Wastewater reclamation and reuse in Japan: overview and implementation examples

Abstract

To alleviate potentially catastrophic water supply and wastewater disposal problems as well as expand dependable water supply infrastructure, Japan has launched comprehensive urban wastewater reclamation and reuse projects since 1968. In this paper, the status of national policies on wastewater treatment, wastewater reuse characteristics, and some wastewater reuse experiences are presented. Two implementation examples in Tokyo and Fukuoka are discussed in detail, with special reference to application for toilet-flushing in high-rise business buildings and stream restoration and flow augmentation. It was found that the key to the success of wastewater reclamation and reuse is the quality of reclaimed water; public acceptance is closely associated with water quality and water supply dependability.