15th Steering Committee Meeting Document

Fiscal Year 2019 Activity Reportof the Japan Sanitation Consortium (JSC)
The activities of the Japan Sanitation Consortium (JSC) outlined below are as stipulated in article 4 of the
JSC’s Term of References:1)

Networking

2)

Information gathering

3)Knowledge dissemination and information sharing

4)

Support to international donor organizations

The results of the FY 2019 business activities are reported hereafter.
1. NETWORKING(Cooperation with international organizations, and constitution of a network with sanitation-relatedorganizations from different countries)
1.1 Networking based on the work commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
JSC provided support for a project commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport
and Tourism (MLIT), entitled 'Research and Examination Assignment of Strategy Measures forOverseas Expansion in the Sewerage Field' (project due period: April 17, 2019 to March 13, 2020;
joint venture with the Mitsubishi Institute Inc.). This project included the holding of the following
meetings:① Asia Wastewater Management Partnership (AWaP) Operations Committee; Technical Seminarand related activities; August 8, 2019; Yokohama City, Japan.
② The 13th Japan-Vietnam Regular Meeting on the Technical Cooperation in Sewerage/Drainage
and Wastewater Treatment between the Ministry of Construction, Vietnam, and MLIT, Japan(meeting on the national standardization of the pipe jacking techniques in Vietnam);
December 11, 2019; Hanoi.
1.2 Visit from ADB PRC Resident Mission, Beijing Office
On September 24, 2019, Mr. Hubert Jenny from the People’s Republic of China Resident Mission Asian Development Bank (ADB) visited JSC to introduce the concept of an innovative carbon capture
project in China using fecal sludge.
1.3 Visit and Meetings at BMGF
At the request of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), a visit was organized at the Bill &1

