Global
Resource
Management
Journal for Information, Study and Discussion of Global Resource Management, Doshisha University
同志社大学リーディング大学院

グローバル・リソース・マネジメント ジャーナル

Vol.7

Table of ContentsVol. 7 issued March 2021

I. Preface ................................................................................................... 1

II. Research Note
1. HERNANDEZ, James Edward II Aquino
and ROLA, Armand Christopher Casiple“Factors Affecting the Entry of Foreign Operated Companies in thePhilippine Telecommunications Industry” ....................................... 2
2. KHALILI, Mostafa and HAMERSMA, Eco” Hydrogen Sulfide Emission and Policy Barriers to the Sustainable
Development of the Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant Facilities in
Kenya” ............................................................................................20

III. Course Reports
1. Group Work Practice Ⅲ (Spring Semester 2020)- HAMERSMA, Eco ..................................................................48- HERNANDEZ, James Edward II Aquino ...............................56
2. Group Work Practice Ⅴ (Fall Semester 2020)-

HAMERSMA, Eco ..................................................................66
HERNANDEZ, James Edward II Aquino ...............................78

Preface
1

I. Editor’s Preface
Minoru Inaba
Chief Editor, GRM Journal
Professor, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University
It is my great pleasure to announce the publication of the seventh volume of Global
Resource Management (GRM) Journal. The aim of this annual journal is “therealization of a society in which people having different culture background canlive and cooperate together by providing a space to publish new findings andachievements from activities of interdisciplinary nature with a viewpoint of
resource management or development”. This volume features two Research
Notes and several Student’s Course Reports.
The world is still suffering from the outbreak of the COVID19 virus, and theeconomy all over the world has severely stagnated. Many countries in the world
are now seeking to overcome this stagnation, and EU, USA, China, and Japan
started moving to the era of post-COVID19. The keyword is “Carbon Neutral”,
which means zero-out of the global warming carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. We
should not view this word negatively, but think it positively because it can create
new businesses to overcome the stagnation caused by COVID19. Japanese target
is the establishment of Carbon Neutral in 2050, and Prime Minister Suga recently
announced the prohibition of the sale of gasoline engine vehicles in the mid-2030s.
Japan has excellent global automobile companies and many battery manufactures,and the technology of electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries is the most advanced in
the world. It is also necessary to reconsider the power supply configuration. At
this time our life highly depends on the electricity from thermal power plants(75%) in Japan, and we should introduce more renewable energies including solar,
wind, and hydraulic power plants to achieve the target. I hope that Japan willplay a central role in establishing Carbon Neutral societies and industries in thenear future, and contribute to the zero-out of CO2 emission all over the world. I
also expect that the spirit of GRM will facilitate the technical cooperation withother countries.
Finally, the submission of Articles and Research Notes to this journal has been
open to all authors in the world since 2020. We welcome submission from authors
who are interested in the work and education of GRM.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
2
Factors Affecting the Entry of Foreign Operated Companies in thePhilippine Telecommunications Industry
James Edward Aquino Hernandez II1 and Armand Christopher Casiple Rola2
1

Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University
2

Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University

Abstract
This study investigates channels and obstacles influencing the successful entry of DITO as a firstpotential partly foreign-owned competitor in the Philippine telecommunications market. It also discusses
the history of private ownership in the telecommunications industry. During this history, thetelecommunications market is under the duopoly of local companies PLDT and SMART. We explore thetransition of Philippine telecommunications toward broadband utilization under the influence of thecurrent conglomerates, as well as attempts at foreign entry into the market. These involved changes inusage from GSM- to SIM-based broadband to fixed-line and wireless connection. We investigated recent
legislations concerning the management and approval of market competitors. These legislations directly
influence the ease of doing business in the country, which lead to easier access to infrastructure expansionof current, as well as future, companies entering the market. We also discuss the effects of the entry of
DITO on the reactions of the public, also identifying public concerns of data breaching and privacy
compromise as the main factors hindering the acceptance of the partly foreign-owned company inestablishing its infrastructure, which promises significant speed boosts along with cost reduction. We
calculated the reactions of the conglomerates, as well as the government. We found that the primaryeffects of foreign entry in the Philippines were responses from the incumbent companies in the forms of
rapid infrastructure investment and service improvement. We classified responses into “direct
constructive” and “indirect constructive” on the basis of the effective projected quality of goods andservices after a foreign company enters the market. This paper moreover discusses the politicization of
the telecommunications industry where the actions of the public sector are highly dependent on thegovernment. Recommendations include open collaboration between the public and private sectors while
maintaining competition to increase the quality of goods and services.
Keywords: Philippines, telecommunications, private institutions, policy
Table of Contents
I.

Introduction

II.

The Philippine Network Industry: History and Private OwnershipIII. Mobile Consumption
IV. Current Technologies in the Philippine Network
V.

Foreign Attempts at Entry in the Philippine Communications Market

VI. Entry of Chinese Telecommunications Companies in Pakistan: The Case of Zong

Research Note
3VII. Legislation Changes for Foreign Companies
VIII. Discussiona.

Physical- vs social-based hindrance in developmentb.

Constructive and destructive responses of the duopolyc.

Politicization of telecommunications development

VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations
I. Introduction
As of the present, the Philippines has one of the slowest and the most expensive internet connectivity
in Asia. With the increase in demand for internet connectivity, this issue continues to worsen especiallyduring the COVID-19 pandemic, where online services become the sole form of communication. As
these services extend to almost all forms of instant transaction such as banking and retail, disruptions, oreven intermittent downshift of the speed at which these are performed, significantly hinder rapid response,
specifically during periods of rapid disaster management. With the arrival of a new competitor in themarket, the effects of infrastructure-related issues are perceived to be mitigated. A company partly fundedby the Bank of China, DITO, previously known as “Mislatel,” has been approved for a 25-year franchisefor operating in the Philippines under House Bill 7332 (Rey 2020). As this company is partly foreignowned, possible imminent conflict between the company and its potential consumers is also discussed.
For these reasons, it is imperative to investigate the origins and factors that influence the entry of thisrising competitor. This paper has the following objectives:

To investigate the attempts of foreign companies in their entry in the Philippine telecommunications
market; and

To enumerate the responsibilities of governing bodies, as well as the aspects involved with regard
to foreign companies’ approval.
By identifying the factors that contributed to the entry of DITO in the market as well as those

involved in the government’s role in the emergence of the company, these can be utilized by future
investors in telecommunications service, as well as towards identifying market responses due to theintroduction of new competitors.
II. The Philippine Network Industry: History and Private Ownership
The Philippine private telecommunications sector has endured a long history of reform since theearly 1900s when PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications) served as the sole proprietorof telephone service in the archipelago. In 1992, 2G service was released, where the short-messaging
service for mobile phones was introduced. The monopoly of PLDT caused a significant lag in ICTdevelopment in the country, where the telephone penetration rate was under 4 percent in 1999 (Kim
2003). After liberalization of telecommunications markets via the implementation of Executive Order(EO) 59 in March 1993, additional private competitors such as Smart Communications and GlobeGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol.7
4
Telecom entered the market, significantly increasing the number of subscribers to 3.1 million in 2001
(Kim 2003). Following the boom of SMS, multimedia service (MMS) was introduced but adoption was
slower than the former due to the higher costs of operation (Lallana 2004).
After the success of text messaging and multimedia messaging, the country adopted the usage ofbroadband internet as one of the main forms of communication. Philippine internet connectivity began
in 1994 with the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) along with the first commercial internet service
provider (ISP) Mosaic Communications (ITU 2002). where the first established internet connection was
publicly funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with Philippine
universities including Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) and the University of the Philippines (UP)
(PHNet 2011). According to the report by the International Telecommunication Union in 2002,
subscribers could connect to the internet by means of cable modem, asymmetric digital subscriber line
(ADSL), and fixed wireless systems (ITU 2002). With the adaptation of the internet towards instantcommunication, shifts in messaging service via internet became more evident. There was a furthertransition from SMS message servicing to broadband in just around a matter of a decade, and cell service
providers such as Globe, Smart, and PLDT also explored the expansion of their offers towards being
internet service providers (ISP), with companies offering bundle internet and landline subscription.
Internet connection was coupled to landline subscription as a postpaid service, with the aim of increasing
consumers of the latter subscription. Internet connection was also made available via prepaid plans, where
the SIM card is inserted into a dongle connected via a USB on the computer, which acts as a wirelessinternet access antenna.
Currently, the options for internet connection fall under 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and LTE. Briefly, 2G
began in 1992, and involved text messaging service (GSMArena n. d.). The subsequent adoption of 3Gin the country began in 2008 where video call was enabled (Phys 2005). Support for the 4G network formodern smartphones was enabled after its launch in August 2012, which was done by SMART
Communications, enabling high-speed internet (Smart Communications 2012). Long-term evolution(LTE) availability was launched around the same time in Aklan Province. However, in 2019, Globe wasable to first release 5G broadband service in the country, as well as in Southeast Asia (Manila Standard2020).
III. Mobile Consumption
After the introduction of analog and, subsequently, digital cellular phones for SMS, the mobile
density in 2004 (number of telephone connections for every one hundred individuals) reached 27.77
percent, which is 25 percent higher than that of 1999 (Lallana 2004). The increasing number ofsubscribers from 6.45 million in 2000 to 167 million in 2019 is shown in Figure 1 (Ceicdata 2020). Rural
regions also benefited from the availability of SNS, which is an indispensable tool for communications
within the family (Pertierra 2007).

Research Note
5

1992
- 2G
Technology- SMS
messaging

2012
4G/LTE- 4G
Technology- Highspeed
internet

2008- 3G
Technology
Videoconferenc
ing

2020
- 5G mobile
service- FasterinternetspeedsFigure 1. Timeline of mobile internet access in the Philippines
Demand for Philippine mobile network subscription has rapidly risen since the early 2000s. The growth ofmobile phone subscribers has reached around 167 million ever since 2008, as shown in Figure 2. The Philippine
telecommunications industry is currently dominated by two conglomerates: Smart-PLDT and Globe Telecom.
As early as 2001, while PLDT monopolized the landline sector, the mobile phone market was overtaken by
Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, forming a duopoly, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2. Number of Philippine mobile phone subscribers from 2008 to 2019 (in millions) (CeicData, 2020).

(a)Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
6

Number of subscribers in the Philippine Market

1%
42%

PLDT
PLDT broadband
Globe

56%

Globe broadband

1%(b)Figure 3. (a) Percentage of the number of mobile phone subscribers in private companies within the mobile
phone market, 2001 (ITU, 2002) and (b) in 2020 (Trade.Gov, 2020)

Despite the many initiatives of the government in the early 2000s to boost internet connectivity
through construction of additional infrastructure, problems still exist for the current connectivity. The
number of internet subscribers only reaches, in case of the number of broadband subscriptions, around11.9 percent, as shown in Table 1.

Research Note
7
Table 1. Philippine ICT situation from 2010 to 2016 (individuals in millions), adopted from (Board of
Investors, 2018)

In terms of market competition, additional private companies participated in the market as ISPs
including Globe and Bayantel. However, PLDT still holds the largest market share as an internet service
provider, holding over 60 percent of the total shares, as shown in Figure 4. This shows the dominance ofthe company in both the mobile and the internet sector, with around a 59 percent market share.

Figure 4. Market share 2013 (DICT, 2017)

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
8
As seen in Table 1, even though there is an increased number of options that cater to theincreasing demand for internet connectivity, the number of connected individuals per household still does
not exceed half. One of the reasons for the low percentage of subscribers per 100 people can be traced tothe high prices of internet connection in the country. In 2013, the Philippines has the most expensive
internet service in Southeast Asia, shown in Table 2. The country also has the highest landline andpostpaid mobile broadband subscription prices. In 2015, for instance, the price of a mobile postpaid 1gigabyte data plan is 19.67 US dollars, whereas for Indonesia the cost amounts to 4.11 US dollars for thesame connection speed (ITI 2016).
Table 2. Price (in USD) of ICT services in South East Asia (ITI, 2016)

Brunei
Darussalam
Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao PDR
Malaysia
MyanmarPhilippines
Singapore
Thailand
Viet Nam

Fixed
Telephone

MobileCellular

Fixed
Broadband

Mobilebroadband,
postpaid
handsetbased

Mobilebroadband,
prepaidhandsetbased

Mobilebroadband,
postpaid
computerbased

Mobilebroadband,
prepaidcomputerbased

18.91

29.6

78.28

33.72

30.11

33.72

20.09

9.81
9.54
12.01
17.99
36.15
9.1
14.55
4.44

16.16
16.38
17.84
14.2
22.24
9.04
12.61
8.81

30.55
48.92
41.65
41.52
51.59
20.58
52.85
7.15

7
12.54
12.82
23.91
25.77
32.97
24.51
-

7
5.7
0
23.91
25.77
12.4
24.51
-

12.73
12.54
16.02
30.2
51.38
20.58
32.71
-

12.73
11.4
0
30.2
25.77
0
36.31
-

The current minimum wage in the Philippines is reported to be 445 pesos daily (DOLE 2019).
Assuming the least expensive monthly postpaid computer-based plan of 999 pesos (20 USD) (Smart2020), the subscription alone contributes to 9.7 percent of the total monthly income. Compared with a
KartuHalo promo from Telkomsel, an ISP in Indonesia, the plan costs 100 IDR, which is approximately
0.3 pesos per month (Telkomsel 2020), despite the Indonesian minimum wage being comparable to thatof the Philippines (TradingEconomics 2020).
In addition to the relatively huge costs of the internet service, the Philippines also admits tohaving one of the slowest connection services in Southeast Asia (Roberts and Hernandez 2014), with a 1
megabit per second difference compared to India while ranking 100th in terms of internet speed. The
primary cause for the slow internet speed in the country is the severe lack of infrastructure. As the demandfor internet connectivity increases (with 73 million subscribers as of 2020), internet quality becomes asignificant issue (Sanchez 2020). According to Albert et al. (2016), one of the other causes of increased
costs for the same connection speed is the occurrence of Internet Exchange (IX), which involves thesharing of data between ISPs instead of establishing fewer connections through private transfer (Albert
et al. 2016). Physical and social factors also contribute to the slow progress of connectivity improvement.
According to the 2016 report by Salac and Kim (2016), the main reasons for the slow infrastructure

Research Note9improvement involve geographical difficulty, bureaucratic procurement, and connection monopolization(Salac and Kim 2016). Since the Philippines is an archipelago, the construction of cell towers forconnectivity within the islands is more challenging than installation in a region within a wider land area.
Moreover, Salac and Kim (2016) stated that the government at that time also hindered infrastructuredevelopment due to bureaucratic structures, or red-taping. This is exacerbated by the current duopoly ofthe entire communication service, in which potential entrants could be met with agreements benefiting
the incumbent operators.

