Industrial Wastewater Managementin Japan
September, 2017
Hiroki Hasegawa
Deputy Director, Water Environment Division
Environment Management Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Japan1

Water Environment Quality Standards (EQS)
Water Quality
Standards (EQS)

Water Pollution
Toxic substance

Effect on people

Mercury, Arsenic,
Chlorinated organic compound,etc（Drinking/seafood intake）

Effects on aquatic life

Organic Pollution etc
Dirtiness and muddiness of water

Health Item
Nationally uniform27 substances designatedMonitored substances(No standards for them, butneeded to collect scientific data)

BOD/COD, DO, SS etc

Living Environment
Item

Nutrient salts

Designed to conserve theproperties as well as thefauna and flora closely
related to the living of people

Causality of eutrophication
Nitrogen, Phosphorus
Ministry of the Environment

Set targets by categorizing
into classes in accordancewith water bodies
2

Items of Environmental Quality Standard for Water Pollution
Health items
Item
Cadmium
Total cyanide
Lead
Hexavalent chromium
Arsenic
Total mercury
Alkylmercury
PCB
Dichloromethane
Carbon tetrachloride
1,2‐dichloroethane
1,1‐dichloroethylene
Cis‐1,2‐dichloroethylene

Ministry of the Environment

Standard Value
0.003 mg/L or lessUndetected
0.01 mg/L or less0.05 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or less
0.0005 mg/L or lessUndetected
Undetected
0.02 mg/L or less0.002 mg/L or less0.004 mg/L or less0.02 mg/L or less0.04 mg/L or less

Item
1,1,1‐trichloroethane
1,1,2‐trichloroethane
Trichloroethylene
Tetrachloroethylene
1,3‐dichloropropene
ThiuramSimazine
Thiobencarb
BenzeneSelenium
Nitrate nitrogen & Nitrite nitrogen

FluorideBoron
1,4‐Dioxane

Standard Value
1 mg/L or less0.006 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or less0.002 mg/L or less0.006 mg/L or less0.003 mg/L or less0.02 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or less
10 mg/L or less
0.8 mg/L or less
1 mg/L or less
0.05mg/ or less3

Items of Environmental Quality Standard for Water Pollution
Living environment items
River

Lake
‐

Sea Area‐ 2 ‐ 8 mg/L
7.0 ‐ 8.3

COD

 1 ‐ 10 mg/L‐

pH

6.0 ‐ 8.5

 1 ‐ 8 mg/L
6.0 ‐ 8.5

SS

 25 ‐ 100 mg/L etc.

 1 ‐ 15 mg/L etc.

‐

DO

2‐7.5 mg/L 

2‐7.5 mg/L 

2‐7.5 mg/L 

DO at bottom layer‐

2.0～4.0mg/L≦

2.0～4.0mg/L≦

Coliform bacteria
count 50 ‐ 5,000 MPN/100 mL

 50 ‐ 1,000 MPN/100 mL

 1,000 MPN/100 mL

N‐hexane extracts‐‐

Undetected.

Total nitrogen‐ 0.1 ‐ 1 mg/L

 0.2 ‐ 1 mg/L

Total phosphorous‐

 0.005 ‐ 0.1 mg/L

 0.02 ‐ 0.09 mg/L

 0.03 mg/L
≦0.0006～0.002mg/L

 0.03 mg/L
≦0.0006～0.002mg/L

 0.01 ‐ 0.02 mg/L
≦0.0007～0.001mg/L≦0.02～0.05mg/L≦0.02～0.05mg/L≦0.006～0.01mg/L

BOD

All zinc
Nonylphenol
LAS

Ministry of the Environment

4

How the Water Pollution Control Law WorksNationwide regulations o factories
or commercial facilities

Pre‐regulation

Regular
Regulation

Emergency
MeasuresReport installation or change of specified facility/
designatedfacilityy storingg harmful substancesgOrder toChange Plans

On‐site inspections & Reports collected

Order remedy
Order suspension

Measure and log pollution status of effluent
PenaltyEffluent regulations
Prohibition of water containing substancesclassified as toxins infiltrating into groundwater

