Location map [Provided by Bucheon City]
Location map [Provided by Bucheon City]

Residents of Sosabondong in Bucheon's Sosa-gu, Gyeonggi Province, are set to get relief from a long-running sewer odor problem.

Bucheon city announced Tuesday it will invest about 3.2 billion won ($2.42 million) to begin construction on a sewer separation project aimed at improving residential conditions in the Sosabondong area.

The project will separate the existing combined sewer system — which carries both stormwater runoff and household wastewater through a single pipe — by installing a dedicated line for domestic sewage.

Routing household wastewater through its own dedicated pipe will cut off the root cause of the sewer odors.

Construction will cover the stretch from the Sosaro-Sojung 3-gil intersection to Sosaewul Station, as well as the Sosa campus of Bucheon University.

Starting later this month, the city will lay 1,453 meters of new pipeline and carry out drainage facility upgrades at individual homes. The total budget is 3.19 billion won, with completion scheduled for December 2027.

The area has seen a steady stream of resident complaints about sewer odors since 2021.

To address the problem, the city obtained approval in March 2024 to revise its basic sewer improvement plan and launched a detailed engineering study in October of that year.

Once construction is complete, the city expects about 5,100 households to benefit directly, including residents of five apartment complexes near Sosaewul Station.

"The quality of life for residents who have long suffered from sewer odors will be dramatically improved through this project," said Lee Dong-hoon, director of Bucheon's water resources bureau.


gilbert@heraldcorp.com