Figure 5. Philippine Network Architecture Adopted from
(Department of Information and Communications Technology, 2017)

Figure 6. Submarine cable networks in the Philippines (SubmarineCableMap.com, 2020)

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
10
IV. Current Technologies in the Philippine Network
In the study of the Bureau of Information in 2016, current Philippine connectivity is reliant on
three major telecommunications infrastructures: satellites, submarine cable systems, and radio masts andtowers (Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) 2018). The overall network architecture is shown in
Figure 5, where the main international cable backbone at Poro Point and Baler and its connection with
the national government network backbone for internet access are shown. Communication systems withthe use of satellites were employed by the Philippines mainly through the Philippine Communications
Satellite Cooperation (Philcomsat 2020), a mostly privately owned subsidiary of the Philippine Overseas
Telecommunications Corp. Satellites are utilized for long-range communications including maritime andtelevision broadcast and are essential for linking between far-flung regions. In terms of satellite-based
internet broadband, Philcomsat, together with a private Australian company Speedcast, is the main
provider (Philcomsat 2020). Satellite-based communication through a Wi-Fi installation project Pipol
Konek enabled the installation of 2,708 access points with the assistance of Republic Act 10929 (Liay2019). SMART-PLDT has also utilized satellites for broadband transfer with its own control center(Smart Communications 2020) to enhance international communications. Submarine communication
systems make use of long sealed fiber optic cables situated deep under the ocean in order to transmit datainternationally, as shown in Figure 6. The Philippines has nine cable landing stations all over thearchipelago, which is also dominated by the duopoly of PLDT and Globe (Submarine Cable Networks2020). In 2017, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), a publicly owned firm, alsoestablished two major submarine cable landing stations in Luzon in collaboration with the social media
company Facebook, which provides an additional connection of around 2 Tbps spectrum (Qiu 2017).
V. Foreign Attempts at Entry in the Philippine Communications Market
Due to the increasing demand for faster, more affordable internet, foreign investors also placed
their interest in competing within the Philippine market. Telstra Corporation, an Australian network
company, initially sought potential in the Philippine telecommunications market in 2016 (Marcelo 2018).
Along with the conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC), the potential installation of additional
infrastructure utilizing the 700 MHz frequency band was negotiated under the present dominance of
PLDT-Smart and Globe in the concurrent market (Albert 2016). Since the introduction of othercompetition would lead to lower profits for the present telco oligopoly, legal action was taken against
Telstra, where the company eventually did not push through with the investment. First investment
attempts of foreign-owned telecommunications companies that aim to improve these services faced
hostile responses from the current conglomerates (Marasigan 2015). Other reasons include the legislation
contained in Republic Act 7042, or the “Foreign Investments Act of 1991” in 2016, which states that
only 40 percent of telco ownership is possible (BOI 1991). In addition, the requirements imposed by
DICT including an initial investment amounting to at least 10 billion pesos, along with a five-year
experience within the telecommunications service reinforce the decision to not invest in the country

Research Note11
(Marcelo 2018). Other telcos that have pulled out or been rejected from the market include Telenor from
Norway, KT Corp from Korea, and Viettel from Vietnam (Lema and Morales 2018).
With the aim of addressing the increasing demand for better connectivity, a third telco, China
Telecommunications Corporation, or China Telecom, consolidated its deal with the Department ofInformation and Communications Technology (DICT) in establishing its own submarine cable network(Valdez 2018). In terms of radio masts and cell towers, over 18,000 were installed within the country, asof 2020 (Barton 2020). Around 50,000 additional towers are to be built to enhance wireless broadband
connection. As a result, DITO, under its owner Dennis Uy, an associate of the Philippine president
Rodrigo Duterte, has succeeded in entering the market competition and establishing plans to increaseconnectivity in the country. The company is the first foreign-owned network in the country, under the
consortium Mindanao Islamic Telecommunications Corporation (Mislatel) to which the firm Udenna
Corporation of Dennis Uy also belongs. In 2018, Mislatel was declared the new major player alongside
the concurrent duopoly (Cabuenas 2018). In 2019, Mislatel was renamed the DITO Telecommunity
Corporation, which possesses the 700, 2,000, 2,100, 2,500, 3,300, and 3,500 MHz frequency bands,
applicable to LTE and NR connectivity (Cabuenas 2018). The corporation plans to set forth its own
submarine network with a budget of 5.4 billion United States dollars (USD), 500 million USD of which
is provided by the Bank of China. The company was set to commence operation in March 2021.
According to DICT, DITO is already constructing 1,300 cell towers, and 1,502 towers are
already approved, which equates to around a total of 6,000 constructed towers from 2019 to 2020 (DICT2020). As of September 13, 2020, DITO has already constructed 859 cell sites (Camus 2020). However,unlike Telstra, DITO did not face numerous criticisms from the government during its entry. SMART
and Globe even received threats from the president of shutting down the two companies due to their poor
performance. With the aforementioned cases that turned to the favor of DITO, and also of the duopoly,
there will be smaller obstacles they could encounter when developing their infrastructure.
VI. Entry of Chinese Telecommunications Companies: The Case of Zong in Pakistan
China Telecom initiated its expansion in the telecommunications industry in Pakistan under the directiveof the One Belt and One Road initiative. In this initiative, the Chinese government aims to encouragemerging and acquisition practices as a form of internationalization for the increase of its competitive
advantage (Gnomblerou 2019, pp. 1-17). The bid for Paktel, the major telecommunications company ofPakistan at that time, was successful in 2006 where 89 percent of the holdings were obtained. In 2008,
holdings increased to 100 percent and the company was renamed Zong. In 2017, approximately 20
percent of total subscriptions in the country belong to the company (PTA 2017, p. 50). In order to succeedin entry, legal requirements are posed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, in which licenses
to operate were the only requirements.
Contributing factors in the success in the acquisition by China Telecom of the Pakistani company leading
to its entry involve those in which China and Pakistan have had successful agreements in trade andGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol.7
12business in general, with around 911 million USD worth of investments in Pakistan (Gnomblerou 2019,p. 9). Moreover, Pakistan has been regarded the most favored nation (MFN) by the Chinese government,
in which the country has been prioritized in respect of trading. With the history of trading between Chinaand Pakistan, as well as this designation between the two nations, these could have fueled the approval
for entry of Zong in the Pakistani telecommunications market.
Such historical strong trade relations between mainland China and the Philippines were also present, but
not at the level of MFN in Pakistan. In terms of Chinese telecommunications, DITO, if accepted, would
be the first foreign-owned company to enter the communications market. As for Philippines-China trade,
China is the fourth-largest importer of goods from the Philippines, amounting to 8,699 million USD, or
a 12.89 percent partner share. However, China is the top exporter amounting to 22,579 million USD(WITS 2021).
In terms of government intervention, the internationalization of China Mobile as a conglomerate washeavily influenced by the government in its Belt and Road initiative. The “Going Global” endeavor
encouraged the company to increase the amount of its foreign holdings. On the side of the Pakistani
government, its merge and acquisition policy regulation stated that foreign entry in the local market canbe approved either (a) if the entry would not raise concerns over competition decrease among the
concurrent businesses, or (b) if the entry would prove to be beneficial to the “efficiency or production of
goods and services” (Competition Ordinance 2007, Sec. 11). Another reason for encouraging the merge
is that the purchase by China Mobile of Paktel would include its USD 460 million debt (Wall Street
Journal 2007). In comparison, the Philippine government also had legislations that encourage thoseaiming for foreign direct investment in the country, particularly DITO, as will be discussed in the next
section.
VII. Legislation Changes for Foreign Companies
In response to the longstanding oligopoly, several branches of the government contributed to thehastening of procedures necessary for the application and approval of local and foreign-owned businesses
as these attempt to enter the telecommunications market. For instance, DICT is responsible for the“primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and [acting as the] administrative entity of the
Executive Branch of the government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT development
agenda” (DICT 2015). As the department concerned with the formation of regulations for the general
improvement of communication, it headed the National Broadband Plan, wherein these regulations aim
to “reduce the requirements and simplify the procedures required for the entry of market players whowant to build and operate internet-based networks” (DICT 2015) and organize installation of free Wi-Fi
in public places, as part of the AmBisyon Natin 2040 vision. DICT coordinates with the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which is responsible for the regulation and supervision of“public telecommunications services,” including broadband networks (NTC n.d.). Since both
departments are under the management of the president, any direct orders coming from the executive
would be heeded. Another recent reform of reducing the cell tower approval from 241 to 16 days wasResearch Note
13
implemented by DICT alongside the Anti-Red Tape Authority under the Ease of Doing Business andEfficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, which further boosted the infrastructuredevelopment (Masigan 2020). Moreover, consumers would be benefited by the enacted Bayanihan 2 Law,
which would grant a 60-day grace period for the payment of utility loans for consumers. The law also
sped up the construction of cell towers since, for a three-year suspension period, the building permit alone
can be used to secure legal establishment (Rojas 2020). The reformed law benefits the current
conglomerates as well as DITO as they increase capital expenditure. With these reformed legislations set,
the ease of doing business could increase due to the relaxation of imposed requirements to new local orinternational entrants in the market.
VIII. Discussion
a. Physical- vs social-based hindrance in development
The telecommunications infrastructure development of a country heavily relies on thecooperation of the government and the current private sector. Legislations are set forth by DICT and
DOTC, as executed by the president, in order to manage the activities of private businesses. In the caseof the Philippines, however, low service quality caused by poor infrastructure development is alongstanding issue. We see that, from the first use of mobile phones in the early 2000s until the transition
towards LTE technology in the 2010s, the services provided by local private companies significantly
lagged in comparison to those of neighboring countries. The reason for this can be classified as
institution-based issues, since these merely involved lack of coordination within the governing bodies
with those responsible for infrastructure construction, as compared with the challenge of construction
due to archipelagic geographical separation. The effect of monopolizing the internet is shown in the forprofit exploitation of expensive data transfer schemes that compromise the quality of the connection theend consumers deserve. For example, a 100 Mbps plan in the Philippines would have an average cost ofaround 56 USD, which is the fourth-most-expensive plan with the highest at 87 USD in South Africa andapproximately 21 USD in Thailand (Moneymax 2020). The problems of slow internet connectivity
reported by Salac and Kim, institution-based issues of government bureaucracy, and private company
duopoly are those that can be resolved with the proper initiative from either side. When the government
reformed its legislation such as within the National Broadband Plan, which caters for foreign-owned
network service providers, these problems were mitigated but the forthcoming investment was filled with
controversy, which triggered the incumbent conglomerates to react.
b. Direct and indirect constructive responses of the duopoly
When a new entrant in the market arises, reactions coming from the incumbent institutions could
be characterized into direct constructive and indirect constructive responses, defined in the following.
For the former, goods and services (e.g., infrastructure) of the existing company visibly improve upon
the entry of a new company by direct collaboration between the incumbent company and the foreign
entrant. This signals a complementary reaction to the entrant, allowing for overall development. For theGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol.7
14
latter, however, the entrant is hindered by inciting opposition, in a way that the incumbent companies
attempt to improve their own goods and services in order to increase competition, improving, however,
the overall quality of the infrastructure.
An example of a constructive response to a foreign entrant is that of Huawei in the Egypt market.
The Egyptian telecommunications system is similar to that of the Philippines, where the former also had
a longstanding duopoly of Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt before Etisalat entered in 2006 (China in Africa:
A Strategic Overview 2009). The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei entered Egypt in 2000
and undertook various projects alongside Telecom Egypt, the state-owned telephone company in the
country (Ahram Online 2016). One of these projects involves telephony expansion towards Suez Canalregions, which are considered remote.
An example of an indirect constructive response is when DITO successfully penetrated theinvestment market, the conflict between network service improvement and the possible avoidance of apotential security breach became the main issue. The reactions of the duopoly commenced as DITO began
aggressively investing in infrastructure reflected in their consequent service development, both in cell
tower construction and cost reduction of network upgrades. These companies showed that they can
respond to an incoming player through infrastructure improvements, and these investments themselves
proved that these incumbent operators did not have a financial issue as their main concern. Instead, themotivation of the duopoly was to mitigate the threat of competition due to the speculated improvementin network connectivity. The projected internet speed claimed by DITO would be 27 megabits per second,which is 7.6 percent higher than the July 2020 fixed broadband speed (Amadora 2020). From theperspective of the consumers, these improvements from the incumbent companies result in an overall
gain of the subscription quality.
c. Politicization of telecommunications development
From the rapid service improvements of SMART-PLDT and Globe in response to increased
competition, it can be stated that the increase in government-led allowance of foreign direct investment
directed these conglomerates towards the possibility of better service.
Having DITO as a pioneer of foreign direct investment in the Philippine telecommunicationsindustry shows the ability of the government to significantly alter the market. One of the main factors forthe success of DITO’s entry in the competition is its allegiance with the president, which was not present
in the Australian company Telstra. In the case of DITO, even the speculated data breach due to theplanned construction of cell towers near military bases was defended by the president (Reed 2019). Thus,
it can be stated that the Philippine telecommunications market is highly volatile due to political influencesince the government can freely promote companies as long as they are in line with the agenda of theadministration.
Poynter’s (1982) paper about government interventions in less developed countries confirms
these points. In his paper, the author was able to point out two arguments. The first is that the hostResearch Note
15
government maltreats foreign companies when the government comes to making decisions to intervene.
Where across-the-board intervention policies exist, the maltreatment takes the form of various degrees
of enforcement. The second one is these interventions are not a fact of life beyond the control of thecompanies. Government behavior in this regard can be partially described in terms of particular corporatecharacteristics and policies that can mostly be manipulated to reduce intervention (Poynter 1982).
However, in the case of DITO, the government adjusted the legislation not to hinder but to encourage theforeign investment to push through with the entry. Aside from enforcing ease-of-business-related
legislation amendments with regards to foreign entry, the entry itself has to bring forth incentives once
the foreign company finally undergoes full operations. The government can also initiate tax breaks for
all private telecommunications companies, as well as those that would attempt to enter the market toencourage further competition, allowing for additional improvement in the infrastructure. Bureaucratic
procedures could be hastened, such as that of cell tower construction, in order to expedite other investors
to participate in the telecommunications field.
IX. Conclusions and Recommendations
This paper explores the factors affecting the dynamics of entry of the Chinese
telecommunications company DITO in the Philippine market. It also discusses foreign attempts at market
entry, as well as the reactions of the current conglomerates to these attempts. It investigates the case of
Pakistan in the context of the state government facilitating the entry of China Telecom. And it classifies
responses to such entry as either direct or indirect constructive,
Since DITO has not yet officially entered the consumer market, a challenge for the governmentis to establish coordination with the private sector, especially with SMART and Globe, in hastening theconnectivity between far-flung areas, since these are the ones in dire need of connectivity, especially inthe case of the COVID pandemic wherein classes have transitioned into online instruction. Coordination
with other departments, such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as wellas the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), should also be conducted as local
communities would be affected by the construction of large-scale infrastructure. The role of the current
telco providers, on the other hand, may be furthering its consistency with their current investments. The
main role of DITO as a service provider is to coordinate with the government in ensuring the public of
its safety with its subscription. In gaining trust from the public, PLDT-SMART and Globe should
consolidate their expansive goals as well as their promises of improving the current connectivity situation.
As for DITO, prioritizing collaboration with locally recognized institutions should be achieved while
maintaining similar quality of service. Aside from social factors, the geographical condition of thecountry such as its propensity to encounter typhoons should be considered. Failure to do so would greatly
hinder the growth of the company despite its claims of significant network improvement.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
16
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Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
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Hydrogen Sulfide Emission and Policy Barriers to
the Sustainable Development of the Olkaria
Geothermal Power Plant Facilities in Kenya
Mostafa KHALILI1 & Eco HAMERSMA2,3
1 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan.
2Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.
3Global Resource Management, Institute for Advanced Research and Education, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract
Kenya is ranked first in the world in the percentage of geothermal energy in the national share of energy
production. This is an amazing feat of renewable energy adoption for a developing nation, something that is
not expected to diminish, as the nation’s Vision 2030 development plan outlines expanding the total
geothermal energy capacity over the next decade. This development has positive implications for Kenya,
particularly as its other most-used renewable energy source, hydroelectricity, is becoming increasingly
unreliable as a result of climate change-induced drought. One of the centers of Kenyan geothermal
development is the Olkaria region. This is a geologically active region in Hell’s Gate National Park. To date,
five of the facilities, aptly named Olkaria I through V, have been constructed in the park, with a further three
under construction or in advanced stages of planning. Furthermore, the existing facilities continue to be
upgraded and expanded. This has made Olkaria the largest supplier of geothermal energy in the region. Now,
the Kenyan government has worked to facilitate foreign investments to enter the Kenyan geothermal sector,
leading to significant outside investor interest. This foreign capital will help towards the Vision 2030 target.
However, although from a developmental perspective these events are positive, some concerns are
warranted, particularly regarding the emission of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. This gas is toxic to human aswell as plant and animal life in sufficiently high concentrations and a health concern as well as a generalnuance in lower concentrations. Reviewing the available literature has shown a lack of independent andverifiable measurements of H2S at the Olkaria facilities. Meanwhile, regulatory standards in Kenya as wellas those maintained by the main developer of geothermal power, KenGen, short for the Kenya Electricity
Generating Company, are based on WHO guidelines. These guidelines have been called into question by
medical professionals. As such, other nations that are either active in geothermal development or haveadvanced industries that also release H2S tend to maintain their own regulations below WHO standards.

