The.Wave.Talk’s Participation in the “2025 Water and Wastewater Advancement Strategy Seminar”

TheWaveTalk recently participated in the 2025 Water and Wastewater Advancement Strategy Seminar (hereafter referred to as the “Water Management Seminar”). The event was filled with the energy of numerous municipal water officials and corporate representatives, matching the heat of the summer weather outside.

Since August 2024, TheWaveTalk has been collaborating with Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco) through the Mutual Growth and Performance Sharing Program. As part of this initiative, we installed our inline turbidity monitoring system at the Pyeongchang Waterworks and conducted extensive field testing over six months.

During this time, we identified and addressed on-site challenges, fine-tuned our system, and successfully secured stable, reliable data. This effort culminated in April this year with the system obtaining official certification from Korea’s Ministry of Environment. In addition, we achieved national New Excellent Technology (NET) certification, a testament to the technological excellence of our solution.

The Water Management Seminar provided an ideal platform to showcase the successful partnership between K-eco’s extensive expertise and TheWaveTalk’s innovative technologies. Turbidity—an essential parameter indicating water quality—plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of drinking water. But how thoroughly is turbidity being managed with technologies developed in Korea?

Regrettably, more than half of the turbidity analyzers currently installed in domestic water treatment plants and municipal water facilities are imported. Even many devices labeled as “domestic” depend heavily on foreign technologies for core functionalities

To address this challenge, TheWaveTalk and K-eco set a clear mission: achieving the localization of turbidity analyzers used in Korea’s drinking water production process. This collaboration led to the development of Korea’s first 100% homegrown inline turbidity monitoring system, utilizing patented technology from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

From left: TheWaveTalk Co-CEO Kyungman Cho, Director Gukhyun Nam, K-eco Gangwon Regional Office Head Changwan Choi, and Pyeongchang Waterworks Officer Wongyu Lee

This system boasts a localization rate of 94.5% for components (based on material costs) and is the first in Korea to employ a laser light source. The laser-based turbidity analyzer, certified by the Ministry of Environment, marks a breakthrough in the domestic market. Compared to traditional tungsten lamp-based systems, the laser light source extends replacement intervals by more than three times, significantly reducing maintenance requirements.

Moreover, the system achieves world-class accuracy while remaining unaffected by biofilm formation, ensuring robust and reliable operation. Notably, its cost is approximately half that of major foreign competitors, as reported on leading industry price information platforms.

During the seminar, we were deeply encouraged by the genuine interest and thoughtful discussions from municipal officials who visited TheWaveTalk’s booth. Among them was Changwan Choi, Head of K-eco’s Gangwon Regional Office, who personally stopped by to share insights.

With the success achieved at Pyeongchang as a starting point, we are optimistic that The.Wave.Talk’s inline turbidity monitoring systems will be deployed not only across Gangwon Province but also nationwide, and worldwide—driving the localization of drinking water quality management.

Photos from Pyeongchang Waterworks and Mitang Water Treatment Plant showcasing TheWaveTalk’s IQ-50 in operation