The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is aiming to obtain the world’s first certification for its urban water management—the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will formally introduce the “Seal of Excellence for Water Management” under the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) after 2023.

UNESCO’s Seal of Excellence for Water Management is an international certification given to cities that meet the evaluation criteria upon comprehensive assessment of their operation and management of urban water concerning water quality and quantity. It will be formally introduced following next year as the first-ever attempt to address the issues of water management during a global situation where securing safe drinking water is rising as an important task due to climate change.

The criteria encompasses two items of evaluation: quality (50 points) and quantity (50 points). A city is eligible to receive the Seal of Excellence upon a comprehensive assessment that scores at least 90 out of a maximum 100 points, ranked in four grades according to the score from the highest A+++ to A.

Before the formal introduction of the Seal, the SMG will participate in a year-long pilot project from July 2022 to June 2023 to comprehensively assess its municipal waterworks capabilities following UNESCO’s evaluation criteria.

The SMG will inspect 200 supply points and 2 filtration plants every quarter to evaluate the cleanliness of its tap water. On-site inspection will also be carried out to check for proper management of water resources and filtration plants.

The SMG is planning to obtain the world’s first certification as well as the highest A+++ grade through the pilot project. A task force will be created to independently carry out systematic inspection on all areas of the waterworks from source to tap.

The SMG will sign a letter of intent for the pilot project between UNESCO, ROK Ministry of Environment (ME), Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) and Daegu Metropolitan City in March, and finalize discussions on the assessment and inspection points by June to initiate evaluation for certification starting in July.

UNESCO is planning to complement the certification system through this pilot project and expand it to cities across the world after 2023.