Research Note
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Countries that have implemented such regulations have shown innovation to limit H2S emissions byproducing industries via the adoption of technological solutions.
This paper concludes that implementation of the currently available technologies is not too costly or
infeasible. However, the fact that Kenya, unlike several other developed countries, follows WHO guidelines
concerning H2S emission control is the main obstacle in preventing the adverse impact on human health andon the environment.

Keywords: Geothermal power plants, H2S emission, Olkaria, Geothermal regulations, Environmental safety
standards

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Significance of Geothermal Power Generation in Kenya
III. Development of the Olkaria Geothermal Field: International Investments
IV. Controversies Regarding H2S Emission Impacts in the Olkaria Region
V. Problematic WHO Standards for Setting Tolerable H2S Emission
VI. Possible Solutions and Suggestions
VII. Conclusion

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
22
I. Introduction
Today, the Republic of Kenya, a nation of nearly 50 million on the East Coast of Africa, is considered
one of the fastest-growing economies not just in the region, but among all developing nations. This economic
growth has awoken many foreign investors to this land of new opportunities. In as much as it is a universal
economic constant, the more an economy develops, the more it hungers for energy resources. However, thenational government as of yet lacks the capacity and resources to keep up with the growth in demand andhas, therefore, not wishing to stilt economic growth, opened the energy sector to foreign investment. Withoutskipping a beat, many international companies and organizations have now started to invest in the Kenyan
power generation sector thereby becoming one of the most successful nations in attracting renewable energy
investments (Kazimierczuk 2018, p.434).
Among the myriad sources of clean and renewable energy available for the powering of its economy,
Kenya is blessed by abundance. The capital city Nairobi receives significant solar radiation (Onyango &Ongoma 2015); the 1,420-kilometer coastline in the east and White Highlands in the west offer some of thehighest potential wind energy in all of Africa (Kazimierczuk 2018, p.435; Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) n.d.); and the Great Rift Valley, running from the White Highlands north toLake Turkana, is one of the premier places to access the geothermal energy of the geophysical processes atour earth’s interior, with Kenya possessing a greater energy potential than the demand of nearly any of thenations on the continent (Merem et al. 2019). In particular, the latter was adopted as an opportunity by the
Kenyan government as one of their best bets for sustainable growth, leading to several projects aimed to set
up geothermal power plants in the Olkaria region, a region located in the Rift Valley (Adaramola 2014).
As the aforementioned rapid growth needs to be sustainable, this paper focuses on the sustainability
aspects of geothermal power plants. After providing an overview of the Kenyan energy sector and an outlineof the Olkaria facilities, we will have a critical view of the recent developments regarding specifically theirenvironmental impacts. Olkaria is located inside Hell’s Gate National Park as it fittingly called, on land thathas been used by the pastoralist Maasai community and various kinds of wildlife since ancient times. As
such, there have been some tensions and conflict between the Maasai community and the developers of the
Olkaria power plants in recent years. One particular issue worth further scrutiny is the environmental impactsof releasing H2S into the atmosphere.

Research Note
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Neither Kenya’s legislature nor its regulatory bodies have adopted any specific restrictions regarding H2Semissions, opting instead to follow guidelines set out by the World Health Organization (WHO). This paper
aims to investigate why following these guidelines alone cannot guarantee the negation of severe health andenvironmental impacts, particularly in cases involving the large-scale concentration of geothermal facilities
such as those found in states with the wide adoption of geothermal power. As such, we will outline some ofthe specific environmental concerns of H2S emissions by contrasting WHO guidelines with the regulatory
standards of OECD members active in the geothermal industry, allowing us to formulate experience-based
recommendations for the Kenyan geothermal sector.

II. Significance of Geothermal Power Generation in Kenya
The energy sector in Kenya comprises its energy and electricity production, consumption, and imports.
As a result of Kenyan economic growth, so too is the energy sector rapidly expanding. Today, energy
production is divided among several renewable and non-renewable resources. The largest share is made up
of geothermal at 47.1%, followed by hydro at 38.9%, and diesel at 12.4%. Wind makes up a tiny 1.04%
share while the remaining 0.63% is purchased from the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (KPLC
2020). The combined total effective grid-connected capacity was 2712 MW in 2018. Although lower thaninitially projected, this number is expected to grow to 7200 MW by 2030 (Obulutsa & Fenton 2019). Not
only to meet the demands of the future but also to diversify the nation’s energy mix, the Vision 2030 Strategy
outlines expanding the usage of various forms of energy. Unfortunately, the largest-growing segments inthis plan are composed of non-renewable resources, particularly nuclear, set to make up 19%, and coal at
13%, of the energy mix in 2030 (see figure 1).

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Figure 1. Projected energy mix by generation type as outlined in the Vision 2030 Strategy.
(Source: Kianji 2012)

Although the expansion of non-renewable resources is part of Kenya’s development plans, the nation isstill aiming for climate-compatible economic development and as such has launched several initiatives totackle issues of poverty, development, and climate simultaneously. This climate-compatible development(CCD) approach, developed by the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR) in 2012, seeks
to integrate CCD thinking within the frame of national development strategies. In particular, wind andgeothermal are targeted to see significant growth in terms of installed capacity. By 2031, the expected
geothermal capacity would exceed the entire nation’s total 2020 capacity at 5530 MW. This is a planned
growth of geothermal resource utilization of a massive 2,793% between the period 2012 to 2031, going from
198 MW to 5,520 MW (Kianji 2012). This would see geothermal energy maintaining its lead as theparamount source of Kenyan energy.
Geothermal power has many advantages over other forms of renewable energy. It is not affected byweather; resource depletion is not a major factor; and it is generally considered carbon neutral. Given such
benefits and the abundance available to Kenya due to its geographic location, these developments makesense. Specifically, as the second-most-utilized renewable resource, hydroelectricity is becoming
increasingly unstable as a result of climate change-induced drought (Micale et al. 2015, p.3). However, there
are also some disadvantages such as the high barrier of entry in the form of high development costs, highResearch Note
25
maintenance costs, and the adverse impact on tourism resources. Most notably for the purposes of this article
is the environmental damage as a result of H2S emission into the atmosphere.
Before we investigate H2S emissions at the Olkaria facilities, it is important to first understand theprimary actors involved in developing Kenya’s geothermal industries. KenGen, short for the Kenya
Electricity Generating Company, is the largest power production company by market share at approximately
75%. Furthermore, KenGen is a majority state-owned enterprise with 70% of shares in the hands of thenational treasury (KenGen 2020a, p.2). Meanwhile, the company managing customer relations for
distribution to consumers, handling all billing and metering, is the Kenya Power and Lighting Company(KPLC). It is to KPLC that KenGen sells its power through power purchasing agreements (PPAs).
Meanwhile, KPLC contracts the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), which handles the
distribution over its transmission network, allowing KPLC to reach its customers and Kenya to sell its
renewable energy to neighboring states.
Facilitating geothermal developments is the Geothermal Development Company (GDC), wholly ownedby the Kenyan state. It is this company that both develops and exploits geothermal resources, selling its
services to KenGen and other independent power producers or IPPs (GDC 2017). This includes selling thegeothermally heated steam for the geothermal power plants in the Olkaria region, the details of which will
be outlined in the following section. GDC also promotes alternative sustainability measures related togeothermal power including agricultural processes such as greenhouse heating, the drying of grain, and milk
pasteurization as well as general-purpose heating applications.
Another significant player is Ormat Technologies. While KenGen owns the majority of the Olkaria
facilities, this US firm operates the Olkaria III facility through their subsidiary OrPower Inc., making it thelargest private power generator in the country (Richter 2019b). In line with the nation’s Vision 2030 Strategy,
such private sector participation is deemed to be necessary to raise the required capital for economic
development. Via its own 20-year PPAs, the power generated by OrPower is also sold to KPLC (USSecurities & Exchange Commission 2007, p.2; Micale et al. 2015, p.8). Beyond the Olkaria III facility,
which is alternatively known as OrPower 4, Ormat also partners in projects for other facilities such as theMenengai I Geothermal Power Station, also known as OrPower 22. Ormat Technologies is a significant
player in the geothermal industry with facilities in places such as California, Turkey, and New Zealand.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
26
Altogether, the above stakeholders have contributed positively to Kenyan development as the quality ofthe electricity supply, measured by the frequency of interruptions and the fluctuations in voltage, is among
the best in the region (World Bank 2017). According to the International Energy Agency, Kenya is nearing
total universal energy access for all citizens (IEA 2020) with the 2018 Kenya National Electrification
Strategy (KNES) having set a universal electricity access target for 2022 (Obulutsa & Fenton 2019; WorldBank 2018).

III. Development of the Olkaria Geothermal Field: International Investments
After an overview of the main players in power distribution, it is critical to understand the development
process of the geothermal power plants in Kenya. As a result of the need for high initial investments, different
international organizations and investors have played a significant role in developing the Olkaria power
plants following their financial or political interests in the project. Furthermore, we should present a thoroughsite description: In the southern part of Kenya’s Nakuru County, approximately 120 kilometers northwest of
Nairobi, located directly south of the Naivasha Lake and Oloidien Bay lies Hell’s Gate National Park withthe villages of Kamere, Kongoni, and Watalii being the closest inhabited areas. Hell’s Gate National Parkroughly corresponds with the Olkaria volcanic complex that formed about 20.000 years ago (see figure 2).
The last known eruption took place around 1770 CE (Smithsonian Institution 2013). The site is currently
home to five geothermal power stations, aptly named Olkaria I through V, which each comprises several
units.

