WATER SUPPLY IN JAPAN

By Varun Shirhatti, 10- A

 WATER AVAILABILITY
• Water availability in Japan varies widely between years and seasons.
• On the eastern coast of Japan, 70 to 80% of precipitation occurs as
rain between June and July (the monsoon) and August to September (
typhoon season). By contrast, the western coast receives heavy snowfall
between December and February.
• In 1994, during the worst of the drought season that lasted from 1902 to 2009,
piped water supply to 16 million people had to be restricted.
 WATER USE
• The average amount of water used in
Japan is 31.75 billion liters per day.
• This is 1.37% of the 2.301 trillion liters
used on average by the entire world in
one day.
• Of the water used for domestic
purposes in Japan, the water used by
toilets takes up the largest fraction at
28%, followed by water used for
bathing at 24% and for cooking at
23%.
• Laundry takes up 17% of water and
hygiene occupies the remaining 8%.
INDUSTRIAL WATER
USE
• The percentage of water used
for industry in Japan is extremely
low- 17% in 1992 ( that has since
fallen to around 14%), especially
when compared to figures like
the 75.4% used for industry in the
UK and 37% in Canada.
• This is due to the fact that 78.1%
of water used for industry in
Japan is recycled and reused.
 RECYCLING OF WATER
• Industrial grey water, as well as seawater and sewage, are purified using
nano-level technology.
• First, wastewater is treated with microorganisms to dissolve any organic
impurities, especially in the case of sewage.
• The water is then passed through a filter membrane in which tiny holes-
ranging from 1/10,000 to 1/1,000,000 of a millimetre- have been punched.
• This removes the other impurities in the water, as well as the microorganisms
used in the previous step.
• The final step sees the water pumped through a second membrane, whose
pores are a millionth of a millimetre wide. As the water cannot pass through
these pores normally, it is pressurized using a pump and forced through the
pores, leaving it of drinkable quality.
 WATER SOURCES
• There are over 2,500 dams in Japan, from which the country obtains 45% of
its water. However, due to the steep gradients of the rivers, their capacity is
much lower than most dams.
• The total capacity of all the dams in Japan is 20 cubic km- less than that of
the Hoover Dam.
• 20% of Japan's water comes from wells and groundwater.
• There are 247 aquifers across the country, whose average renewable
potential is 27 cubic km.
• However, due to the uneven terrain and steep slopes in Japan, about 17
cubic km of this is estimated to return to Japanese rivers.
 WATER SOURCES- 2
• There are over 2,700 river basins in Japan.
• 109 of these river basins are designated by the government of Japan as
Class A rivers- they are managed directly by the central government due to
their economic and environmental importance to the country.
• One major example of this is the Ishikari River, which flows over 268 km and
drains 14,330 square km. .
• Lakes in Japan are mainly distributed around the coasts and in volcanic
regions.
• One example of this is Inawashiro-ko, which was formed by a volcanic
eruption in Fukushima Prefecture in central Japan and has a volume of 3.86
cubic km.
 IMAGES
The Ishikari River

Tokuyama Dam, the dam with the highest

capacity in Japan at only 0.0137 cubic km.

Inawashiro Lake
 WATER SUPPLY 1- HISTORY
• The first true water supply system in Japan was instituted in Yokohama in 1887
to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases.
• The frequency of those suffering from water-borne diseases did not decrease
until 70 years later with the Waterworks Act, which made chlorination of
water compulsory.
• This brought the incidence rate of water- borne diseases down from 8000
patients in 1957 to approximately 1,200 in the late 1990s.
• Currently, almost 100% of Japan's population has access to clean drinking
water.
 WATER SUPPLY 2- PIPELINES
• There are 660,162 km of water piping in Japan. Most of the older pipes are
made out of cast iron and asbestos cement.
• These are slowly being replaced by ductile iron, which poses less of a cancer
risk than asbestos and is longer-lived than cast iron.
• As of 2014, 371,900 km of piping in Japan was ductile iron, while cast iron
took up 15,390 km and 5,460 km was asbestos cement.
• The new ductile iron pipes are also made in such a way that their joints are
capable of shifting to accommodate the displacement of the earth caused
by earthquakes.
 PIPED WATER QUALITY
• The Japanese Ministry for Health, Labour and Welfare has set guidelines on
levels of impurities in drinking water.
• Some items on the list are:
• Heavy metals such as mercury (0.0005 mg/L)
• Microorganisms like E. coli
• Copper (1 mg/L)
• Sodium (200 mg/L).
• pH range from 5.6 to 8.6,
• Guidelines for taste, odour and colour are also provided.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/Profile_segments/J
PN-WU_eng.stm
• https://web-japan.org/trends/11_tech-life/tec130115.html
• http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ishikari_River
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Japan
• http://www.jwwa.or.jp/jigyou/kaigai_file/2016WaterSupplyInJapan.pdf
• http://www.jwwa.or.jp/jigyou/kaigai_file/seminar_04/japan_03.pdf