Order to take measuresrelated to purification

Water Pollution due to abnormal
water shortage,g , etc

Order to takeemergency measures

Emergency measures & report of accidents

Order to takeemergency measures

Water Quality Monitoring Measurement Program
At Public Water Areaby prefectural government

Implementation of regular monitoring
Announcement of monitoring results

Domestic Water
Control

Designation of important areas
by prefectural government

Establishment of plan for promotion of implementationof domestic wastewater measures by municipalities

Totalpollutantload controlThe government’s “Fundamental Policy
for Reduction of Total Pollution Loadin enclosed coastalseas

Establishment of “Plan for Reduction of Total Pollution Load”
by prefectural governments and regulations

Ministry of the Environment5Role and Responsibility of National/Local governments
Responsibility of National Government• To develop basic policies and measures for environment protection, based on thefundamental principles regarding to environment protection, and to implement them

Major actions for environment protection by national government• Development of the environmental basic plan
• Establishment of Environment Quality Standards• Proposal of basic policies for actions against environment pollution• Regulations to protect Environment from pollution• To develop facilities and implement other projects for environment protection etc.

Responsibility of Local Governments• To develop policies and to implement actions suitable to natural and social
conditions of local government for environmental protection, along with
fundamental principles regarding to environment protection

Major actions for environment protection by local governments• To promote comprehensive and designed action necessary to environmental
protection in natural and social condition of local governments• Ministry
Development
and promotion of environment pollution protection plan etc.
of the Environment

6

Target Facilities of Effluent Control
Facility that discharges polluted water or wastewater is defined as a
specified facility by the Water Pollution Control Law, and all factories
or establishments in which specified facilities are installed are
stipulated as the control subjects of Water Pollution Control Law.
Example : Facilities to be used for mining, etc.
 Facilities devoted to stock raising, agriculture, etc.
 Facilities to be used for various types of food manufacturing, etc.
 Facilities to be used for forestry, etc.
 Facilities to be used for pulp manufacturing, etc.
 Facilities to be used for medical goods manufacturing, etc.
 Facilities to be used for cement products manufacturing, etc.
 Facilities to be used for steel or nonferrous metals manufacturing andfacilities to be used for other types of manufacturing Hotel businesses, restaurants, laundry businesses, photographdevelopment businesses, hospitals, scientific and technologicalresearch facilities
 Waste disposal sites
 Final sewage treatment facilities, joint waste water treatment plants,
And so on…
Ministry of the Environment

As of the end of
FY2015,approx. 270,000
establishments
arecontrol subjects

7

EQS and Effluent standards for water
Environmental Quality Standard (EQS)• Established as part of the government’s objectives (standards thatare to be followed) to prevent health hazards and conserve theliving environment” by the Environment Basic Law• “Effluent Standards” are applied on factories
and establishments in order to satisfy “EQS”
Effluent
Standard• In consideration of dilution effect by riverwater, an effluent standard value for a certain
item is decided as 10 times as an environment
quality standard for the same time.
EQS for water• For some specific business categories
that face difficulty to meet the uniform
effluent standard for a specific item,
a temporary effluent standard is applied by specifying a time limit
Ministry of the Environment

8

Wastewater standards【Living environment item】【Health item】
Kinds of harmful substances
Cadmium and its compounds
Cyanide compounds
Organic compound (limited to parathion, methyl
parathion, methyl demeton and EPN(ethyl p‐nitrophenyl phenylphosphorothioate))
Lead and its compounds
Hexavalent chromium compounds
Arsenics and its compounds
Mercury and alkyl mercury, and other mercury
compounds
Alkyl mercury compounds
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Trichloroethylene
Tetrachloroethylene
Dichloromethane
Carbon tetrachloride
1,2‐dicholoroethane
1,1‐dichloroethylene
cis‐1,2‐dichloroethylene
1,1,1‐trichloroethane
1,1,2‐trichloroethane
1,3‐dichloropropene
ThiramSimazine
Thiobencarb
BenzeneSelenium and its compounds
Boron and its compounds
Fluorine and its compounds
Ammonia, ammonium compounds, nitrite compounds
and nitrate compounds
1,4‐dioxane
Ministry of the Environment

Tolerable limit
0.03 mg/L
1 mg/L

Hydrogen ion concentration (pH)

Other than sea area: 5.8 – 8.6
Sea area: 5.0 – 9.0.