Research Note
27

Figure 2. Location of the major fault lines (a) in Eastern Africa and the Great Rift Valley (b) in Kenya. The
Olkaria site is highlighted just south of Naivasha Lake.
(Source: Fadel et al. 2021)

The exploitation of the geothermal resources at Kenya’s oldest geothermal power plant started in 1981
with the 15 MW Olkaria I plant, which was later expanded to 45 MW. By 2015, an additional 140 MW
capacity was added via two new units, bringing the total to five units for Olkaria I (GeoSteam Services 2015).
In 2018, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided a loan of 95 million USD to allow for
the refurbishment of Olkaria I’s units 1, 2, and 3, upgrading their capacity to 50.7 MW, bringing the total
capacity of Olkaria I to 190.7 MW (Otuki 2018; JICA 2018), thereby nearly exceeding 2012’s installedcapacity with just a single plant (Kianji 2012).
Olkaria II was conceived around the same period as Olkaria I. However, problems with accessing
adequate funding resulted in significant delays. In 2000, the project was restarted following funding by theWorld Bank, European Investment Bank (EIB), and the German development bank KfW, eventuallyGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol.7
28
completing with a combined 70 MW capacity in 2003. The plant was expanded in 2010 with an additional
35 MW unit financed by the EIB, International Development Association (IDA), and French Development
Agency as well as KenGen (Richter 2010).
Although generally referred to as Olkaria III, this plant actually started operation three years prior to
Olkaria II in 2000. This plant is not owned by KenGen, but instead by OrPower Inc. It is made up of four
units of varying capacity from one unit of 48 MW, one of 38 MW, to two units of 26 MW (Renewable
Energy World 2016; Micale et al. 2015, 6; Ormat 2011). Being the first privately financed geothermal projectin Kenya, the initial investment was shouldered entirely by Ormat Technologies. Once the viability of the
project had been sufficiently proven, the project was refinanced and expanded, adding the two 26 MW
generators, and undergoing a major upgrade of Unit 1, which was completed in January of 2009, bringing it
to its current capacity from the 8 MW at its inauguration (UN 2018).
The development of Olkaria III was made possible through significant facilitation by the Kenyan
government via its “Build, Own and Operate” scheme and risk-mitigating incentives. Also, KenGen
supported the project via data sharing and the donation of the equivalent of 8 MW in geothermal wells tobootstrap the project. Experience gained from Olkaria III has contributed to the development of theaforementioned state-owned Geothermal Development Company, which now assumes the role that KenGen
provided for Ormat for other potential IPPs (Micale et al. 2015). Although perhaps as of right now the
exception in the Olkaria region, the project nevertheless indicates the potential of private investment in
geothermal resources.
Olkaria IV is a 140 MW plant commissioned in 2014 that was financed by the World Bank, EIB, and
KenGen. Consisting of two identical generator units with a nameplate capacity of 70 MW, the facility was
designed as a more modern version of the Olkaria II plant (KenGen 2010).
Another JICA-financed project is the Olkaria V plant, the most recently completed plant that, according
to a tweet by KenGen, started operation of its first unit in June of 2019 at 86.6 MW (KenGen 2019). This
capacity was then roughly doubled with the activation of the second unit in October of the same year. Madepossible by a JICA loan of 387 million USD, the largest loan ever granted by JICA in Japanese ODA history,
the plant is currently the most modern active installation. This loan was provided on a concessional basiswith a 0.2% annual interest rate and a 30-year repayment period (JICA 2018; Njini 2016).

Research Note29
At the time of writing, the next iteration, the 140 MW Olkaria VI, is under construction and is slated tobe completed in 2022. This plant will be the first public-private partnership undertaken by KenGen. Startingwith the PPP Act of 2013 and the promulgation of regulations in 2014, Kenya created the frameworknecessary for the next format to attract the necessary capital to develop its geothermal resources (KenGen
2019, pp.4-14). For the Olkaria VI project, similar agreements are outlined as in the case of Olkaria III: a
25-year steam supply agreement with KenGen and a 25-year PPA with KPLC. To facilitate this under a PPP,the project outlines a special-purpose vehicle (SPV), in which KenGen can have a maximum ownershipstake of 25%. Furthermore, KenGen acquires the land lease agreement from the Kenyan Wildlife Service,
which it then sub-leases to the SPV (KenGen 2019, pp.5-6). As of November of 2020, the interested parties
to enter the PPP agreement and invest a majority of stake in the SPV are Ormat Technologies, Itochu
Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, and Enel Green Power (Richter 2020).
Beyond the facilities Olkaria I through VI, there are two more in the planning stages, Olkaria VII and
VIII. Both are expected to be 140 MW facilities with two units each similar to Olkaria IV and V. VII is
tentatively projected for 2022 with VIII to be completed at a later date. It is expected that developments will
not halt as a projected 10,000 MW potential lies beneath the surface of the Great Rift Valley (Rotich 2016,
p.6; Micale et al. 2015, p.3).
Table 1. Overview of the geothermal power plants in the Olkaria region
Power
Plant
Olkaria I

Owner
KenGenOlkaria II

KenGenOlkaria
III, aka
OrPower
4

Ormat
Technologies

Unit

Output

Notes

Unit 1

Date ofCommissioning
June 1981

50,7 MW

Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 1

November 1982
March 1985
December 2014
February 2015
Projected 2021
2003
2003
May 2010
2000

50,7 MW50,7 MW75 MW
75 MW
83.3 MW
35 MW
35 MW
35 MW
48 MW

Initially, units 1, 2, and 3 were rated
at 15 MW.

Unit 2

2013

36 MW

Unit 3

2014

26 MW

Unit 4

February 2016

26 MW

OlkariaIV

KenGenUnit 1
Unit 2October 2014
2014

75 MW
75 MW

Olkaria V

KenGenUnit 1

June 201986.6 MW

Construction of units 1 and 2 began in1986 but was delayed due to a lack offunding.
Olkaria III is the only plant on site
not owned by KenGen. However,according to the power purchaseagreement, KenGen is the buyer.
Unit 1 originally had a generation
capacity of 8 MW, before being
upgraded in January 2009.
In October of 2020, KenGen issued aprocurement notice seeking a turbine
upgrade to 85 MW at units 1 and 2.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
30
Unit 2
OlkariaVI

OlkariaVII
Olkaria
VIII

PublicPrivate
Partnership

October 2019
Projected 2022

86.6 MW140 MW

Projected 2023

140 MW

Planning stage

140 MW

Potential PPP joint venture partners
are Ormat Technologies, Itochu
Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation,
and Enel Green Power.

Compiled by the authors from the following sources: KenGen 2020 B; Richter 2020; Richter 2019 A;
Richter 2018; Otuki 2018; Micale et al. 2015.

IV. Controversies Regarding H2S Emission Impacts in the Olkaria Region
The Olkaria site has become one of the largest producers of geothermal power in the world, bringing
Kenya as a developing nation to the forefront of renewable energy development. Compared with fossil andnuclear energy resources, geothermal power plants are considered to have only a minor environmental
impact. The main environmental concern is the discharge of non-condensable gases into the atmosphere,
most notably hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4) (Ndetei 2010, p.442).
Of the geothermal byproducts, H2S is considered to be the single most significant health concern related
to geothermal energy development due to the risk of it causing several physiological responses (Reiffenstein
et al. 1992; WHO 2000). H2S is a colorless, flammable gas, with a distinctive smell of rotten eggs at low
concentrations. It is toxic in higher concentrations when it becomes undetectable by humans (Irene 2009).
Releasing this gas during the drilling process and later after steam utilization has been completed is one of
the main sources of this type of air pollution and needs serious consideration both from the environmental
protection perspective and its impact on the workplace of the personnel and the local communities living
nearby.
The effects of H2S are toxic to the human body, though the actual results are dependent on the dosage.
As such, these effects can be grouped into three classifications, namely acute, subacute, and chronic. Whena person is exposed to a large amount of H2S, exceeding 1,000 ppm, the acute response is shown in the
nervous system via the inhibition of cytochrome oxidase. The effect on this enzyme is similar to that ofcarbon monoxide; the enzyme fails to function as intended leading to cell death via cellular asphyxiation(Nicholls et al. 2013). The pace of breathing will increase, expelling carbon dioxide eventually leading to
respiratory inertia, and without treatment to suffocation and potentially death. If the exposure dosage is not
as severe, in the 100 to 600 ppm range, then a subacute response is noticeable in irritation of the eyes andResearch Note31
respiratory tract. Although such irritation is less severe than the acute response, it can nevertheless lead tocomplications and death. The third classification, chronic, is in the 50 to 100 ppm range and can lead toindividual cases of illness that might be similar to those found in the subacute classification (Sinclair Knightand Partners 1994). The table below shows the pathophysiological responses to different levels of H2S in the
air.
Table 2. Compilation of pathophysiological responses to hydrogen sulfide at various concentrations in air
from various public institutions
Concentration(ppm)
0.00011–0.00033
0.00050.01–1.5

Expected Effects/Symptoms

Normal range for background concentrations (OSHA)
Lowest concentration by human olfactory senses (ATSDR)
Odor threshold (when a rotten egg smell is first noticeable to some). The odor
becomes more offensive at 3–5 ppm. Above 30 ppm, odor described as sweet or
sickeningly sweet (OSHA).
2–5
Prolonged exposure may cause nausea, tearing of the eyes, headache, or loss of
sleep. Airway problems (bronchial constriction) in some asthma patients(OSHA).
20
Possible fatigue, loss of appetite, headache, irritability, poor memory, dizziness(OSHA).
50 – 100Slight conjunctivitis (“gas eye”) and respiratory tract irritation. May cause
digestive upset and loss of appetite after 1-hour exposure (ANSI and OSHA).
100
Coughing, eye irritation, loss of sense of smell after 2–15 minutes. Alteredrespiration, pain in the eyes, and drowsiness after 15–30 minutes followed bythroat irritation after 1 hour. Several hours of exposure results in a gradualincrease in severity of these symptoms and death may occur within the next 48
hours (ANSI and OSHA).
100 – 150
Loss of smell (olfactory fatigue or paralysis) (OSHA).
200 – 300
Marked conjunctivitis and respiratory tract irritation after 1 hour of exposure(ANSI and OSHA). Pulmonary edema may occur from prolonged exposure(OSHA).
500 – 700
Staggering, collapse in 5 minutes (OSHA). Serious damage to the eyes. Loss of
consciousness and possibly death in 30 minutes - 1 hour (ANSI and OSHA).
700 – 1000
Rapid unconsciousness, “knocked down,” or immediate collapse within 1 to 2
breaths, cessation of respiration, and death within minutes (ANSI, ATSDR, andOSHA).
1000 – 2000
Unconsciousness at once, with early cessation of respiration and death in a few
minutes. Death may occur even if an individual is removed to fresh air at once
(ANSI and OSHA).
Abbreviations: ANSI, American National Standards Institute; ATSDR, Agency for Toxic Substances andDisease Registry; OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (1 ppm = 1.5 mg/m3)(1 g/m3 = 1.5 ppm.)(Source: Rubright et al. 2017; Selen et al. 2003)

In Kenya, environmental protection measures for the benefit of present and future generations are
considered in Articles 69 and 70 of the Kenyan Constitution, according to which any release of noxious
agents that may cause health or environmental problems are considered as a violation of constitutional rights

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
32(Government of Kenya 2010). Protection of the environment was recently taken more seriously, with thepromulgation of the Environmental Management Coordinating Act of 2015. In particular, Section 93 outlines
the prohibition of discharging dangerous substances, either into water or otherwise into the environment.
Administrative fines can be enforced on top of the cost of environmental restoration. For air quality standard,in particular, the Environmental Management and Coordination Regulations of 2009 outline the pollutants
that are not allowed to exceed predefined ambient air limits in outside spaces.

Figure 3. Emissions (including H2S) from the cooling towers at Olkaria IV.
(Source: Authors)

Figure 4. Emission (including H2S) from the discharge and flow testing wells at East Olkaria.
(Source: Authors)

Research Note
33
In line with WHO guidelines, these regulations set an acceptable H2S concentration at 150 μg/m3
averaged over 24 hours, without being exceeded for more than two days consecutively (EMCA 2015). These
WHO guidelines are also the guidelines that KenGen adheres to independently (KenGen 2010). As such,their annual reports of the H2S measurements at any of the Olkaria power plants all declare that theconcentration of the gas is significantly below the WHO standards. However, there is a lack of third-party
independent assessment of the H2S emission in the region, with most of the reports concerning the issue
being prepared either by KenGen itself or affiliated individuals. In the absence of employing an independent
third party to keep track of emission levels at the different sites, across the region, and at different periods,
there are only a few academics who were granted permission to measure the exposure amount independently,
though for only for short periods.
Another example of reports prepared by the KenGen-affiliated scholars is provided by Ndetei (2010), a
former student in the United Nations University’s Geothermal Training Programme, while still affiliatedwith KenGen at the same time. His predictive modeling of the Olkaria I and II plants suggests H2S
concentrations equaling 118 μg/m3 per 24 hours and 99 μg/m3 respectively (Ndetei 2010, p.457). Whenattempting to predict the concentrations for the, at the time under construction, Olkaria IV plant, it too wasestimated to be below the WHO guideline threshold (Ndetei 2010, p.458). As such, public acknowledgmentof a potentially hazardous situation by Ndetei could be interpreted as having been problematic. Therefore,
this study warrants both expansion to the now newly completed Olkaria facilities as well as independent
verification. It is furthermore likely that for this reason the Olkaria III power plant (OrPower 4) was notincluded in the study, being outside KenGen control. This lack of independent verification challenges someof the data provided by KenGen due to the obvious conflict of interests.
In a study from the year 2000, conducted by Marani and his colleagues from the School of Environmental
Studies at Moi University, Kenya, the concentrations of H2S at different distances from the power station as
well as a discharging well were monitored. Their measurements showed that the H2S concentration exceeded
7.5 ppm over a half-hour period at least once in a two-week period, which is over the standards claimed byKenGen. The highest level of H2S was observed when the winds were calm, the humidity was high, and theatmospheric temperature was low. While their measurement was conducted over an 11-day period, they
concluded that, depending on the weather conditions, the concentration of H2S may rise to an unsafe level

