The current Water Environment Conservation Act stipulates that an operator of any sewage/wastewater treatment facility or discharging facility of a certain size or larger shall install water quality measuring devices to confirm compliance with the water quality standards; that the management of the measuring devices may be entrusted to an agency; and that the Minister of Environment may operate an information and communications network connected to individual measuring devices.
However, the current Act does not prescribe legal grounds on which the Ministry of Environment or a Mayor/Do Governor may install and operate measuring devices for small and medium enterprises under difficult financial or technological circumstances. There is no provision which requires the Minister of Environment to disclose measurements obtained through a network. Worse, the management system has been insufficient to ensure technological development of measuring devices, professional training of technical staff, and reporting on the performance of measuring services.
The tele-monitoring system (TMS) for effluents discharged from sewage/wastewater treatment plants assesses the appropriateness of water treatment, which makes it important to ensure the fairness and reliability of the system. However, a considerable number of sewage/wastewater treatment plants entrust the same entity to manage water treatment and monitor water quality, causing inadequate and false measurements. According to an investigation conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Research, a number of measuring service providers were found to have received unreasonable requests from discharging business entities to manipulate the measurements. A recent case uncovered measurements that had been manipulated through “sample switching” by a staff member of a business entrusted with both operation and water quality monitoring at a public sewage treatment plant in Gyeryong-si. Article 50-2 of the same Act prescribes that the management and technological diagnosis of a public wastewater treatment facility shall not be outsourced to the same institution or business. However, there are no prohibitions concerning the outsourcing of the management and water quality monitoring of sewage/wastewater treatment plants.
The Clean Air Conservation Act, which has a similar legal framework, prescribes provisions to provide measuring devices for small and medium enterprises, requires the disclosure of the water quality measurements of discharging facilities, and requires the establishment of the Stack Tele-monitoring System Association to develop technologies for measuring devices, provide professional training, and manage the performance of outsourced services.

Accordingly, this Amendment prescribes that where a person who is required to install measuring devices is a small or medium enterprise under the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises, the Minister of Environment or the Mayor/Do Governor may provide aids in installing measuring devices etc. and the Minister of Environemnt may dislcose via online websites, etc., the results of measurements obtained through an information and communications network, thereby promoting the people’s right to know. Plus, the Amendment adds measuring device managment agenices to the list of entities subject to compliance and punishment in relation to the operation of measuring devices; prohibits the same entity from being entrusted with the operation of a sewage/wastewater treatment facility, etc., and the management of measuring devices; and prescribes the establishment of a Water Quality Monitoring System Association to develop technologies for measuring devices, manage the performance of outsourced services, and improve the reliability of water quality monitoring (Article 38-2, Article 38-3, Article 38-5, Article 67-2, and Article 78).

Prescribe that where the management of a water pollution control facility, public wastewater treatment facility, or public sewage treatment facility has been outsourced to a service provider, management of measuring devices shall not be entrusted to the same service provider (Article 38-2)
Prescribe prohibited acts for measuring device management service providers (Article 38-3)