1 mg/L

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)

160 mg/L(Daily mean value: 120 mg/L)

Chemical oxygen demand (COD)

160 mg/L(Daily mean value: 120 mg/L)

Suspended solids (SS)

200 mg/L(Daily mean value: 150 mg/L)

0.1 mg/L
0.5 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
0.005 mg/L
Not detected
0.003 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
0.2 mg/L
0.02 mg/L
0.04 mg/L
1 mg/L
0.4 mg/L
3 mg/L0.06 mg/L
0.02 mg/L
0.06 mg/L
0.03 mg/L
0.2 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
Other than sea area: 10 mg/L
Sea area: 230 mg/L
Other than sea area: 8 mg/L
Sea area: 1 mg/L(*) 100 mg/L
0.5mg/L

Kinds of harmful substances

Tolerable limit

Normal‐hexane extracts content(mineral oils content)

5 mg/L

Normal‐hexane extracts content(animal and plant fats content)

30 mg/L

Phenols content

5 mg/L

Copper content

3 mg/L

Zinc content

2 mg/L

Soluble iron content

10 mg/L

Soluble manganese content

10 mg/L

Chromium content

2 mg/L

Coliform group number

Daily mean value: 3,000/cm3

Nitrogen content

120 mg/L(Daily mean value: 60 mg/L)

Phosphorus content

16 mg/L(Daily mean value: 8 mg/L)

Note
The effluent standard shown in this table is applicable to theeffluent water discharged by a plant, factory, or businessestablishment which discharges 50m3/day or more of effluent
water on daily average.
(*) 0.4 times the ammonia nitrogen compound, and the total of nitrite
nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen

9Uniform Effluent Standards and Stringent Standards
Flat wastewater standards set by the national government(minimum control applied nationwide)
Healthitems
Typesof control tightening
Applied to all factories/establishments

Living environment items
Applied to factories/establishments with
wastewater discharge of 50 m3/day or more

Prefectural governments
authorized to tighten controls,
according to local conditions

More Stringent by prefecture
Prefectural ordinances to set more stringent wastewater standard values if the flat standards are notsufficient (for example, preventing the realization of Environmental Quality“Hem down” by prefecture
Extend application of the Living Environment Items to factories/establishmentswith less than 50 m3/day wastewater discharge“Side stretch” by prefecture
Introduce additional wastewater control items on top of the flat wastewater standards
Ministry of the Environment

10Temporary Effluent Standards•

For some specific business categories that face difficulty to meet the uniform effluent standard
for a specific item when adding new regulation items or strengthen an effluent standard, atemporary effluent standard is applied by specifying a time limit

High Cost

Small and marginal businesses

Limited available
Technology• Technical challenge for treatment Technology• Secondary products after treatment• Influence of coexisting material in effluent

As a provisional measure,temporary effluent standards are set
as a manageable level at the moment
for each business category
3 ～ 5 years

Each industry segments address
technical development and facility installation
to meet uniform effluent standards

Temporary effluent standard values are reviewed and revised every 3 to 5
years, taking into account both actual conditions of effluent from factories
Ministryof the Environment
and
trend
in technical development

11

Example of Temporary Effluent Standards (Fluorine, Boron, Nitrate‐N)
Revision of WHO Guidelines
for drinking‐water quality（Fluorine: 0.5mg/L, Boron: 1.5mg/L,
Nitrate: 50mg/L, Nitrite: 3mg/L）

Revision of drinking‐water quality
1998

Standard in Japan（Fluorine: 1mg/L, Boron: 0.8mg/L,
Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N: 10mg/L）

