Industrial Wastewater Managementin JapanAugust , 2012
Takatoshi Wako
Deputy Director, Water Environment Division
Environment Management Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Japan

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

Water Pollution
Toxic substance

Effect on people

Mercury,
Mercury Arsenic,
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
Itemte

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
21

Items of Environmental Quality Standard for Water Pollution
Health items

Item
1,1,1‐trichloroethane
1,1,1‐
1,1,2‐‐trichloroethane
1,1,2
Trichloroethylene
Tetrachloroethylene
1,3‐‐dichloropropene
1,3
ThiuramSimazine
Thiobencarb
BenzeneSeleniumStandard Value
1 mg/L or less0.006 mg/L or less0.03 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 less
Sea Area‐ 2 ‐ 8 mg/L
7.0 ‐ 8.3‐
2‐7.5 mg/L 

Item
Cadmium
Total cyanide
Lead
Hexavalent chromium
Arsenic
Total mercuryy
Alkylmercury
PCB
Dichloromethane
Carbon tetrachloride
1,2‐‐dichloroethane
1,2
1,1‐‐dichloroethylene
1,1Cis‐‐1,2Cis
1,2‐‐dichloroethylene

Standard Value
0.01 mg/L or lessUndetected
0.01 mg/L or less0.05 mg/L or less0.01 mg/L or lessg/ or less
0.0005 mg/L
Undetected
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

Living environment itemsRiver 1 ‐ 10 mg/L‐
6.0 ‐ 8.5
 25 ‐ 100 mg/L etc.
2‐7.5 mg/L Lake‐ 1 ‐ 8 mg/L
6.0 ‐ 8.5
 1 ‐ 15 mg/L etc.
2‐7.5 mg/L  50 ‐ 5,000 MPN/100 mL

 50 ‐ 1,000 MPN/100 mL

 1,000 MPN/100 mL‐‐‐
 0.03 mg/L‐
 0.1 ‐ 1 mg/L
 0.005 ‐ 0.1 mg/L
 0.03 mg/L

Undetected.
 0.2 ‐ 1 mg/L
 0.02 ‐ 0.09 mg/L
 0.01 ‐ 0.02 mg/L

BOD
COD
pH
SS
DO
Coliform bacteria
count
N‐hexane extracts
Total nitrogen
Total phosphorous
Ministry of the Environment
All zincNitrate nitrogen & Nitrite nitrogen

FluorideBoron
1,4‐Dioxane

How the Water Pollution Control Law WorksNationwide regulationss o factories
or commercial fa
acilities

Pre‐regulation

Regular
Regulation

Emergency
MeasuresReport installation or change of specified facility/g
designatedfacilityy storingg harmful substances

Order 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
g , etc
water shortage,

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

TotalpollutantloadcontrolThe government’s “Fundamental Policy
for Reduction of Total Pollution Loadinenclosedcoastalseas

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

Ministry of the Environment

42Administration of Water Management
Hydroelectric power(METI)MHLW
Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare

Johkasoh※(MOE MLIT)(MOE‐MLIT)
Water supply(MHLW)

Sewage system (MLIT)
Fishery
Aquaculture(MAFF)

MAFF
Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries
METI
Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry

Irrigation
Agricultural water(MAFF)

Environment
QualityStandards(MOE)

prevention ofmarine pollution by ships((MOE・MLIT))

Forest maintenance(MAFF)

River managgement
(MLIT
T)

Water resource development(MLIT)

MLIT
Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure andTransport
MOE
Ministry of theEnvironment

Industrial water supply(METI)
Effluent restriction(MOE)

Restrictions on Permeation ofHarmful Substances(MOE)

Restrictions ofgroundwater withdrawal()(MOE・METI)※On‐Site Treatment System of Domestic Effluent
Ministry of the Environment

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

63

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…

As of the end of
FY2010,approx. 274,000
establishments
arecontrol subjects

Ministry of the Environment

19

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 certainititem
iis decided
d id d as 10 titimes as an environmentitquality 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 provisional effluent standard is applied by specifying a time limit
Ministry of the Environment

4

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

Tolerable limit
0.1 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)

SuspendedS
d d solids
lid (SS)g/
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
0.3 mg/L
0.1 mg/L
0.2 mg/L
0.02 mg/L
0.04 mg/L
0.2 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

Boron and its compounds
Fluorine and its compounds
Ammonia, ammonium compounds, nitrite compounds
and nitrate compounds
1,4‐dioxane

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
Chromium content

10 mg/L
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)(*) 100 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.