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
34
for human health, plants, and wildlife. Therefore, their report calls for the need to maintain a constantmonitoring program and early warning system (Marani et al. 2000).
Irungu (2017) conducted a study where he dealt with the impacts of ambient H2S exposure to workers in
Olkaria. His study focused on monitoring ambient H2S concentrations in 37 sampling points distributed in
the Olkaria I and II power plants. The measurement method used gas monitors such as the QRAEII 4 gas
monitor type at a height of 1.5 meters for a maximum of one-minute concentration in each of the 37 selected
points. His experiment demonstrated that the level of exposure to ambient H2S level was below 10 ppm fora shift of eight hours during the measurement period on March 2012, which is in line with WHO standards.
The average measured amount of H2S for Olkaria I reported by KenGen for the period between 1997 to 2011
was 0.67 ppm per hour, while Irungu measured 0.97 ppm in March 2012 (Irungu 2017, pp.66-70). Such
differences are also reported in the case of Olkaria II, where the reported hourly amount of H2S was 0.23
ppm by KenGen while the measured amount in March 2012 illustrates emissions that were almost double at
0.41 ppm. While Irungu’s measured amounts are still below WHO standards, such a big difference between
KenGen’s measured amount and his sample is difficult to ignore.
More importantly, Irungu (2017, pp.59-67) goes further to investigate the possible health issues of H2Semission on the KenGen staff working in the region. The number of visits to the nearby Mvuke Clinic in the
period of 2009 to 2011 with the clinical symptoms of H2S exposure was 157, which comprise 37 individuals
out of the sample of 40 (92.5%), working in the operation and maintenance sectors. They made 3.39 visits
on average to the clinic compared to the 1.83 average visits by their co-workers in the other areas of thesame department, which illustrates the need for serious consideration in revisiting the standards that KenGen
follows (Irungu 2017, p.68). According to the clinical reports, some of the common symptoms were related
to breathing problems, upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), bronchitis, coryza, mouth sores, pharyngitis,
rhinitis, sinusitis, sore throat, and tonsillitis. Other symptoms reported by the clinic were reddening of theeyes, hypertension, and headache including chronic headaches that are related to strain.
Such an increase in health problems is also reported by some members of the Maasai community, theindigenous tribe residing in the Olkaria region. However, we could not find reliable data from the hospitals.
It should also be considered that, as the Maasai tribal people have a traditional way of life, they barely visit
the hospital for their health problems. But this should not be interpreted as H2S emission having no impact
on their health. While there have been several protests and riots against their land acquisition, the noise, andResearch Note35
the environmental issues occurring in the region since the early stages of development of the Olkaria power
plants (Koissaba 2014; Mwebe and Jika, 2018), the KenGen report does not mention such issues.

V. Problematic WHO Standards for Setting Tolerable H2S Emission
The Kenyan situation is by no means historically unique, as all developed states have had to deal with the
adoption of environmental regulations, including those dealing with H2S emissions. In the initial phase,states tend to adopt the World Health Organization’s guideline of 150 μg/m3 averaged over 24 hours (WHO
2000, p.33). These standards have, however, been called into question for nearly three decades. In a 1992
study conducted by a group of medical doctors on the acute health effects of H2S release at the South Karelia
industrial site in Finland, it was revealed that, even with a 43 μg/m3 hydrogen sulfide emission, which ismore than three times below WHO standards, 63% of the respondents reported at least one symptom causedby exposure. They concluded that the WHO standard is too high and does not provide prevention of adverse
health effects (Haahtela et al. 1992).
The fact that the H2S norms in ambient air are not considered in large parts of the regions and countries
in the world might be the reason behind the reluctance of the WHO in reconsidering its regulations. H2Semissions have only become a major issue in the regions where heavy industry or geothermal power
generation is utilized on a large scale. Therefore, many countries do not have ambient air quality standards
for H2S. For example, the European Union’s Air Quality Standards do not outline H2S (European
Commission 2019). However, when looking at specific cases in Europe, such as in the Netherlands, astandard of 100 μg/m3 averaged over 14 days is considered the health norm (Mooij 2011, p.54).
When narrowing our focus to other countries that have made remarkable strides in geothermal power
adoption, we undoubtedly find Iceland. The OECD recognizes the achievements in renewable energy
adoption that Iceland has made over the last decades. However, they warn that these developments are notwithout their own negative caveats, including the aforementioned H2S emissions (OECD 2015). So too havethe local population near Hellisheiði Power Plant indicated that they are suffering under H2S emittance,
which under certain weather conditions can reach settlements (Gunnarsson et al. 2011). In 2010, Iceland
adopted Regulation No. 514/2010, aimed to set limits on the atmospheric H2S concentrations. This limit isset at 50 μg/m3 averaged for a runtime of 24 hours with only three incidental yearly allowed exceedances(EIB 2016; OECD 2014, p.9). This limit is significantly lower than the WHO guidelines. Hellisheiði has

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
36
exceeded both WHO guidelines and Icelandic regulations on numerous occasions, leading to an EIB-funded
upgrade program to install an H2S capturing system, “SulFix,” allowing for subterranean injection (EIB
2016; Kristjánsdóttir 2014).
As is often the case in the development of new industries, such as Icelandic geothermal power, thetechnology and its implications tend to outpace legislation. Such reactive policy is often the result of civil
unrest originating from disturbances caused by the novel technological implementation within newgeographic spaces. For instance, the Icelandic environmental policy has been considered to have developed
at a relatively late stage (OECD n.d., p.2). As such, we will briefly outline the development of Icelandic
policy towards H2S emissions and see what lessons Kenya can draw from these experiences.
During the planning phases of the Nesjavellir (2000) and aforementioned Hellisheiði (2005) geothermal
power facilities, environmental impact assessments were carried out according to European regulations.1
Originally outlined in European Council Directive 85/337/EEC, such assessments are designed to explain
the direct and indirect project effects on, and interactions of, among others, soil, water, and air quality as
well as human, plant, and animal life. This European directive was later expanded on in national legislation
with Environmental Impact Assessment Act No. 106 (Iceland 2000). Both geothermal facilities were
eventually completed and several studies on the effects of their H2S emissions have since been conducted,
challenging the earlier environmental assessments and WHO guidelines. These include a study on theincreased mortality rate over the period from 2003 to 2009 (Finnbjornsdottir et al. 2015), and another on
increased drug distribution associated with H2S levels between 2006 and 2008 (Carlsen 2010). Since 2010,
Iceland has strengthened its legislation to limit H2S emissions, primarily due to complaints from residents
near geothermal power stations about the aforementioned 50 μg/m3 limit (EIB 2016; OECD 2014, p.9).
Much like Kenya, Iceland is dependent on a green image for its economic development (OECD n.d., p.2).
Two of the largest Icelandic industries are fisheries and tourism, which greatly benefit from environmental
protection regulations. And while fisheries are not as important for Kenya as they are for Iceland, Kenya’s
world-renown safari tourism is equally dependent on the protection of the environment. In the case of the
Olkaria geothermal developments, this is a particularly significant issue due to their location within Hell’sGate National Park.

1

Iceland is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Research Note
37
Beyond the Icelandic example, there are several other major adopters of geothermal power that haveadopted regulatory standards stricter than WHO guidelines. For instance, the US Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) of California, the US state that produces 71.2% of the nation’s geothermal power,
maintains an even more stringent H2S emission standard of 43 μg/m3 averaged over one hour (USEIA 2020;
Nolasco 2010, p.188). Also, the US state of Wyoming maintains regulations lower than the WHO guideline
at 70 μg/m3 averaged over a half-hour period, not to be exceeded more than two times per year, or 40 μg/m3
averaged over a half-hour period, not to be exceeded more than two times in any five consecutive days
(Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality 2015, p.4).
In New Zealand, the guidelines are even more strict than those of the Californian USEPA at 7 μg/m3
average over an hour period. The rationale behind such a low limit is based not on health concerns per se
but rather odor nuisance in a more general sense. However, the actual ministerial guidelines question thesuitability of this limit for geothermal areas (Nolasco 2010, p.188; New Zealand Ministry for theEnvironment 2002, pp.16-17).
Examples such as these show the seriousness with which H2S emissions are treated among OECDmember states. Given that the rationale in their adoption is not significantly divergent from the current
situation in Kenya, it might be prudent to reconsider expanding environmental legislation beyond WHO
guidelines.

VI. Possible Solutions and Suggestions
Noting the shortcomings of WHO standards at various sites around the world, coupled with significantly
divergent environmental legislation from WHO guidelines among OECD member states, one may ask why
WHO standards have not been changed so far? One possible answer is that the H2S emission problem andconcentration of geothermal power plants on large scales is not an issue among the majority of nations.
Here, we review some possible recommendations that the Kenyan government could consider mandating
KenGen and other involved stakeholders to implement. Strict policies in the aforementioned countries tocontrol the limit of H2S emission has encouraged the operators to install some facilities for the reduction of
H2S released to the air by up to 99.9%, much like the previously outlined SulFix solution at the Hellisheiði
Power Plant, some of which are presented in the table below.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
38
Table 3. Compilation of different processes of H2S emission abatement
Process
Name

Condenser
DesignNH3/ H2S
ratio

Economics

Liquidredox
methods
SulFerox
process

Surfacecontact

Low

High capital
costs

Best
SuitableFor
Large
plants

Surfacecondenser

Low

High capital
costs

Large
plantsCalifornia

LO-CAT
II

Surfacecondenser

Low

High capital
costs

Large
plantsCoso Geothermal
Field

Surfacecondenser anddirect contact
condenser
Direct contact
condenser

High andlow

Low capitalcosts and low
operational
costs
High capitalcosts and low
operationalcosts
Low capitalcosts and highoperational
costs

Small andlarge
plantsHudson Ranch Ⅱ
geothermal power
plant California

Mediumand large
plantsYanaizuNishiyama
Geothermal
Power Plant
Northwest
Geysers
Geothermal
Resource Area

BIOX

Selectox

H2O2
process

Surfacecondenser anddirect contact
condenser

Low

High

Small
units

Leading Region

Geysersgeothermal Field(Source: Rodríguez et al. 2014; Farison et al. 2010; Baldacci et al. 2005; Takahashi et al. 2000)
When considering the feasibility and the required initial investment costs in proposing a method to reduce
the gas emission in the various Olkaria power stations, the options that could be implemented after
completion of the power plant with lower cost are the most feasible options for the Olkaria power plant’scontext. For instance, in an instance similar to Olkaria, the BIOX (biocide-assisted oxidation) method iscurrently being used at the 49 MW Hudson Ranch Ⅱ geothermal power plant in California (Gallup, 1992).
It is a downstream process, in which the off-gases are compressed and mixed with the condensate before
entering the cooling tower, which reduces both primary and secondary emissions of hydrogen sulfide.
As we observed during a site visit to Olkaria, another serious source of environmental pollution and H2Semission are the many discharging wells under construction. As we were told by a KenGen specialist, theduration of discharging for each well is about 60-90 days and its initial purpose is to test whether the pressureand other factors of the well would meet the standards for joining the system. Though the discharging period
is not very long, the number of wells that are being tested regularly is considerably high, in line with thecontinued development of new Olkaria facilities, as well as the upgrading and expansion of units at the active

Research Note
39
facilities. Thus, implementing the already-existing low-cost solutions to reduce the H2S emission during thisprocess could be valuable in tackling H2S emission as a whole across the entire Olkaria site (Nolasco 2010).

VII. Conclusion
Policy, regulatory, and geothermal innovations are occurring side by side as Kenya tries to balance
developmental, economic, and environmental interests. New geothermal facilities are sprouting all overHell’s Gate National Park, using attractive new financing schemes to attract foreign capital, in line with the
Vision 2030 development plan. As to be expected with the constitutionally enshrined environmental
protection clauses, issues such as emissions have been given more consideration, especially from the Olkaria
V facility onward with the introduction of the Environmental Management Coordinating Act (EMCA) in
2015.
One of the emissions of particular concern is hydrogen sulfite gas (H2S). This gas can be lethal in highconcentrations and has been shown to cause health problems in lower concentrations. Regardless of the
EMCA, Kenya still holds to WHO guidelines on tolerable H2S emission levels, which have been criticizedby health professionals for decades. Other countries, which have developed geothermal industries of theirown, have come to face similar issues regarding H2S emissions. Major players in geothermal energy adoption
such as Iceland and California have drastically cut allowed H2S emission levels below WHO guidelines.
International investors involved in the geothermal sector such as the US-based Ormat Technologies areable to benefit from this as they are not required to keep to the same regulatory standards in Kenya as they
are required at for instance their Californian facilities. Meanwhile, the Kenyan government is hard pressed
to meet the Vision 2030 targets and is unlikely to be willing to promulgate new regulations that might makeinvestors wary. This makes it seem like a dangerous situation where tough decisions between economic
growth and environmental protection will need to be made.
However, there are cost-effective solutions available that would mitigate environmental and healthimpacts at a relatively low cost. Companies, however, cannot be expected to take the initiative in theimplementation of these solutions. As with the case of the Hellisheiði facility in Iceland, only after legislativechange mandating lower H2S emissions were mitigating steps taken, steps that were seemingly necessary
due to the mounting evidence of negative health effects. Kenya too is currently at a similar stage. However,Global Resource Management Journal Vol.7
40
uncertainty remains as long we are limited to KenGen data. We, therefore, recommend an independentinquiry into emission levels and health effects at the Olkaria site.