1999 Establishment of EQS for Fluorine, Boron, Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N（Fluorine: 1mg/L, Boron: 0.8mg/L, Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N: 10mg/L）
Establishment of Effluent Standard for Fluorine, Boron, Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N
2001 （Fluorine: 10mg/L, Boron: 8mg/L, Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N: 100mg/L）
Applied a temporary effluent standard for 40 business categories
3 years
2004

Extended a temporary effluent standard on 26 business categories
3 years2007(10 category for B, 16 for F, 27 for NH3)

(9 category for B, 9 for F, 17 for NH3)

Extended a temporary effluent standard on 21 business categories(9 category for B, 6 for F, 13 for NH3)

2010

Extended a temporary effluent standard on 15 business categories

Ministry of the Environment

12Monitoring of Wastewater
Water Pollution Control Law, Article 14 &22

Industrial Operator• The person who discharge wastewater must monitor
the status of wastewater, record and store the resultof monitoring for 3 years based on the regulation of
MOEJ

Local Government• To request the industrial operator to report the resultof the monitoring• To implement on‐site inspection
Ministry of the Environment

13

Report Collection and Inspection
Water Pollution Control Law, Article 22• The minister of the environment or the governor of a prefecture may inaccordance with the cabinet order, call for a report from the owner of aSpecified Facility concerning the condition of the Specified Facility, themethod of treatment of polluted water, etc., and other necessary matters,
within the limits required for the implementation of this Law; or may
have his officials enter the Specified Factory and inspect the Specified
Facility or other related matters.

Objective of on‐site inspection• To check whether rules for the compliance of regulation standards areoperated properly in establishments so that owners always comply
regulation standards, and implement necessary measures, if required.
• It is important to check not only compliance with standards by water
sampling, but also comparing filed info and actual state, and self‐
management
situation.
Ministryof the Environment14

Check Points in on‐site Inspection
Check the situation ofwastewater route
Specified facility, etc.
Specifiedfacility

Otherfacility

Check Points
 Abnormalities & defects in the facility
 Operational situation
 Storage of toxic substances Oil storage facility, etc.

Wastewater treatment facility

Drain outlet

Check Points

Check Points

 Abnormalities & defects in treatment facility
 Operational situation of the treatment facility
 Sewage treatment situation
 Usage of chemicals
 Control equipment of the treatment facility
 Management of the water quality measuring
devices, etc.

 Drain outlet situationand its vicinity
 Take water samples etc.

Check between the actual conditionand contents of notifications

Feedback of inspection& measurement results

Installation notifications, structure change, etc. notifications, etc.
Structure & operational method of
specified facilities

Methods to treat sewage, etc.

Drainage outlet

 Installation location, number, structure,material quality & capacity
 Material (raw material, auxiliary material, etc.)
 Usage situation of toxic substances Situation of the discharge of sewage, etc.

 Installation location, number, structure,material quality, capacity, the volume of
the water to be treated & treatment
tank volume
 Treatment methods Etc.

 Contamination condition and the amountof drainage water Drainage volume for every drainage outlet
 Number & location of drainage outlets,
existence or non‐existence of the change
of a drainage destination, etc.

Ministry of the Environment

Drainage system

15

Enforcement status of water pollution control law
2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

271,242

266,860

271,168

269,847

267,328

33,96433,52933,06732,58932,381

5,307

4,989

6,598

5,786

6,026

Notification Article 7（Structure changes etc.）

3,539

3,924

4,427

4,105

5,006

Article 8（Order to change plans）

0

0

0

0

0

No of establishments inspected （Article 22.1）

41,26038,882

43,13539,49041,110

588

587

491

465

510

Order for Improvement（Article 13）

16

12

14

11

8

Order to suspend operation（Article 13）

0

0

1

0

3

Order to purify groundwater（Article 14.3）

0

0

0

0

0

in writing

2,880

2,761

2,650

2,503

2,556

Oral

5,095

4,826

5,432

4,753

4,981

Total
Installation or improvement of wastewater
treatment facilities
temporary suppression of effluent