0.5mg/Lofthe
theammonia
Environment(*) Ministry
0.4 times
nitrogen compound, and the total of nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen

21

Uniform National Effluent Standards (Concentration Regulation)
The effluent control of the Water Pollution Control Law stipulates effluent
standards (Uniform National Effluent Standards) that are uniform across allindustries for the specified establishments throughout the country.
The control is carried out using the so‐called “direct penalty system” bywhich penalties can be applied simply because of excess concentrations.
Factories &Establishments

The factories or establishments
which possess specified
facilities are called specified
establishments.

Public waters(Not possessing specified facilities)

Specifiedestablishments(Possessing specified
facilities)

N
Non-applicableli blSpecified establishments discharge
sewage (effluent)
( ffl
t) to
t public
bli waters.
tEffluent
Effluent

Ministry of the Environment

UndergroundosmosisEffluent standards of the Water
Pollution Control Law areapplied to the effluent.
19

5

Uniform Effluent Standards and Add‐on 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

Add‐‐ons by prefecture
Add
Prefectural ordinances to set more stringent wastewater standard values if the flat standards are notsufficient (for example, preventing the realization of Environmental Quality“H“Hem ddown”” byb prefecture
f tExtend 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

22

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

E h iindustry
Eachd t segmentst address
dd
technical development and facility installation
to meet uniform effluent standards

Provisional 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

22

6

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

1998

Q for Fluorine,, Boron,, Nitrate‐N and Nitrite‐N
1999 Establishment of EQS（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 provisional effluent standard for 40 business categories
3 years
2004(10 category for B, 16 for F, 27 for NH3)

Extended a provisional effluent standard on 26 business categories
3 years

2007(9 category for B, 9 for F, 17 for NH3)

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

2010

Extended a provisional effluent standard on 15 business categories

Ministry of the Environment

22

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 ap
Facilityy concerningg the condition of the Specifiedp
Facility,y, theSpecifiedmethod 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 Environment

25

7

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

OtherfacilityCheck
Ch k Points
P i t 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 facilitypsituation of the treatment facilityy Operational Sewage treatment situation
 Usage of chemicals
 Control equipment of the treatment facility
 Management of the water quality measuring
devices, etc.

 Drain outlet situationand its vicinityy
 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

25

Local Government Officials Work
Frequent On‐Site Inspection• Secure authorities for inspection• Increase
numberIb off personnell

Persistent Technical Guidance to business• Check not only end‐of‐pipe, but also production
processesp• Persuade industries to take countermeasures forpollution prevention

Ministry of the Environment

8

Further development of pollution control system• Increase in the number of officials in charge of pollution
control (local governments)
1961: 300 persons  1975: 12,317 persons• Increase of pollution control related budget
at national level
73.3 billion yen (1970)  333.1 billion yen(1975) ※about 5 times
at local level
373.5 billion yen (1970)  1.4258 trillion yen (1975) ※about 4 times• Spread of pollution control manager system
Increase in the number of pollution control organizations
1965: 5%  1970: 40%
1971: establishment of “Law concerning the Improvement of Pollution
Prevention Systems in Specified Factories”
Ministry of the Environment

Efforts made by Private Sector ①‐ Investment to pollution control ‐Increase in the investment to pollution control
公害防止投資額（億円）
防 投資額
investment
to ppollution control ((billion yyen))

10000

20

government loan and investment (billion yen)
政府関係機関による財政投融資（億円）

9000

公害防止投資比率（％）
ratio of pollution control investment (%)

17.1

17.5
15.3

8000

15

13.4

7000

12.5

6000
9.8

5000
4000

2000

5
3.1

2.9

3.5

7.5

6.5

6.5

3000

10

8.9

83
8.3
5.3

4.7

3.7

3.9

5
2.5

1000
0

0

1965

Ministry of the Environment

1970

1975

1980

9

Efforts made by Private Sector ②‐ Agreement on environmental pollution control ‐Agreement between private sector
and local governments/citizen’s group
Functions of the agreement
①
②

