Seoulites among most lavish water users: report

Each Seoulite uses nearly 300 liters of water day, marking a higher level of consumption than other cities such as New York City, Tokyo and Shanghai, data showed Friday.

According to the Seoul Institute, a Seoul citizen consumes 286 liters of water per day, down 8 liters from 10 years ago. The city supplies over 300 liters of water to each citizen everyday. About 20 liters of water is wasted in the process of moving from the water treatment system to homes, the report said.

The report was released as the country held an event one day ahead of World Water Day.

“Given that nothing is more precious than water, we need to take action to save and manage water,” Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said at the ceremony marking the 22nd World Water Day. The United Nations designated March 22 as World Water Day in 1992 to raise awareness of the world’s water problem and promote international cooperation for solutions.

According to the Seoul Institute’s report, the amount of water supply decreased by 53 liters compared to that of 2003 as the water consumption population showed a drop of 170,000.

By types of water use, over 66 percent were used by households, followed by businesses with about 23 percent.

For households, 25 percent were used by toilets followed by kitchens and laundry with 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Showers accounted for 16 percents of the total and other minor washes 11 percent.

While water use has shown a gradual decrease over the decade, its amount is still far more than that of other major cities, the report said. Each Tokyo citizen uses 200 to 250 liters of water a day while New Yorkers and Londoners consume 100 to 200 liters a day.

According to the agency’s survey conducted on 1,200 housewives in the capital in 2011, many Koreans tended to leave faucets running while washing in the bathroom.

About 26 percent of the respondents said they did not keep faucets closed while washing their face. Around 20 percent even left shower handles opened during the shower and 13 percent kept faucets opened while brushing teeth. Over 26 percent did not use cups for teeth-brushing.

Meanwhile, Seoul’s water flow rate reached 94.5 percent when supplying water for citizens through pipes. This suggests a high efficiency and low leakage of water transportation. Tokyo rated at 96.7 percent and Los Angeles at 94 percent, the report added.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)