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III. Course Reports

 Group Work Practice III (Spring Semester 2020)

 Group Work Practice V(Fall Semester 2020)

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48

Working Paper on Increasing Environmental Sustainability of Isolated Energy Systems:
A Case Study for the Implementation of a Co-Generation Binary Geothermal Power
Project on Hachijō Island, Japan
Eco Hamersma
Introduction
The target of this report is to propose a method to increase
the share of renewables on Hachijō Island, a remote islandwith an isolated energy system. The target we would like toachieve with this project is a 10% increase in renewable
utilisation of total energy mix. In this paper we will propose
augmenting the current geothermal energy output by
utilising the waste heat generated by several Onsen,
Japanese style hot springs, which dot the landscape ofHachijō Island. By taking advantage of existing geothermal
resources and infrastructure on the island this project aims
to increase the share of renewables in the islands energy mix
without negatively affecting available geothermal resources,
currently in use by both an industrial size geothermal
powerplant and the aforementioned Onsen.
Tackling climate change while dealing with humanities
seemingly near insatiable hunger for energy is one of the
predominate issues of the 21st century. The island nation ofJapan is no exception, as the world’s third largest economy
it demands massive amount of energy supplied according tostringent standards for its high-tech industries. Between
2010 and 2018 the approximate yearly average electricalconsumption rate, though in a declining trend, was about1050 TWh. This period of the nation’s energy policy having
been severely affected by the 2011 Great Tōhoku
Earthquake and the subsequent meltdown at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (IEA, 2016).

belts run along Kyushu and Honshu’s Chubu and Tōhoku
regions on the Japanese mainland along with the Izu Islands
Archipelago (also known as the De Vries Archipelago) andOgasawara Archipelago (also known as the Bonin Islands)
in the Pacific Ocean (Japan Meteorological Agency 2016).
Background of Hachijyo Island
Hachijō Island (Hachijō-jima/八丈島) is a small volcanicisland roughly 77 km2 in size located in the Izu Islands
Archipelago approximately 287 km from mainland Japan.
Though quite remote, administratively the island belongs to
the special wards of Tokyo. Furthermore, the islands arewholly inside the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The island
itself is made up of only a single municipality of the same
name, Hachijō, which according to the census of 2015 had apopulation of 7613 people (Favro & Brebbia 2010, p.189;
Tokyo Government n.d A). Many of the demographic issues
facing Hachijo Island are similar to the Japanese mainland,with a declining population which contains 3% more people
over the age of 65 then the national average (Favro andBrebbia 2010, p.189).

Japan traditionally relied heavily on the utilisation of
nuclear power due to the lack of natural resources,
particularly fossil fuels, within the national territory. Whenas a result of safety concerns due to the Fukushima accident
all of Japan’s nuclear power plants were shut down pending
checks, it caused the usage of fossil fuels, particularly
natural gas and coal, to spiked. Not only has this resulting
rise in CO2 emissions, but also a greater dependence onenergy imports and unsustainable energy prices (Ibid).
To combat these effects the Japanese national government
has outlined a series of goals for 2030 to increase that shareof renewable energy within the nation’s energy economy
and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26%. The most recent
data from 2018 shows a 12,39% decrease over that period.
While this is admirable, this is still 5,37% more CO2
emissions then 1990 (Ibid). Prefectural governments haveset even more ambitious goals, such as Fukushima
prefectures 100% renewable by 2040, a big step up from amere 22% in 2014 (Yeo 2014). Clearly more work will need
to be done to further reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
While Japan is resource poor when it comes to fossil fuels,
when looking at geothermal resources Japan has one of thegreatest potentials in the world. Located on the Pacific Ringof Fire making it one of the most geologically active regionsin the world (Kubota et al 2013). These volcanos are formedby the subduction of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea
Plate under the Eurasian Plate. The main resulting volcanic

Figure 1. location of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National
Park highlighted in dark green. Image source: BCTTouristik, n.d.
The island, which has been inhabited since the Jomon
period (14,000-300 BCE), has seen numerous uses. As earlyas the Heian period (794 to 1185) the island saw politicalrefugees use it as a place of refuge. Later the island would
serve as Japan’s ‘St. Helena’ for the exiling of dangerous
political figures, starting with Ukita Hideie, one of theCourse Reports
49
members of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s regent council upon his
death, who fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle ofSekigahara (1600). A practise which lasted until the Meiji
Restoration in 1868 (Tokyo Government n.d. B). Throughthese historically periods agriculture and fisheries were
dominant. Today, however, the tertiary industries dominate
the island at 64%. This figure is made up almost entirely of
tourism, while primary and secondary industries take up theremaining 19 and 17 percent respectively (Favro & Brebbia
2010, p.190). The relationship between tourism and theislands geological features is very apparent; According toTokyo’s official tourism area guide for the island theprimary points of interest are the volcanos, Mt.
Higashiyama (literally Eastern Mountain), and Mt.
Nishiyama, (literally Western Mountain), the Nanbara Coastof Permian Rocks and Onsen hot springs (GoTokyo n.d.).
The effects of climate change can be expected to be felt
most severely through increased storms including major
typhoons, something Hachijō Island has had to deal witheven under normal climate conditions (Soma 1977). During
Typhoon Cora in the 1970’s approximately 3700 of the 3800
homes on the island were damaged in some way (Wilson
1976, p.51). While in the past such strong weather
occurrences were rare, climate change is driving
increasingly severe storms which threaten vulnerable
isolated areas like Hachijyō Island.
Energy on Hachijyō Island
Considering the importance of mitigating climate change,
the island has been doing well to contributes its share within
its limited capacities and relative isolation. Due to theremote location the island has an isolated grid frommainland Japan. Some minor wind utilisation, at 500 kW,
takes place on the island. The main source of renewables
derives from Japan’s first geothermal power plant on aremote island. Developed by Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO) this 3.3 MW powerplant also serves asa supplier for district heating in winter (GRSJ 2004).

Exploration of the site for this plant started in 1984 whenbetween 1989 and 1991 the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Organisation (NEDO), one of Japans
Independent Administrative Institutions, identified asuitable geothermal source beneath the southern slope of
Mt. Higashiyama (literally Eastern Mountain), the easterly
located of Hachijyō’s two volcanos (the other being
Nishiyama, literally Western Mountain) (Matsuyama et al.
2011).
In 1995 TEPCO started drilling operations and eventually
the powerplant opening in 1999. This powerplant acts as theisland’s primary baseload supplier, having saved the CO2
emissions which otherwise would have been generated by adiesel generator. Constituting an approximate reduction of
40%. Still, however, diesel makes up the remained of theisland’s energy needs, with an Internal Combustion Power
Station also operated by TEPCO delivering 16.6 MW(TEPCO 2018). Figure 2 indicates the demand on the island,note how the baseload supply from geothermal does notexceed delivered minimum consumption during the spring,
6 o’clock in the morning. In 2017 ORIX Corporation started
planning a replacement for the now aging TEPCO plant.
This new plant will have a higher capacity at 4.4 MW and is
expected to come online in 2022 (Nikkei 2017; ORIX2019).
Current State of the Geothermal Industry in JapanThe Japanese geothermal industry has traditionally not
matched the geothermal potential of the Japanesearchipelago. Though new government initiatives are hoping
to increase utilisation, decades of restrictive legislation andcultural factors have, up to this point, stifled developments.
Although the first geothermal power station was constructedalmost 100 years ago near Beppu city on the southwesternisland of Kyushu, the economic downturn in the runup to,and subsequent global conflict, limited its expansion. Afterthe war the Allied GHQ, the occupation government on
Japan, instituted the 1948 Hot Spring Law. This law is stillin effect and has been a limited factor in the application ofprojects seeking to generate electricity from geothermal
resources.
Onsen in Japan should be seen as cultural institutions which
embody a special place within the psyche of the average
Japanese. As such any perceived threat, specifically byindustries seen as industrial and pollutant is met withnegativity. For this reason, the Japan Spa Association (JSA)
actively lobbies against geothermal power. In a 2016
interview with Vice News the JSA chairman Masao Oyama
stated:「温泉と地熱発電は共存できません」
Which translates to “hot springs and geothermal power
generation cannot coexist”. The argumentation he presents
is that of a competition of resources. The development ofgeothermal power would detrimentally affect the Onsen
industry due to resource competition (Yeung 2016).

Figure 2. Graph showing the fluctuating demand on theisland throughout the day and indicating baseload supply
delivered by geothermal (orange) and diesel combustion(cyan). Source TEPCO 2014

Onsen proprietors are not the only people who pose a
problem to geothermal adoption. Much like renewable
developments across the developed world, a concept known
as NIMBYism, which stands for Not In My BackYard-ism.
This concept is characterised by a general positivity torenewables, but a strong feeling against such developments
within the general living area. For instance, in the case of

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
50wind turbines in Europe this has led to increased
developments of offshore installations, outside the range
where people would feel personally affected by suchdevelopments. Geothermal power faces similar constrains.
Particularly due to the perception of large installations witha factory-style appearance.
Geothermal Resources on Hachijyō Island
There are two main players active in the geothermal
industry on Hachijyō Island. The geothermal power industry
and recreational Onsen. The geothermal industry is outlined
above, in the section on local energy usage. The recreational
uses are predominantly Onsen baths on the southern tip of
the island. Figure 3 shows the location of all the wells
drawing geothermally heated water on the island. Not all ofthese are currently active and so the table below separates
out the active and buried wells, with the numbers
corresponding to those on the map.

Co-generation Development Plan for Hachijyō Island
Considering the aforementioned issues of climate change,
the shift to renewable energy is desirable. On small isolated
energy systems these present both opportunities andchallenges. Isolation creates difficulties in sourcing fuels for
power generation and creates a reliance on outside support.
Furthermore, isolation results in increased energy prices as
the cost of transportation is significantly higher compared tomainland energy systems. Access to different types ofenergy has also historically been limited, with most isolatedislands relying on diesel generators. While today renewableenergy sources are available, they create difficulties whenlooking at grid stability. As a result, on many isolatedislands the baseload supply is still relegated to diesel
generators (Favro and Brebbia 2010, pp.197-200). Hachijyō
Island presents, as a result of the above-mentioned
geothermal resources, an opportunity to increase overall
renewable adoption rate for a small isolated energy grid dueto the characteristics of geothermal energy. Geothermal
power is an exception among renewables in that it is notdependant on weather phenomenon and is therefore suitable
as a baseload supplier. If we look at figure 2, we can see that
there is still room to improve utilisation of renewableenergy in both on-demand and baseload supply.
By focusing on specifically a co-generation geothermal
power plant, also known as a binary geothermal power
plant, over traditional implementations such as the current
TEPCO installation and the planned ORIX facility wefurthermore hope to sidestep the issues present within theJapanese geothermal industries. As figure 4 illustrates, byusing a binary loop system the thermally heated well water
is first cooled down via heat exchanger. This heat is thenused to bring a secondary liquid, usually pressurizedisobutane, to its boiling point. The secondary liquid drives
the turbine allowing for power generation. Meanwhile, theprimary liquid, well water, has been sufficiently cooled toallow for uses such as bathing.

Figure 3. Map of Hachijyō Island indicating the locationof all wells for geothermally heated water. Names of theOnsen utilising these wells are highlighted along with major
settlements (Mitsune (三根); Okago (大賀郷); Sueyoshi (末吉); Kashitate (樫立); Nakano.
Active Wells① Dowazawa Onsen (洞輪沢温泉)② Nakanogo Onsen (中之郷温泉)⑥ Kashidate-Igona Onsen (樫立伊郷名温泉)⑧ Nakanogo Ogoshi Onsen [Alternative ④well](中之郷尾越温泉)⑨ Sueyoshi Dogasawa Onsen [Alternative ⑦wells](末吉道ヶ沢温泉)⑩ Kashitate Mukaizato Onsen [Alternative ③wells](樫立向里温泉)
Buried Wells③ Kashitate Mukaizato Onsen [Buried](樫立向里温泉)④ Nakanogo Ogoshi Onsen [Buried](中之郷尾越温泉)⑤ Nakanogo Aigae Onsen [Buried](中之郷藍ヶ江温泉)⑦ Sueyoshi Dogasawa Onsen [Buried](末吉道ヶ沢温泉)

Figure4. Diagram of a binary geothermal power plantcombining Onsen with power generation. Image source:
Movellan 2015.
This process allows for the utilization of what would
otherwise be waste heat. Primary concerns of the Onsen
industry as outlined by the JSA would not be applicable tothis type of geothermal power plant. The primary user of thewell water remains the Onsen, only in the cooling process

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does power generation interact with the process. And eventhen, this is simply in the form of heat exchange. The actual
spring water consistency is completely unchanged.
Furthermore, when considering the construction phase of
the powerplant no expensive drilling is necessary as only
existing Onsen are targeted. Therefore, we canconceptualize this plan as one of resource use efficiency
rather than the exploration of new resources. Through thismethod we avoid the majority of the high-risk elements asoutlined by Gehringer and Loksha (2012). In theirassessment the highest risks are found in the pre-survey,
exploration and test drilling phases. With drilling itself
considered a medium risk. By using existing wells andcooperating with local Onsen we can avoid the largest risks
for a geothermal project.

Qons=rCl(Tons-Tt)
Alternatively, another method would be to use a coolingsystem, such as a secondary heat exchanger, which would
use the cold water from the heat exchanger with thetemperature Tcold which then:
Qons=rCl(Tons-Tcold)
This shows that energy is dependent on value r, allowing forindependent control. Hernandez II then further stipulates
that the estimated power output can be ascertained using thefollowing equations. These calculations are based on aconceptual cooperation with 5 of the Onsen on the island,
which would be seen as a reasonable goal within the scopeof this proposal. The inlet temperature (deg C):

According to Hernandez II (forthcoming 2021), whensurveying numerous geothermal powerplants the resulting
pattern in power generation efficiency can be presented
using the following equations. Warm water before turbine
conversion, assume efficiency of Hl=1:
Qi=rCl(THl-THe)
Qt=Qi*ηi*ηt
Using the current TEPCO installation as a point ofreference: h = 2582, m = 44, To = 20 deg C, h = 2582.
Power generated (in kW) is:

Wt=Qt-Qi
Wd=(Wt)*ηd
Colder water after turbine conversion:
Qo=Qi-Qt
To control Onsen temperature to a desired temperature Tons,
the temperature in Wo should be controlled. One way can be
to choose turbine such that (assuming no loss in water andno change in heat capacity flow rate):
Table 1: Labels
Heat transfer liquid
Heat exchanger
Amount of input
Specific heat capacity flow rate of heattransfer liquid
Energy converted via heat transfer liquidand entering heat exchanger
Energy of fluid after conversion fromheat exchanger (cold fluid)
Heat converted from heat exchanger
going out of turbine as electricity
Energy output due to Qt
Energy converted from heat exchanger
going out of turbine as heat
Energy of Onsen water
Energy distributed to end user
Efficiency of Wi
Efficiency of Wt
Efficiency of Wd

HlHer (unitless)
C [W/K]
Qi [W]
Qcold
Qt
Et
Qo
Qons
Wd
𝜂i
𝜂t
𝜂d

If Tin = 50 deg C , Tout = T onsen = 40, W = 465 kWe
Assuming 5 Onsen with similar properties, supplied power
can reach around 1600 kW, which is around 10 percent of
16.6 MWe total energy. Using the above estimations andconsidering the cooperation of five Onsen to partner with
we can structure the economics of this project accordingly.
Cash Flow and Financial Aspects
As mentioned in the previous section, the riskiest elementsof developing a geothermal power plant according toGehringer and Loksha (2012) are in the exploration anddrilling phase of the project. Since we are working together
with local Onsen this stage has already been achieved at norisk to our own project. What this means for economics ofour binary power station, however, is that we do not haveownership of the well. This means we become a client of the
hot water provider and as such our cash flow is modelled on
input costs, throughput costs and output income. As seen in
figure 5, the cashflow for this project requires a financial
incentive for the participating Onsen which takes place inthe form of input (hot water) purchases.

