Suwon City was honored as the grand prize winner for policy and management at the 2013 SBS Water Environment Awards, which was organized by SBS, the Ministry of Environment, and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and sponsored by the Korea Environment Corporation. Suwon City’s ‘Rain City Suwon’ project was assessed as outstanding for taking the lead and setting an example in protecting water and the environment. Suwon City was awarded the grand prize at the awards ceremony held at the SBS Prism Center in Sangam-dong, Seoul, at 4:00pm on the 28th. 

This project has carried out all-around excellent policies in the public and private sectors and environmental groups. As part of the project, a support project has been operated to install small-scale rainwater utilization facilities, and rainwater has been actively used to clean toilets. In addition, the city has led the installation and operation of road-watering and snow-melting systems using rainwater all year round, which was the world’s first attempt of this kind. The city has also refurbished abandoned rooftop water tanks into rainwater pots, installing rainwater utilization facilities in all buildings with an area of 1,000m2 and larger, and conducted education programs on the installation and operation of rainwater utilization facilities. In addition, the city presented the ‘Rain City Suwon’ project as an outstanding case at the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This presentation was highly received as playing a substantial role in improving the national prestige of Korea. 

Yeom Tae-young, the mayor of Suwon, said, “The world is suffering from water shortage or extreme damage from heavy rains and floods. Rainwater is an environmental resource, and a precious asset. We intend to prevent water shortage, disasters, and calamities by effectively managing rainwater.” He added, “I believe that this award is the result of SBS, the Ministry of Environment, and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement having recognized our city’s performance and achievement.”