[Eye Plus] 100 years of pure water flows from Seoul’s fountain of life

Emperor Gojong granted two American businessmen, Henry Collbran and Harry Bostwick, the rights to establish the water delivery system in 1903. The two guys were also responsible for the nation’s initial power supply. Their patent rights were given to Korea Waterworks Co., which began construction in August 1906.

The nation’s first waterworks facility, the Gyeongseong Water Pumping Plant, was built two years later, in August 1908, at the Ttukdo Reservoir in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, ushering in the era of modern water supply. Beginning in September,

1, it began supplying purified water to residents living inside Yongsan and the area surrounded by the four gates of old Seoul. It produced 12,500 metric tons of water to approximately 165,000 Seoul citizens.

The purification plant, a western-style red-brick mason building, and the slow sand filtration basin were designated as the No. 72 Tangible Cultural Asset of Seoul in 1989.

A part of the site has been turned into a more advanced water purification facility, the Ttukdo Arisu Purification Center. With a capacity to produce 750,000 tons of water, it supplies 400,000 tons per day on average to approximately 1.16 million citizens in Seoul.

Another part of the site was used to build the Waterworks Museum. Inside the main and annex buildings, exhibitions show the stories and artifacts from the centurylong history of the water supply system, and also how the related culture and technology had developed with it.

In the area outside, visitors can experience how facilities, such as pumps and pipes, had been operated back when the plant was first established. An environmental exhibition introduces the importance of clean water in our lives and the danger of water shortage and contamination.

Photos by Park Hyun-koo
Written by Choi Ji-won