7,975

7,587

8,082

7,256

7,537

2,206

2,474

2,145

1,946

2,192

28

30

16

7

20

Others

6,010

5,432

6,169

5,613

5,651

total

8,244

7,846

8,330

7,566

7,863

Violation of effluent standards（Article 31.1.1）

11

8

6

4

4

Violation of order for improvement（Article 30）

0

0

0

0

0

Violation of water pollution control law (others)

0

0

0

0

0

433

504

540

565

557
16

No. of specified establishments
average effluent more than 50㎥/day
Article 5（Establishment of Specified facilities）

inspection during night

Number ofadministrative
direction
Contents ofadministrative
direction

Measuresto be taken in case of an accident
Ministry of the Environment

Case Study: Tokyo Bay
Saitama

Kanagawa
Chiba

60

33,00032,00050

31,00040

30,00029,00030

28,00027,00020

26,000(Trillion JPY)

Tokyo

Keiyo
Industrial
Zone(Thousands Persons)Keihin Industrial
Zone

10

25,00024,000

0
1975

1980

1985

1990

1994

Year

Population
Production Value: Primary Industry (Trillion JPYi)
Production Value: Secondary Industry (Trillion JPY)

Industrial Zone around Tokyo Bay
Ministry of the Environment

Historical Change of Population andIndustrial Activity in Tokyo Bay Area
17

Water Pollution in Tokyo (1970’s)

Tokyo BayA river in Tokyo

The Kanda River(Tokyo)Photo Credit : Environmental Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Ministry of the Environment

18
18

Efforts for Improvement of Water Quality in Tokyo Bay• Dissemination of access to seweragetreatment(mainly for domestic wastewater)
33 % in 1975 ⇒ approx. 80 % now• Enforcement of Effluent Standard (mainly forindustrial wastewater)
Prefectural Stringent Standards + Temporal Standard• Ambient water quality standard zoning andwater quality monitoring• Total pollution load control since 1978
Ministry of the Environment

19

Prefectural Stringent Standards• More stringent standard than national effluent standard• Smaller industry is also subject to follow the standard
Chiba Prefec.

National Effluent
Standard(Daily Average)

Saitama Prefec.

pH

5.8‐8.6

5.8‐8.6 (5‐9)

BOD

160 (120)

25 (50)

10

20

COD

160 (120)

160 (120)

10

20

SS

200 (150)

60 (50)20

40

N‐Hexane extracts(mineral oil)

5

5

2

3

(animal fat &vegetable oil)

30

30

3

5

Phenols

5

0.5

0.5

Cu

3

3

1

1

Zn

5

5

1

1

Parameter

Notes
Ministry of the Environment

10 m3/day or more

500m3/day or
more

500m3/day or
below

5.8‐8.6 (5‐9)

30 m3/day or more
20

Temporal Standards• Temporal standard is applied for some factories withdifficulty in meeting the national effluent standard in a given period.
• Standard value is reviewed periodically.
800

Tanner Industry

Effluent Standard (mg/l)

700
600
500

Livestcok Industry
Dyeing Industry

400
300

Livestcok Industry

200
100

National Standard

0
1993

1998

2003

2008

2013

Year

Example of Temporal Standard(Nitrogen for some industries flowing into marine area)

Ministry of the Environment

21

COD Pollution Load to Tokyo Bay

COD Pollution Load (ton/day)

600
Domestic

Industrial

Others

500
400
300
200
100
0
1979

1984

1989

1994

1999

2004

2009

Year

Historical Change in COD Pollution Load (Tokyo Bay)
Ministry of the Environment

22

Water Quality in Tokyo Bay

Ayase River
Kawaguchi River
Meguro River
Tama River

COD of rivers flowing into
Tokyo Bay
1971

1981

1991

2001

COD and Chlorophyll‐atrends in Tokyo Bay
Ministry of the Environment

23

Tips of Water Pollution Control• It is important for enforcement of effluent
standard to establish the monitoring

system for the effluent and implement it
steadily.
• In order to improve water pollution, it isneeded not only to apply more stringent

effluent standard for the industry but also
to establish the feasible standard
considering water pollution level andtechnological level of the industry.
Ministry of the Environment

24