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52

Figure 5. Project cash flow combining development andoperational phases.
Japanese public perception to geothermal power is slowly
changing. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
promulgated its ‘Long-term Energy Supply and Demand
Outlook’ as part of a series of policies from its ‘Strategic
Energy Plan’. This plan outlines increasing the use ofgeothermal to between 1% and 1.1% of total primary energy
by 2030. This plan can be seen in increased governmental
support for geothermal projects, such as for example
reduced taxation on geothermal power. Japan Oil, Gas andMetals National Corporation (JOGMEC), one of Japan’s
independent administrative organisations, is a major
provider of geothermal support in the form of direct
investments, equity and generous liability guarantees of up
to 80% on loans provided by financial institutions(JOGMEC 2016). Having a strong liability backing it
should be easier to persuade financial institutions to invest
in geothermal projects like we one presented in this paper.
Development costs are highly situational and dependent on
the realities of on the ground. As explained in the previous
section, to meet our target we need to work with 5 Onsen.
However, the simple geography and space utilisation within
and near the land of those Onsen will determine the exact
developmental process. We can furthermore expect that the
procurement procedure will be more expensive then theJapanese national average due to the remote nature of the
project site. Likewise, maintenance costs are expected to behigher than national average, as will the attracting skilled
engineers.

Project Timeline
We estimate a 5-year duration for the development of binary
geothermal power on Hachijō Island. Table 2 shown below
gives a rough sketch of this plan starting in 2020. This planis based on a larger scale geothermal development project inIceland, specifically for a flash steam geothermal system.
Such a system does include exploration and drilling phases.
Therefore, we believe our assessment, excluding thosephases, but taking into account the more remote nature of
the island is realistic. The assessment does not take into
account the novel coronavirus pandemic and assumes
productive capacities similar to pre-pandemic levels.

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Table 2, This timeline is based on an Icelandic geothermal
development plan (Gunnlaugsson 2012)
Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Aspects
Development of geothermal resources in Japan is hinderedby the fact that many of these resources are located innational parks. The case of Hachijō Island is no different as
it is located in the previously mentioned Fuji-Hakone-Izu
National Park. This brings with it specific challenges foundwith the development of other renewable sources of energy.
Change is in the air, however, as after the accident at nuclear
power plants in Fukushima, the Ministry of Environment(MOE) issued the guideline which lifted restrictions on
drilling at national parks (JOGMEC 2016).
The MOE set regulations on the ‘conditions on theenvironment of the hot spring resort area’. These are toensure that the area has environment, landscape, history,
climate and culture making it suitable for a heath resort.
This is then achieved by requiring that appropriate action istaken for construction of hot springs, management ofsanitation, promoting public use of hot springs and ensuring
a universal design. Furthermore, there should be a measureof safety against disasters ensured within a project (National
Hot Spring Health Resorts, n.d.).
In 2004 the national Landscape Law was enacted in
response to growing interest in preserving natural andcultural landscapes. This law stipulates that local
governments set up criteria for matters such as buildingheights and exterior appearances in order to create andmaintain beautiful landscapes. Beautiful in this context
refers to the aforementioned suitability for the environment
within national parks and hot spring areas.
Social Licensing & Survey Results
By considering binary geothermal power we sidestep someof the primary issues currently constraining the adoption ofgeothermal, particularly those promulgated by JSA. One
issues which remains, and is relevant no matter the project,is the issue of social licensing. In other words, thewillingness of local communities to accept developments bya third party. In the case of this project specifically thismeans the acceptance of the people of Hachijō to allow for
the development of further geothermal power on the island.
In order to ascertain the level of social acceptance for a
project such as this one we conducted a research among the
local population.
Sadly, this research was severely hampered by the outbreakof the novel coronavirus as we were unable to conduct
fieldwork on the island. Therefore, we utilised a third-party
survey company, Macromill Inc. (株式会社マクロミル), to
conduct an online survey via a questionnaire we provided.
We had set a target of 200 respondents in order to gain
statistically significant data set. However, Macromill was
only able to attain 26 respondents within the timeframe ofthis research. Without a statistically significant ouranalytical ability is limited. Nevertheless, some interesting
results were gathered.
Respondents were about evenly split between male (46,2%)
and female (53,8%), with the average age being
overwhelmingly between 40 and 49. All respondents are
Hachijō residents, with half living in Mitsune (50%). As
seen in figure 3, Mitsune is relatively distant from any
current form of geothermal exploitation. This might colour
perceptions, particularly regarding the issue of NIMBYism.
Although all respondents are currently residents, only one
fourth was born on the island (26,9%). It is unknown if thisthe result of inadequate medical facilities on the island orwhether these are new residents who have opted to move to
Hachijō Island.
We approached the issue of further development ofgeothermal resources by gauging residents understanding ofcurrent usage. When asked what geothermal means to them,the overwhelming majority acknowledges recreational uses
(92,3%), with limited acknowledgement for specifically
health related uses (19,2%) and for power generation(7,7%). Applications such as cooking, and agriculture areunknown to the respondents. When asked specifically aboutGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol. 754
their awareness of geothermal resource use for power
generation a more even distribution indicated awareness(53,8%). We then asked via a multiple-choice question if
they know the source of power on Hachijō Island, and again
an 53,8% knew that geothermal is part of the island’s energy
mix. The correlation (Spearman's Rho) between theawareness of geothermal resources for power generationand geothermal power utilisation on Hachijō Island wascounter to expectations not statistically significant at rs = 0,071 and p(2-tailed)=0.74 .

conducting a survey on the opinions of local residents wehave found that they are generally speaking positive aboutgeothermal developments on the island. Although thesurvey was limited in scope due to the outbreak of theNovel Coronavirus (COVID-19), nevertheless thisrepresents a worthwhile jumping of point to increase therenewable energy utilisation as percentage of the isolated
grids total energy mix by an additional 10% or 16.6 MWe.
Figure 6 summarises the positive and negative aspects of the
project in a SWOT diagram.

Shifting to the developmental side, we first wanted to know
how important the adoption of renewables is for the local
population. More than half (53,8%) and over one fourth(34,6%) indicated that they consider it to be important or alittle important respectively. Considering such a mandate,further implementation of renewable projects, including theincrease of geothermal utilisation, might be met favourably.
Expanding on this by specifically asking about generalpublic perception of geothermal power again perceptions
were positive (50%) and slightly positive (38,5%)
respectively. The correlation (Spearman's Rho) between
these two factors is again significant at rs = 0,5 with p(2tailed)=0,0088.
Understanding of the technical aspects of geothermal power
was also perceived to be quite high, at 42,3% stating they
understand a little bit and 19,2% stating they understand. It
would be expected that understanding and positive
perception would have a mutual positive correlation.
However, with an outcome of rs = 0,027 and p(2-tailed)=0,9
this does not appear to be the case. It would be worthwhile
to further subdivide the question of technical understanding
to account for this discrepancy in future research.
Worries about geothermal power are still present, with
26,9% being slightly worried. A majority at 50% and 15,4%
are not worried so much and not worried respectively. When
asked about their impressions regarding potentiallyexpanding geothermal use on Hachijō Island andoverwhelming majority was ether positive (46,2%) or
slightly positive (50%). Regarding specifically geothermal
power results were similar at both 42,3% positive andslightly positive. Overall this could indicate that thecommunity on Hachijō Island has accepted geothermal
power within the community, thereby negating a major risk
for the project outlined in this report.
Looking at the actual concerns of inhabitants regarding
geothermal power the largest groups consist of ‘don’t know’at 30,8%, ‘no concern’ at 26,9% and the ‘emission ofpollutants’ also at 26,9%. Considering that the proposed
binary geothermal plant does not generate its own
pollutants, instead cooperating with existing extraction from
Onsen, this entire concern in of limited applicability for the
proposed project. Both at 19,2% the issues of ‘welldegradation’ and ‘environmental destruction around thefacility’ are also of limited applicability. Again, since binary
in this case is in cooperation with Onsen the actual
extraction damage, if any, would already be caused by the
Onsen. As for environmental destruction around the facility
this would be strictly regulated due to the plants location
within the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.
Conclusion
This working paper outlines a plan for the development of abinary geothermal powerplant on Hachijō Island. After

Figure 6, Project SWOT Diagram
References
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Favro, S., Brebbia C., 2010. ‘Island Sustainability’,
Wessex Institute of Technology Press, Southampton
Gehringer, M., Loksha, V., 2012. ‘Geothermal Handbook:
Planning and Financing Power Generation’, ESMAPTechnical Report 002/12, [Online] Available at:https://www.esmap.org/sites/esmap.org/files/DocumentLibr
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GoTokyo, n.d. ‘A subtropical paradise awaits off the coastof Tokyo’, Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau [Online]
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Gunnlaugsson, E., 11 March 2012. ‘The Hellisheidi
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Development’, Geothermal Training Program, United
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Hachijo island Geothermal Energy Museum, n.d.
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松山一夫 (Matsuyama, K)・武田康人 (Takeda, Y)・下田昌宏 (Shimoda, M)・高村光一 (Takamura, K) ・小野高志 (Ono, T) 著「八丈島における地熱開発および利用について」『応用地質』第 51 巻、第 6 号、273279 頁、2011 年

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Assessing the establishment of additional renewable energy source in Hachijojima Island,
Tokyo
James Edward A. Hernandez II
I.
Introduction
With the increase of demand in energy sources inJapan, additional energy generation stations are being
planned in various rural areas. In provincial regions
located away from the main grid, one of the main
sources of energy is that of combustion-type run bydiesel generators. This source serves as the base load of
the overall energy source and is essential for stable
power output. However, it is desired that the percentageof the total power consumption would be alleviated as
possible. One of the ways for this reduction would be
the increase in contribution of renewable energy to themix. This indicates the consideration for theapplicability of renewable energy sources to specificregions, noting also the suitability of each type of
renewable energy source to a geographical location.
Especially in the construction of an entirely novel or theincrementation of an existing power generation
resource, investigation of the viability of the geographicallocation in renewable energy generation is critical.
In order to accomplish this, a location in which a stable
renewable energy resource proven to be ably harnessed ispreferable. These locations can be near water sources (forhydro or micro-hydro construction), heat sources (forgeothermal applications), or those which will not cause any
interference with the normal operations of the region. In
terms of the power output, the addition of power output via
renewables should be stable, as excess power generated
from the grid without proper control could cause severe
power interruptions. Also, the location is preferred to lie
outside the main grid, for the impact of the establishment of
the renewable source will be maximized.
Given these considerations, the island of Hachijojima ischosen for the improvement of geothermal energy.
Hachijojima is one of the Tokyo Islands which consists ofmultiple geothermal plants, as well as solar and windfarms. As a tourist location, the island boasts of multiple
onsen facilities whose heat source arises from the naturalgeothermal reservoir. The total amount of power generated
in the island, according to TEPCO, the Tokyo Electricalcompany, is around 16 MW. In terms of geothermalenergy, the island consists of around 3.3 MW. For solar
energy, the total power output is 2 MW. All renewableenergy sources are backed by the combustion source. Theenergy demand in the island as of 2014 is shown in Figure
1. It can be observed that during ‘peak’ hours (from 0900 –
1800) the energy demand reaches around 8 to 8.5 MW.
During rainy times (blue line), the demand is higher byaround 1 MW during the peak hours. It is noted that thegraph excludes the contribution of energy due to solar
power generation. This goes to show that the demand forenergy is independent of weather conditions. With solar

Figure 1. Geothermal facilities in Hachijojima island asof 2009. Adopted from Ref [1]power generation, the energy supply would be expected tocover some of the energy demand originally covered by
combustion type sources, especially during periods of highsolar intensity. However, additional solar generation
facilities were not recommended due to the low number ofavailable connections within the main grid. Furthermore,
the addition of solar facilities in the island could result toelectrical instabilities as these energy sources are highly
climate dependent and covering up the energy due to the
combustion systems would pose risks. Thus, in aiming toincrease renewable energy contribution in Hachijojima, theimprovement of other forms of renewable sources should
be focused. In this report, the feasibility of constructing a
geothermal resource in Hachijojima is investigated andassessed.

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Figure 2. (Left) Energy demand (solar power excluded) in Hachijojima at various hours of the day. Adopted from [cite](Right) Schematic of a binary geothermal power plant
II.

