South KoreaEnergy and utilities2022 – ongoingK-water
AI-run water treatment plants
K-water spread AI plant operation from one site to 43 water treatment plants and reports KRW 11.1 billion in yearly savings
Problem
K-water, the state water utility, runs large regional treatment plants where chemical dosing, pumping energy and equipment checks depended on operators' judgment. Dosing and energy use are major operating costs, and mistakes affect drinking-water quality.
Approach
The utility developed an AI operating system at its Hwaseong plant that sets chemical dosing automatically and adds energy management, predictive equipment maintenance and video-based safety monitoring; the pilot there was completed in April 2022. It then extended the system to 43 regional plants. In April 2026 it signed its first export contract, worth about KRW 1.1 billion, for a plant in Ho Chi Minh City.
Results
Takeaway
K-water reported reducing chemical and electricity use in plants with common processes, allowing it to extend one plant's system to dozens of others. The savings figures came from the utility.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Energy and utilities
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
K-water introduced AI water treatment technology at 43 regional plants to optimise chemical dosing. The utility reports that this cut annual operating costs by KRW 11.1 billion.
Reports K-water's contract, worth about KRW 1.1 billion, to deploy its AI plant operation system at the Kenh Dong plant in Ho Chi Minh City, the technology's first use abroad. It says the system was first developed at the Hwaseong plant and that 43 large Korean plants using it save about KRW 11 billion a year, according to the company. The scope includes automated chemical dosing, energy and plant management, and video monitoring.
Aquatech reports on K-water's partnership with OpenAI and its AI plant in Hwaseong. It says the plant received a World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Network award in 2023 and that the approach is being scaled to more than 40 sites. Quoting the WEF citation, it gives a 19% cut in chemical use, a 42% gain in labour efficiency and a 10% cut in power consumption.
Full details are in the original sources.
