KLRI : KOREA LEGISLATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

I. Background and Purpose of Research

▶In accordance with the implementation of the unification of water management policy, the foundation for integrated management of water-related policies and management, which had been managed separately by each ministry, was established

○Through the revision and implementation of the Government Organization Act, affairs related to the preservation, use, development, and river of water resources were transferred to the Ministry of Environment, and the Framework Act on Water Management was enacted and in effect for more systematic water management

○The Framework Act on Water Management prescribes basic principles for water management, water management committee, national water management basic plan, water dispute mediation, etc., and functions to determine higher-level plans

▶Despite the enactment of the Framework Act on Water Management, the system between the basic law and each individual law, water management or water resource-related laws is insufficient, and there is a lack of discussion on integration or sustainability

▶Specifically, the following problems have been raised, and improvement is requested

○Planning and maintenance projects promoted by multiple relevant ministries (environment, administration, national land, etc.) lack interconnection and consistency, so comprehensive measures are needed in consideration of quantity, water quality, aquatic ecology, and watersheds

○Due to the segmentation of the management agency and command and supervision system for rivers and dams, it is unclear where the situation is responded and responsible, so it is necessary to create a reasonable legal environment for the management, command and supervision system

○In addition to the integration of water quality and water management, the integration of environmental affairs and management affairs for rivers is necessary, River policies and projects need to be promoted from the perspective of watershed-based integration management

○Even after the policy foundation for water and water integration has been established, it is necessary to strengthen the river management function of the National and Basin Water Management Committee due to the lack of river management integration

○Since the functional integration of small rivers (administration), power generation dams (industry), and agricultural reservoirs (agricultural forests) is required for continuous and complete integration of water, a comprehensive review of the law on river and water management is requested for organization, function, legal plan, policy measures, governance, etc

▶This study aims to lay the legal and institutional foundation for integrated management of water quality, water quantity, and disaster prevention by reviewing related laws and regulations to unify water quality and water quality management, and reorganizing the water management legal system centered on the Framework Act on Water Management from an integrated and sustainable perspective

Ⅱ. Contents

▶The inclusion of the River Law Basic Plan under the Framework Act on Water Management

○The current Framework Act on Water Management stipulates research on the legal plan of water-related legislation and compliance examination. Since the Basic River Plan is not included under the Framework Act on Water Management, the Basic Plan for National Water Management and the Comprehensive Plan for Basin Water Management and the Basic Plan for River under the River Act are necessary

▶Integration of Water Dispute Mediation System

○For dispute mediation systems operated individually in Framework Act on Water Management, River Act, and Environmental Dispute Mediation Act, it is necessary to integrate them into separate laws or systems of Framework Act on Water Management in the long term, and the revision of Framework Act on Water Management can consider the establishment of new regulations regarding mediation applications and mediation processing in the short term

▶Integration of River Maintenance Project and Water Environment Project

○River maintenance projects and water environment projects are implemented according to the legislative purposes of individual laws, and in the long run, it is necessary to integrate them and establish a basis for a single law, and in the short term, the establishment of ground rules for linking river maintenance projects and water environment projects is considered

▶Expanding the Designation of National Rivers

○Since there are differences in conditions for promoting water-related projects, such as river management and project budgeting, it is possible to temporarily expand the designation of national rivers until the overall water-related policy capabilities of local governments are raised 

▶Linkage of Statutory Plan for Management by Basin

○As the current Framework Act on Water Management reviews the linkage and conformity between the legal plans of the watershed units and regional units of individual water-related legislation, it is necessary to stipulate that some missing legal plans of important watershed units and regional units are linked to the comprehensive plan for watershed management under the Framework Act on Water Management

▶Expansion of National Maintenance Project for Rivers

○It is necessary to balance the level of river maintenance by expanding the national maintenance project for rivers and expand the integrated management scope of the national level, so the establishment of a watershed management section such as the national river drainage impact section can be considered

▶Integration of the Four Rivers System Act

○In the case of the four-river water system, which is divided into the current four laws, most of the contents are similar and identical, and some different regulations can be specified by specifying the scope of application, so integration according to the single law of the four-river water system act is necessary

▶Reexamination of the legal plan and the inclusion of groundwater in the management of integrated products in accordance with the supplementary regulations

○Groundwater-related matters can be incorporated into the integrated management policy through the linkage of legal plans, and it is necessary to establish a five-year supplementary period regulation, such as the retention period of other legal plans, to increase the effectiveness of linkage and inclusion

▶Legal and institutional adjustment plan for the water right

○The integration of the water rights system is a discussion that has been promoted since before the implementation of the integrated management policy, and it is a system that needs to be promoted along with the implementation of the integrated management policy. Since it can take a lot of time to integrate the long-standing water rights and the right to use the law into one, short-term legislative measures make it difficult to integrate, and it is reasonable to regulate the water rights separately and separately in the long run

▶Integrated operation of water-related information

○The current water-related legislation provides the basis for the operation of water-related information systems in a number of regulations, and the effectiveness of water-related information increases when it becomes organic linkage and comprehensive data, so it is necessary to establish a new connection regulation for the comprehensive system of information in the Framework Act on Water Management

▶Preparation of considerations under the River Act for practical integration of water quantity and water quality

○It can be evaluated that integrated water quality and water quality have been integrated systematically, but for practical integration, it is necessary to stipulate that water quality is considered mandatory in the regulations on occupancy permits, facility projects, and river water use adjustments under the River Act so that water management and water quality protection can be practically carried out at the same time

▶Application of Basin Concepts in Water-Related Legislation

○As the Framework Act on Water Management promotes water management by watershed, it is necessary to add the concept of “river” to the existing concept of "area" in water-related legislation and use it as an important concept of water management policy

▶Strengthening the status of the Water Management Committee

○Framework Act on Water Management sees the Water Management Committee as a central organization in promoting integrated water management policies. Although the Water Management Committee does not have the status of a central administrative agency, it needs regulations such as authority and cooperation requests so that it can have a similar level of decision-making ability and effectiveness

▶In conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan for Watershed Management of Dam-related Regional Plan

○As the current Framework Act on Water Management does not include some dam-related legal plans as a legal plan linked to the comprehensive watershed management plan, it is necessary to promote the linkage of dam-related regional plans to the integrated management policy

▶Implementation of water-related projects in accordance with the management of integrated products

○Various maintenance projects based on water-related legislation may be considered to have mandatory regulations to be implemented in accordance with the basic principles of the Framework Act on Water Management, the basic plan for national water management, and the comprehensive plan for watershed water management

Ⅲ. Expected Effects

▶It can be used as basic data for related theoretical research by reviewing the system improvement and improvement measures between the basic law and the individual law for the unification of the current water management legal system

▶Contributing to the efficient operation of the system by deriving specific legislative improvements (drafts) for the maintenance of the water management legal system centered on the Framework Act on Water Management