Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 16th introduced the "three water-management bills" that set priority standards for supplying water to national high-tech industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and artificial intelligence (AI). The core is to codify mandatory disclosure of water use by AI data centers and to lay the foundation for "water-energy-AI convergence."
On the day, Chair Han served as the prime sponsor of amendments to the Water Supply and Waterworks Installation Act, the Environmental Technology and Environmental Industry Support Act, and the Framework Act on Water Management.
The amendment to the Water Supply and Waterworks Installation Act shortens the interval for reassessing the validity of the national basic waterworks plan from the current five years to two. The intent is to allow the state to reflect rapidly changing water-demand conditions in a timely manner. Because energy production, AI data centers, and semiconductor plants consume large volumes of water, the state will shorten its water-management review cycle.
The amendment to the Environmental Technology and Environmental Industry Support Act requires facilities such as data centers to prepare and disclose information that includes water-use efficiency indicators. Under current law, only green companies and publicly listed corporations with assets of 2 trillion won or more are obligated to disclose environmental information. According to the 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, data centers' annual water demand is expected to reach up to 43.74 million tons, which the sponsor said necessitates environmental information disclosure.
The amendment to the Framework Act on Water Management stipulates that, to support the semiconductor, secondary battery, and AI industries, which use three to five times more water than existing industries, the central and local governments must review ways to ensure stable water supply for national high-tech industries. It also requires that the results be reflected in water-supply plans, including the national basic waterworks plan specified in the Water Supply and Waterworks Installation Act.
Chair Han said, "As we face the climate crisis and the AI era, we must integrate water and energy, which have been managed separately, into a single policy framework and shift the paradigm of resource management," adding, "We will provide institutional support so that water-energy-AI convergence does not remain a mere technical discussion but leads to tangible outcomes that the public can feel."