Splash pads and play fountains are popular hangout spots in summer among families with young children. But is it safe to play there? Does anyone mind the water quality? 

“I think it is a great idea to build splash parks like this for kids to play with water in the middle of the city,” said a mother in her 30s, who brought her 7-year-old son to a splash park at Seoul Square last week, when the daytime high recorded 34 degrees Celsius. 

“I hope my son did not drink a single drop of that water though,” she said.
 
According to Seoul city officials, the play fountain at Seoul Square is not equipped with any kind of water purifiers, although the water contains some chlorine, as required by law. The water is tested for contamination once every two weeks, in accordance with the law, they added. 

Whether this is enough seems to depend on who you ask. 

“I saw from an online community of mothers that waterscape facilities without water purification devices have the same water quality as the water in a swimming pool unfiltered for two weeks. Of course I cannot stop worrying about water contamination,” said a mother in her 40s, who frequently takes her kids to splash parks near the Han River. 

Lee Cheol-hae, manager of the water recycle system division at Seoul City, said the current level of monitoring is OK, adding that the city has had no issue regarding water quality so far. 

“But, we are planning to strengthen monitoring during the summer vacation period and conduct (water safety checks) up to three times a day at certain facilities,” he said. 

To enforce stricter monitoring and further alleviate public concerns, the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday announced a plan to conduct a comprehensive safety examination of a total of 186 waterscape facilities currently in use, over the next three weeks. 

Seoul Metropolitan Government officials, along with the Seoul Institute of Health and Environment, the Animal Health Laboratory and district public health centers, will check the levels of pH, turbidity and E. coli, among others, in water collected from the facilities, they added. 

Of the 204 waterscape facilities that are used for children’s water play in summer in Seoul, 81 are not equipped with water purification devices, which would enable constant and automatic water quality management, Seoul Metropolitan Government revealed in response to an inquiry from The Korea Herald. The number is the same as last year’s, as not a single facility had new purification devices installed this year, the city said. Some popular splash parks, such as the one at Mulbit Square by the Han River and a fountain at Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, are also not equipped with the devices. 

“It costs at least 10 million won to install an automatic water purification device, which makes it difficult for the city government to practically change all of the water facilities,” said the city government’s Lee. 

Another problem is that the city’s measure leaves many splash pads and water playgrounds unchecked, as there is a loophole in the regulations: privately-run water facilities in big residential complexes. 

The current law covers water fountains, artificial streams, spray grounds and splash parks in privately run hospitals, tourism venues, sports facilities and children’s facilities, on top of all public facilities, but it leaves out those in private residential complexes. 

“We thought that water fountains and splash pads installed at public facilities should be prioritized (in terms of water safety checks and management) since more people have access to them,” said Chung Kyung-yoon from the Environment Ministry, which pushed for the revision of the related law to have all waterscape facilities subject to the law to receive regular checks every 15 days and report the results to the authorities. The amended and toughened law came into effect late last month. 

The ministry said it is currently considering whether to expand the law’s scope to include those in apartment complexes. A decision will be made in November, it said. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)