③

④

Supplement pollution control
measureNumber of factories with agreement
公害防止協定締結事業者数
on pollution control

10000
9000

Implementation of pollution
control with close attention to
local conditions

8000

Promotion of future pollution
control measures and promote
development of pollution
prevention technologies

5000

Prevention of protests against
location of factories by getting
agreement from local residents

協定不履行による措置件数
Number of non-compliance cases

8923

7096
7000
6000

5097
4000

3202

3000

2141

2000
1000

25

18

14

93

436

854
3

60

62

146

61

0
1965

1970

1975

Ministry of the Environment

Enforcement status of water pollution control law
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

289,091
36,139280,51735,506276,952
34,807274,039
34,271

271,242
33,964

Article 5（Establishment of Specified facilities）
Notification Article 7（Structure changes etc.）

6,279
3,963

6,670
3,986

6,174
3,841

5,075
3,530

5,307
3,539

Article 8（Order to change plans）
No of establishments inspected （Article 22.1）
inspection during night0
46,764768

047,410686

043,509575

042,367581

041,260
588

37
1

27
1

23
1

26
0

16
0

No. of specified establishments
average effluent more than 50㎥/day

Order for Improvement（Article 13）
Order to suspend operation（Article 13）
Order to purify groundwater（Article 14.3）

0

0

0

0

0

in writing
Oral

2,877
4,702

2,968
5,314

2,623
4,917

2,964
4,106

2,880
5,095

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

7,579

8,282

7,540

7,070

7,975

2,347

2,731

2,515

2,506

2,206

26

29

20

14

28

Others
total

5,380
7,753

5,849
8,609

5,346
7,881

4,943
7,463

6,010
8,244

Violation of effluent standards（Article 31.1.1）
Violation of order for improvement（Article 30）

12
0

11
0

13
0

6
0

11
0

Violation of water pollution control law (others)
Measuresto be taken in case of an accident
Ministry of the Environment

0
500

0
526

0
458

0
375

0
433
25

Number ofadministrative
direction
Contents ofadministrative
direction

10

State of Achievement of Environmental Standard• Health Items：
Achieved Environmental standard almost over the country

1.6

Cadmium
カドミウム

環
環境基準値超過検体率（％）

1.4

Total
cyanideotalcyanide
全シアン
1.2

鉛 LeadHexavalent

1.0

六価クロム
Chromium

Arsenic砒素

0.8

Total mercury
総水銀
0.6
PCB

0.4
0.2
0.0
※2009年度公共用水域水質測定結果

Ministry of the Environment

21

Amendment of Water Pollution Control Law■ Examples of Effluent standard excess and unsuitable cases of data manipulation
Outline of the main unsuitable cases in recent years
2005.2

A Corporation（Steel）• Discharge of water unsuited to the effluent standards• For more than 5 years, values that is rewritten over the measurement data thatexceeds the values decided in pollution control agreement

2009.3

B Corporation（Paper）• The water quality data were rewritten below the effluent standards• Camouflage the effluent diluted with river water so that the water quality could
meet effluent standards

2010.1C Corporation（Chemical）• The measurement consignment company was instructed to rewrite the analysis
data of exceeding effluent standards

Amendment of Water Pollution Control Law (2010.5) Strict actions against effluent data manipulation•

Establishment of penalty against negligence of records or false record of effluent

Measurement
items
Frequencyof measurement
Timing ofmeasurement• Items notified when established : more than once a year
• Other items : when required

Measurement record
retention period• Record tables for water quality measurement and charts have to be kept for 3 years

Penalties

Ministry of the Environment• Items defined by effluent standards for specified establishments• Season and timing when quality of the effluents are estimated to be worst• Less than 300 thousand yen

25

11

Tips of Water Pollution Control• Enhancement of laws and regulations• Guidance for factories and establishments by
public sector before punishment• Wise use of water resources reduces cost andpollution• The sooner,, the better

Ministry of the Environment

Thank you for your attention

Ministry of the Environment

2412