Water outage hits 260,000 households in eastern Seoul

Water supply to approximately 260,000 households in eastern Seoul was cut off at 5 p.m. Tuesday due to a valve failure during pipeline repair work, city officials said.

According to Seoul Water, the agency responsible for the city's water supply, the disruption occurred while crews were repairing a leak in the main water pipeline at the Guui Waterworks Authority Purification Center. During the repair process, a critical valve malfunctioned, forcing an emergency response.

As a result, water supply to the Yongma Water Distribution Reservoir, a key facility supplying parts of Dongdaemun, Jungnang and Seongdong districts, was halted. The affected areas include Myeonmok-dong, Sangbong-dong, Mangwoo-dong, Sinnae 1-dong and Muk 2-dong in Jungnang District, as well as Yongdap-dong in Seongdong District.

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has deployed eight water tankers and is distributing 120,000 bottles of emergency drinking water through local district offices.

Authorities have also issued emergency alerts to affected residents and requested large-scale water users to suspend reservoir intake.

"We're working to get the water supply back up as quickly as possible and aim to have repairs finished and service restored by midnight," said a Seoul Water official.