1. Reason for revision

 As the Groundwater Act has been amended to include provisions for revitalizing the use and strengthening the management of waste and spilled groundwater, the proposed amendment aims to reflect the items delegated by the Act, including the causes/reasons and procedures for modifying or terminating the spilled groundwater use plan and the actions or measures to be taken in cases where groundwater is disturbed by abuses of spilled groundwater. The proposed amendment is also designed to strengthen personal information protection when a groundwater purification business is registered, by replacing the business license verified by the mayor, county head, or mayor using the administrative information service with a business license certificate, excluding the resident registration number. It also aims to improve the other deficiencies in the current provisions, such as updating the groundwater quality standards and items recorded in the groundwater quality measurement register.

2. Main contents

a. Provision of causes/reasons and detailed procedures for declaring a modification or termination of the spilled groundwater utilization plan (Newly established Articles 15 (7) to 15 (9), Attachment No. 18-2 and Attachment No. 18-3)

 1) The amendment defines the cause/reason for declaring a change or modification of a spilled groundwater utilization plan as a change in the owner or manager of a facility or building, and also provides the detailed procedures.

b. Provision of actions/measures to be taken when groundwater is disturbed by an abuse of spilled groundwater (Newly established Article 15-2, Revised Attachment No. 12)

 1) In order to prevent groundwater disturbances caused by abuses of spilled groundwater, the amendment stipulates that the government may issue orders to those who have installed and operated spilled groundwater utilization facilities in order to install observation wells, and to inspect and improve their utilization facilities. The amendment also provides detailed implementation procedures.

c. Replacement of local government-issued certificates, i.e. the 'business license certificate', with the 'business registration certificate' when registering a groundwater purification service business (Article 49 (2) 2, Revised Attachment No. 54 of the Rules)

 1) In accordance with the recommendation of the Personal Information Protection Commission, the 'business license certificate', which is not available for the joint use of administrative information, has now been replaced by the 'business registration certificate', which is subject to joint use.

d. Replacement of the term 'phenol' among the specific harmful substances of groundwater quality standards with ‘phenolics' (Revised Appendix 9 of the Rules)

 1) To prevent public confusion, the item classed as phenol, which is treated as the total phenol content rather than as a single substance, is now clearly defined as 'phenolics', a term used in the water pollution process test method.

e. Modification of the record items in the water quality measurement register to make identical to the groundwater quality standards (Revised Attachment No. 39 of the Rules)

 1) Among the water quality measurement items, the term ‘organophosphorus’ has been replaced with ‘diazinon’ and ‘parathion’; ‘phenol’ with ‘phenolics’; and ‘hexavalent chromium’ with ‘chromium’.