The price of water in Korea saw its biggest increase in 17 years last month as public utility services have faced elevated production costs amid rising oil and gas prices.
Statistics Korea said on Wednesday the water price index in February rose 4.6 percent from a year earlier, the largest on-year increase since January 2006.
At the beginning of the year, water rates in Seoul rose from W480 per cubic meter to W580 for homes, and from W1,150 to W1,270 for other uses (US$1=W1,308).
That is bound to affect the price of bottled water, with its price index rising 7.1 percent from January.