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Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in Seattle, Washington, USA, and meetings (also joined by the
Chief of the United States Office of the Japan International cooperation Agency-JICA) were held on
June 4 and 5, 2019. During these meetings was introduced Japan's decentralized wastewater
management system and discussed the establishment of a partnership program to improvedecentralized wastewater management in developing countries. From JSC participated Mr. Kazushi
Hashimoto (Advisor), Dr. Pierre Flamand (Manager of International Affairs) and Dr. Shinhi Kumokawa
from the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (JECES; a member organization of JSC).
1.4 Field Survey on Decentralized Wastewater Management in Warangal City, Telangana State,
India
The Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation (BMGF), is working on improving decentralized wastewater management in Warangal
City, Telangana State, India. At the request of ASCI, JSC's Advisor – Mr. Kazushi Hashimoto – was sent
to this city and state from July 10 to 13, 2019, to assess the progress in sanitation. In addition, Mr.
Hashimoto discussed with the city and state government officials on the possibility of introducing
the Johkasou system for the improvement of decentralized wastewater management.
2. INFORMATION GATHERING(Creation of a sanitation database for the Asia-Pacific Region and execution of country assessments for
sanitation improvement in the countries of the region)
2.1 The 24th Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) Governing Council Meeting
The 24th APWF Governing Council Meeting was held on July 22, 2019, at the PUB WaterHub in
Singapore. The main agenda items of this meeting were the 3-year APWF Action Plan, the 4th APWS
(4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit), the Asia Focus Session at the 2019 Stockholm World Water Week
and the 9th World Water Forum. Mr. Ravi Narayanan (APWF Chair) and Ms. Changhua Wu (APWF
Vice-Chair) chaired the Governing Council Meeting in which Dr. Pierre Flamand (JSC Manager ofInternational Affairs) participated on behalf of JSC.
2.2 The 25th Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) Governing Council Meeting
The 25th APWF Governing Council was held at the Good Wood Park Hotel in Singapore on February
25, 2020. Due to the impacts of the new coronavirus infection, rallying in Singapore was kept to aminimum and, like most of the APWF members, Dr. Pierre Flamand (JSC Manager of International
Affairs) joined through a remote connection. The Governing Council Meeting was chaired byProfessor Eduardo Araral (APWF Vice-Chair) who led the following topics of discussion: 1) program(draft) of the 4th APWS (4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit), main themes and concept of the 4th APWS
and the Kumamoto Declaration, composition of the subcommittees, etc.; 2) priority themes of APWF
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15th Steering Committee Meeting Documentfor 2020 (including the Asia Focus Session at the 2020 Stockholm World Water Week), 3) 9th World
Water Forum.
2.3 Examination of Measures for the Expansion of Wastewater Treatment in the AWaP
Participating Countries
As part of a project commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ofJapan (MLIT), Mr. Tatsuhiro Ueda, Mr. Yoshiharu Imajima, Mrs. Yumi Kaneko, and Mr. Akira Kumagoe
from the Japan Sewerage Works Agency (JS; a member organization of JSC) conducted a series offield studies in Yangon, Myanmar, and Svay Rieng, Cambodia. In order to accelerate the overseas
expansion of Japanese wastewater treatment technologies, the export of a package consideringboth the sewerage and Johkasou systems was considered. Dr. Shinhi Kumokawa and Dr. Yurie
Shirakawa from the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (JECES; a member
organization of JSC) were subcontracted by JS to also participate in the field studies and were in
charge of the feasibility study for the introduction of the Johkasou system.
3. KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION AND INFORMATION SHARING(Diffusion of knowledge and experience in sanitation from Japan and other developed countries; andorganization of international seminars to exchange information and knowledge with developing
countries)
