Leak in Water Pipe Under Taehwa River, Tens of Thousands of Ulsan Residents "Water Cut Off"

[Financial News]  Due to heavy rain, the water supply facilities in Ulsan have been damaged, causing tens of thousands of residents to experience a water supply interruption.

According to the Ulsan Metropolitan Waterworks Headquarters on the 20th, around 12:10 PM the previous day, an abnormality occurred in a 900mm diameter water supply pipe connecting to the western region from Cheonsang Water Purification Plant in Beomseo-eup, Ulju-gun, causing the water supply to be suspended.

Site inspection revealed a leak in the section near Sayon Bridge in Beomseo-eup among the water pipes buried along the Taehwa River.

The city explained that the water pipes were likely damaged due to the rapid rise in water level and flow of the Taehwa River caused by the heavy rain that poured down on Ulsan over the two days of the 18th and 19th.

The Waterworks Headquarters began river damming operations from the early morning of the 20th and commenced replacement work on the damaged section.

Due to this accident, water supply was completely cut off from 10 AM on this day in six eup/myeon areas including Eonyang-eup, Samnam-eup, Dudong-myeon, Duseo-myeon, Samdong-myeon, and Sangbuk-myeon.

Approximately 35,000 households, with over 68,000 residents, live in the water outage areas.

Ulsan-si and Ulju-gun are stockpiling bottled water to distribute to affected areas and are supplying domestic water by deploying fire trucks and forest fire extinguishing vehicles as part of emergency response efforts.

However, the replacement work on the water supply pipes is expected to take at least until the afternoon of the 21st, so residents' inconvenience is expected to continue for the time being.
ahnman@fnnews.com Ahn Seung-hyun Choi Soo-sang Reporter