3.1 The first Asia Wastewater Management Partnership (AWaP) Operations Committee andTechnical Seminar
On August 8, 2019, the AWaP Secretariat, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT) and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) of Japan launched the first AWaP Operations
Committee in Yokohama City, Japan. In addition to Japan, the participating countries were Cambodia,
Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. These countries worked together on the preparationof the AWaP Annual Report and discussed the second AWaP Plenary Meeting to be held in
Kumamoto City, Japan, in October 2020. Following the Operations Committee, six Japanesecompanies presented their products and services in a technical seminar. Dr. Pierre Flamand (JSC
Manager of International Affairs) moderated these two events.
3.2 Stockholm World Water Week
JSC Advisor, Mr. Kazushi Hashimoto, and JSC Sewage Works Expert, Mr. Yoshiharu Imajima(International Affairs Office, Japan Sewage Works Agency-JS; a member organization of JSC),
participated at the Stockholm World Water Week, which was held from August 25 to 30, 2019.
During one of the meetings of the Asia Focus 2019 Session hosted by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum(APWF), entitled 'Water Cycle Management: Towards Water Security in Asia and Pacific', Mr.
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Imajima presented the 'Water Environment Improvement Project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam' as
an example of good practices, and introduced the Asian Wastewater Management Partnership(AWaP).
3.3 The 7th International Workshop on Decentralized Domestic Wastewater Treatment in Asia
On September 24, 2019, the 7th International Workshop on Decentralized Domestic Wastewater
Treatment in Asia was held in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOE)
hosted this event with the support of JSC in the persons of Dr. Shinhi Kumokawa, who also chaired
a session, and Dr. Yurie Shirakawa. Japan and nine other countries made altogether sixteen
presentations focusing on decentralized domestic wastewater treatment, which were followed bydiscussions on this theme. In addition, a site tour of Johkasou-related facilities was conducted forthe overseas participants. In total, the workshop gathered about 130 participants.
3.4 Roundtable on Financing Water
The Roundtable on Financing Water is a series of meetings that has been initiated through a joint
proposal from the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD), the World Water Council and theDutch Government. OECD is a global public-private platform that has for objective to encourage
actions from governments, finance organizations, international organizations, charities, academic
institutions and civil society organizations. Previous meetings have been held in Paris, Tel Aviv andNew York while the present meeting took place in Asia at the ADB headquarters in Manila, The
Philippines, on November 26 and 27, 2019. Mr. Yoshiharu Imajima, (JSC Sewage Works Expert andmember of the International Affairs Office of the Japan Sewage Works Agency-JS) and Dr. Pierre
Flamand (JSC Manager of International Affairs) were invited for JSC. In Sessions 7, entitled 'Practical
Example to Increase Financing Flows for Water-related Investments in Asia', Mr. Imajima made apresentation on the financing of wastewater management in Japan. Among additional comments,
Dr. Flamand emphasized, in addition to PPPs and other funding schemes for wastewater
management, on the importance of public awareness for the use of private funds through central
government subsidies, local government bonds and wastewater charges.
3.5 The 16th International Specialized Conference on Small Water and Wastewater System
From December 1 to 5, 2019, as part of the work commissioned by the Ministry of the Environmentof Japan (MOE), Dr. Shinhi Kumokawa from the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation(JECES; a member organization of JSC) participated at the ‘16th International Conference on SmallScale Water and Sewerage Systems’ of the International Water Association (IWA) held in Perth,
Australia. Further to his attendance, Dr. Kumokawa delivered a keynote speech at the conference
and organized a side event, entitled 'Workshop on Decentralized Domestic Wastewater Treatment',
during which was transmitted information on the Japanese Johkasou system and its business4

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development overseas.
3.6 The 13th Meeting on the Technical Cooperation in Sewerage/Drainage and Wastewater
Treatment between MOC, Vietnam, and MLIT, JapanOn December 11, 2019, the 13th Japan-Vietnam Regular Meeting (‘13th Meeting on the TechnicalCooperation in Sewerage/Drainage and Wastewater Treatment’) between the Ministry ofConstruction (MOC), Vietnam, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT), Japan, with the support of JSC was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, under the theme of ‘Challenges
for the improvement of sustainability in the sewerage business’. The two organizing countries havetaken this opportunity to mark the 10th anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding signed
between Japan and Vietnam in the field of wastewater, stormwater and wastewater treatment, andto present the progresses made over this 10-year period as well as potential future developments.
The Japanese side made a final presentation on sustainable sewerage management followed by adiscussion on the direction for improvement of the current revision of the Cabinet Order on
sewerage systems in Vietnam.
3.7 IWA Water and Development Congress & Exhibition
From December 1 to 5, 2019, as part of the work commissioned by the Ministry of the Environmentof Japan (MOE), Dr. Yurie Shirakawa and Mr. Satoru Takahashi from the Japan Education Center ofEnvironmental Sanitation (JECES; a member organization of JSC) attended the ‘IWA Water andDevelopment Congress & Exhibition’ held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In addition to the conference, they
participated at the associated exhibition on behalf of JECES and displayed in the allocated booth amodel of a small-scale Johkasou facility; the main decentralized wastewater treatment system usedin Japan. Furthermore, during the Business Forum organized by IWA, JECES introduced in apresentation the legal framework of the Johkasou system in Japan, the structure for operation andmaintenance, and the activities conducted to promote decentralized wastewater treatment systems
in other countries. Finally, Dr. Shirakawa and Mr. Takahashi interviewed some of the persons incharge of water and sanitation at the National Water Supply and Drainage Board of the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Sri Lanka Office.
3.8 Promotion Support for the Diffusion of Johkasou Operation and Maintenance Techniques
Overseas
As part of the work commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan (MOE),
Dr. Shinhi Kumokawa and Dr. Takeshi Yahashi from the Japan Education Center of Environmental
Sanitation (JECES; a member organization of JSC) made two visits to Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province,
China (July 14-19, 2019, and October 20-25, 2019). On these occasions, they held a joint symposiumwith local administrative organizations (the Bureau of Housing and the Urban-Rural Development,
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Jiaxing City) and research institutes (the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University,
Zhejiang; the North Center for Rural Wastewater Treatment Technology, Ministry of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development; and the School of Environment, Tsinghua University). Among the
conducted activities, Dr. Kumokawa and Dr. Yahashi also provided technical support for theestablishment of a structure for the operation and maintenance of the Johkasou installed in Jiaxing(approximately 300 units) and the Johkasou made in China (over 20,000 units), the functional
improvement of existing Johksaou, and the construction of performance evaluation test facilities.
3.9 Water Business Seminar of Yokohama Water Business Council
The Water Business Seminar of the Yokohama Water Business Council was held on February 14,2020 at the Yokohama City Small and Medium Enterprise Co-sponsorship Hall. On this occasion, Mr.
Akira Morita from the Japan Environmental Sanitation Center (JESC; a member organization of JSC)
made a presentation on wastewater management in Indonesia.
4. SUPPORT TO INTERNATIONAL DONOR ORGANIZATIONS(Organization and holding of training courses on sanitation, execution of project assessments, guidance
for appropriate technology selection, and provision of experts to international donor organizations suchas ADB and JICA)
4.1 Business Leaders’ Policy Dialogue on accelerating sanitation for all
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)
sponsored and held a policy dialogue at ADBI’s office in Tokyo, Japan, on August 30, 2019. This event
provided a venue for information exchange between Japan's Johkasou and sludge treatment
industries, BMGF, international organizations, and sanitation-related professionals from India. Dr.
Shinhi Kumokawa from the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (JECES; a member
organization of JSC) and Mr. Kazushi Hashimoto (JSC advisor) chaired both a session, which
respectively focused on the Johkasou system and fecal sludge management. On the day preceding
the policy dialogue (August 29) was conducted a visit to sites where Johkasou are installed and from
where could be observed how operation and maintenance is performed with these facilities.
4.2 Fecal Sludge Management Stakeholders Workshop
The People’s Republic of China Resident Mission - Asian Development Bank (ADB) held a stakeholder
workshop on fecal sludge management on September 9, 2019 at the ADB office in Beijing. Dr. Pierre
Flamand, Manager of International Affairs, was invited for JSC to present knowledge on fecal sludge
management in Japan, mobile sludge dewatering/thickening vehicles, and sludge reuse technologies.
In addition, Dr. Flamand, as a resource person for ADB, made a business trip to the ADB headquartersin Manila, The Philippines, from September 17 to 21, where he made presentations on related topics.
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5. OTHER ACTIVITIES
5.1 The 13th JSC Steering Committee Meeting
The 13th JSC Steering Committee Meeting was held on May 31, 2019 at the Niigata Kenjin Kaikan inTokyo, Japan. The meeting included the verification and approval of the minutes of the previous JSC
Steering Committee Meeting, the report of FY 2018 activities, and a deliberation on the businessplan for FY 2019, which was unanimously approved.
5.2 Participation in ISO/TC 224/ WG 11 (Stormwater Management) as a Secretariat Member
The Japanese government, through a team of experts selected by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT), has been convening the Working Group (WG)
11 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Technical Committee (TC) 224 since2015 for the development of a new standard entitled ‘Guidelines for Stormwater Management in
Urban Areas’ (ISO 24536). As a member of the WG 11 Secretariat and support team for the Secretary– Mr. Takashi Sakakibara –, Dr. Pierre Flamand (JSC Manager of International Affairs) participated at
the 8th meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 26 and 27, 2019. The work items of the meeting
included the final draft of ISO 24536 and its related technical report TR 24539.
5.3 Participation in ISO/TC224/WG8 (Operations and Maintenance of Basic Onsite Domestic
Wastewater Services) as Experts
As part of a work commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan (MOE)
for the development activities of a new standard from the International Organization forStandardization (ISO)/Technical Committee (TC) 224/Working Group (WG) 8 (ISO 24525: ‘Guidelines
for the management of basic on-site domestic wastewater services - maintenance activities’), Dr.
Shinhi Kumokawa from the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (JECES; a member
organization of JSC) and Dr. Pierre Flamand (JSC Manager of International Affairs) participated as
experts at the 8th meeting in Copenhagen (June 25-26, 2019) and the 9th meeting in Lisbon (January
27-28, 2020). In these meetings, the experts worked for the creation of new drafts for the standard
under development.
5.4 The 14th JSC Steering Committee Meeting
The 14th JSC Steering Committee meeting was virtually held on March 19, 2020. The proposal for theelection of a new director for JSC was circulated and it was agreed by all the members that Mr.
Masanori Hatada would be appointed as Director on April 1, 2020.

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