Geothermal Energy status in Hachijojima

One of the feasible renewable energy sources that could be
incremented is geothermal energy due to its stability, as
well as its geographical applicability in Hachijojima. The
island generates around 2000 MW of geothermal energy asbase load, which is coupled by internal combustion engine
source as a variable load. [2] Geothermal power plants can
be classified in either (a) condensing type or (b) binary
type. [3] Condensing types, or flashed types operates inhigh temperature steam (around 200 − 300∘ 𝐶) which
directly runs the turbines. In Hachijojima, single flashoperated power plants exist in Nakanogo town and supplies
around 3 MW, which are operated by JOGMEC. [4]. On
the other hand, binary type power plants operate with theuse of secondary fluid, coupled with heat exchangers.
When heat from the geothermal source is transferred to theheat transfer fluid, the heat from the fluid is responsible tothe operation of the turbines. Residual heat can be utilized
for other purposes such as reheating. Like the electrical cogeneration, the binary type geothermal power source
outputs stable electrical and thermal energy that could becontrolled depending on the properties of the requiredcomponents needed for operation.
Hachijojima has already adopted the use of geothermalenergy output apart from electrification. Apart from theestablished geothermal power plants, a geothermal energy
museum also exists in Nakanogo region. Geothermalenergy also enforces agricultural output in the island. [5]Greenhouse facilities within Hachijojima benefit from theexcess warm water after its utilization in running theturbines. Seeing this as a potential source of income, thefacility is currently being promoted to advocate theagricultural benefits of geothermal energy, one of thesemethods is via the term ‘eco-agri’, or the cultivation and

Table 1. List of Onsen sites in Hachijojima Island
Excavation Onsen Name
Excavation Onsen water Water
Utilizing Starting
PerioddepthTemperature capacity Facility period
(L/m)
(∘ 𝐶)
1978
Dowazawa
60
40.5
150
Jan
1979
1986
Nakanogo
60
61
90
Apr
1995
1992
Kashitate Mukaizato 450
57.8
386
Mar
2006
1992
Nakanogo Ogoshi
300
64.2
440
1993
Nakanogo Aigae
300
32.4
423
1994
Kashidate-Igona
700
57.7
208
Mar
1997
1995
Sueyoshi Dogasawa 1000
49.9
370
Aug
1998
2001
Nakanogo Ogoshi
270
53.1
500
2007
Sueyoshi Dogasawa 1300
49.8
500

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
58

Table 1. List of Onsen sites in Hachijojima Island
Excavation Onsen Name
Excavation Onsen water Water
Utilizing Starting
PerioddepthTemperature capacity Facility period
(L/m)
(∘ 𝐶)
1978
Dowazawa
60
40.5
150
Jan
1979
1986
Nakanogo
60
61
90
Apr
1995
1992
Kashitate Mukaizato 450
57.8
386
Mar
2006
1992
Nakanogo Ogoshi
300
64.2
440
1993
Nakanogo Aigae
300
32.4
423
1994
Kashidate-Igona
700
57.7
208
Mar
1997
1995
Sueyoshi Dogasawa 1000
49.9
370
Aug
1998
2001
Nakanogo Ogoshi
270
53.1
500
2007
Sueyoshi Dogasawa 1300
49.8
500
purchase of crops under the influence of geothermal
byproducts. [6] These benefits might have motivated otherprivate companies in furthering renewable energy
development in the island. In a recent announcement, theleasing firm ORIX has established plans to construct a 4.4
MW geothermal power plant, which is expected to finish
around 2022. [7] The company aim is to replace theexisting TEPCO installation. Overall, the prospects ofgeothermal development in the island would posesignificant progress in its surrounding areas.
III.
a.

Construction plan of a geothermal power
plant in Hachijojima
Preliminary considerations

In assessing the feasibility of constructing additional
geothermal energy source, it is essential to consider various
political, economic, and geographical background of theintended site. The Natural Parks Law of 1957 states that
activities which require construction of buildings near anatural resource are subject to permission from the Ministryof Environment and the local prefectural government. [8]Since Hachijojima consists of a wide variety of scenic
spots, more stringent criteria coming from the region would
need to be fulfilled. Similarly, the problem of satisfying
economic and geographical requirements, especially withthe limited availability of buildable land, would pose highlevel of difficulty towards independent investors. Thus, inthis assessment, collaboration with existing institutions is
assumed. In order to provide a significant benefit of the
proposed development, an energy output ‘threshold’ isimposed wherein the aimed contribution of the energy
source is at least 5 percent of the current total.

b.

‘Onsen energy’ as maximization of geothermal
byproduct

In further emphasizing the positive effects of geothermal
construction on the island, the development of geothermal
power plants is seen in accordance with that of onsen. In a
paper by Matsuyama et al. the geographic situation ofHachijojima in terms of regions with onsen wells is
discussed. [1] As of the date, there are nine onsen sites in
the island, mainly in the Nakanogo region. The onsen wells
consist of various temperatures which imply the diverse
conditions of geothermal source. The temperature from
onsens cannot operate electrical turbines due to theirrelatively low temperature. Thus, wells with appropriately
high temperature (~100∘ 𝐶) would contribute to the power
generation of nearby facilities. This is also called ‘onsen
energy’ and is widely utilized all over Japan. [8] With
increased utilization of deep wells containing hightemperature source for electrification, the contributed
energy towards onsen facilities, as well as nearby
households can be directly benefitted, while decreasing theamount of energy consumed due to internal combustion
system.
In Hachijojima, the Tokyo prefectural government
establishes the program of ‘Hachijojima Clean Air Island
Concept’. [9] In this Concept, the integration of renewableenergy towards the main activities of the island are
stressed. For example, solar, wind, geothermal, and otherclean energy sources are encouraged to be utilized forevents within the island. Moreover, smart systems such as
EV are utilized as main transportation media. The project
aims to generate energy entirely via renewable resources.
In terms of activities, pollution-free activities areencouraged to realize the objectives of this mission.

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Feasibility calculation

In estimating the amount of energy that can be harnessedfrom the active wells, energy calculation is performed. The
active wells from Table 1 are Kashitate Mukaizato Onsen,
Nakanogo Ogoshi Onsen), Nakanogo Aigae Onsen,
Kashidate-Igona Onsen, and Sueyoshi Dogasawa Onsen.
The basis for the calculation is found in Ref. [10] The
formulae used in the reference involved the analysis fromthe compilation of geothermal power plant parameters
globally. The calculations are based on the binary typepower plant. However, since the currently available data, tothe best of the author’s knowledge, is of the single flash
type, then the parameters for the single flash is employed.
The amount of power generated is calculated by𝑊=

2.47𝑚(𝑇𝑖𝑛 − 𝑇𝑜 )(𝑇𝑖𝑛 − 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑡 ),𝑇𝑖𝑛 + 𝑇𝑜

Wherein 𝑚 is the amount of flux of brine (used in thiscalculation), 𝑇𝑖𝑛 is the input temperature, 𝑇𝑜 is the room
temperature, and 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑡 is the output temperature. In thecalculation, 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑡 is the temperature of the onsen, and 𝑇𝑖𝑛
represents the temperature of the well.
Using Hachijojima geothermal power plant with parametersm = 44, To = 20 deg C, h = 2582. Power generated (in kW)
is approximately 1600 kW which is around 10% of theintended energy increase via geothermal power plant,
which is 16.6 MW. Although the efficiencies of theturbines, the working fluid, and other distribution systems
were not considered, this calculation serves to be a roughestimate as to whether the output of the active onsens
would be sufficient to the intended value.
d.

Proposed Timeline of construction

Figure 2. Proposed timeline for construction of binary
geothermal plant for existing wells.
Figure 2 shows the proposed timeline for the constructionof the geothermal power plant. The timeline is divided into

three sections: pre-development, construction, and postconstruction assessment. For the pre-development stages,
mainly preliminary surveys are conducted which involve
geographic assessment, social acceptance surveys, energy
distribution analyses, and potential income analyses.
Geographic analyses mainly involve blueprinting of wellconnection design and distribution systems. Private
negotiations involve those under the onsen operators,
leasing companies, and other companies which could be
affected by the construction. It is assumed that thesenegotiations would include plan creation for the local
government. This involve policy creation, and public
relations-related announcement preparation. Social surveys
involve the investigation of the perception of the locals
towards the construction of the geothermal power plant.
The general aim of these surveys is to identify whether
conflicts would emerge in the construction that could serveas potential intervention in the normal operations involving
the local population.
With regards to the construction stage, the main
components of the power plant serve to fulfill the aims of(a) power generation (b) power distribution (c) cogeneration. For power generation, the construction would
mainly involve well drilling and the establishment ofadditional power generation systems connected to theexisting wells, considering the schematic of a binary power
plant design. Power distribution involves the constructionof transmission lines from the grid to individual households
and facilities near the wells. Co-generation involves
establishment of electrical connections from the wells tothe onsens, generators, and other connectors such as
agricultural greenhouses. Co-generation is not limited tothe examples; it is described as the establishment ofadditional connections other than those related to the onsen
business. Operations andmanagement are included after
construction has been
completed.
For post-construction
assessment, evaluation after
around 5 years of operation will
be conducted. The focus in thisstage is the economic situationof the established power plant
after initial operations havebeen performed. Economic
situation involves (a) cashflow
analysis, (b) additional revenue
gained, and (c) carbon footprint
analysis. For cashflow analysis,
the economy of the power plant
itself coming from all the direct
consumers is assessed. This also includes any cashflow to
and from companies involved in collaborating with thepower plant construction. Moreover, businesses which are
influenced by the additional energy supply will be noted.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
60
Carbon footprint analysis also operates in a similar manner,as carbon output is determined. By the integration ofrenewable energy toward local activities, the results ofthese assessments would have a significant impact towards
the Hachijojima agenda of clean energy usage. Cash flow
analysis is focused in this report.
e.

Cash flow analysis

Cash flow analysis mainly involves estimation of
construction as well as operation and management costs. In
the context of constructing a geothermal power plant in
Hachijojima, the main concern involves the economic
interplay between public and private stakeholders. Startingwith the public sector, the Japanese government offers
subsidies for the renewable projects. For example, thegovernment has the 2012-2032 subsidy scheme, as well as
the reduced taxation for renewable energy source
construction. Included in the cash flow are miscellaneous
fees involving licensing, initial evaluation, environmental
assessment. On the other hand, cashflow towards private
stakeholders like ORIX includes connection costs. Since
the company is mainly involved in the direct excavation ofwells, the additional construction merely involves theannexing from the main wells. Nevertheless, potentialcommission costs are considered. Development, operation,and management costs are the usual, dimension-specificand perpetual (typically yearly) costs involved inconstructing and maintaining the facility.

In terms of financing bodies, banks and power distributors(in the case of energy surplus distribution) contribute to theinitial financing and input cashflow.
Obtaining permission and subsidies from the local
government is possible through the feed-in tariff (FITs)
system. Depending on the type of energy source and power
output, procurement can be applied for every kWh of
output. [14] For geothermal power in this case, amount of
43.2 yen (Tax inclusive) per kWh is applied for electricity
output less than 15 MW. The Japanese Ministry ofEnvironment (MoE) provides guidelines in establishinglarge scale power plants near Natural Parks. Also known as‘Natural Parks Law’ of 2004, excavation near the sites
would be under stringent conditions, but will still bepossible. [11]Figure 2. Cashflow direction in Hachijojima geothermal power plant construction

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IV.

Assessing the situation of locals within
Hachijojima regarding geothermalenergyA segment of pre-development of renewable energy
sources is the evaluation of local perceptions towards the
additional establishment of clean energy within the region.
In order to assess this, A computerized survey is sent via acompany to the Hachijojima station, which is to be filled
out by the locals. The questions is of multiple choice type,some of which containing free input. The questions tackle
the awareness of the locals towards the installation of ageothermal power plant near the existing wells. The survey
involves 26 respondents, most of which were residents ofHachijojima. One respondent had an association with theisland, but the address was transferred. Fourteen out of thetotal respondents were female, which shows even gender
distribution. The youngest respondents were from 25 – 29
years old range, where almost half of the respondent
population were aged 40 – 49 years old (54 %). All
respondents have Tokyo city prefecture, and Tohoku region
as their origin. Ten respondents were not married. In termsof whether the respondents have children, sixteen
respondents answered having children. The householdincome distribution of the respondents is shown in Figure
3a, while the individual income is shown in Figure 3b.

Figure 3. (a) Household annual income distribution, and (b)Individual income distribution (in Japanese Yen)
The income distribution of the respondents leans towards
the 2 million to 4 million yen. However, an equivalent
number of respondents do not know their income. For theindividual income, almost half of the respondents fall underthe below 2 million to 4 million income range, which isapproximately the average Japanese monthly income. [12]This could be interpreted that some respondents rely on theother member of the family for financial support.

Figure 4 shows the distribution of the respondent
occupation. Most (27%) of the respondents were either fulltime housewife or house husbands. This could explain theidea of the difference between the household income andthe individual income. Around 20 percent of the
respondents belong to those which work part-time or civil
servant. Moreover, the total amount of freelance and selfemployed respondents is approximately equal to that ofthose who work in company (others). Even then, the total
amount of company employees is lesser than that of thecivil servant. From the responses regarding region ofresidence, half of the respondents reside in Mine region.
Only 3.8 % of the respondents came from Nakanogo,
where the Hachijojima power plant is situated. Despite this,the number of respondents born in Hachijojima were justapproximately 28 percent of the number of respondents.
This could mean that most of the surveyed population
could have acquired a residential property within the island.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
62

Figure 4. (a) Occupation distribution, and (b) region of residence in Hachijojima of survey respondents

Figure 5 (Left) Distribution of the perceived function of onsen as power generation resource (Right) Perceptio on whether onsen
can be utilized as a power generation resource

In terms of the perceived use of onsen, most of theparticipants perceive the onsen as for hygiene and leisure.
However, 7 percent of the population perceive the onsen as
source of power generation. Looking at the educational
attainment of the respondents, around half of the population
has at least attained at leaast a university level degree. The
responses, however, for whether the onsen is considered to
be a power generation resource is almost half of all
respondents. This result could show that although the onsen
is generally perceived to be serving its primary function asa business, the awareness for its additional use as ageothermal power source is present.

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Figure 6 Perceived sources of energy in Hachijojima

geothermal energy mechanism, as well as its perceived
utility towards the island and the perception of its positive
impact as an energy source. The awareness can be
deepened further by investigating awareness of the
respondents of the current investment of ORIX towards thedevelopment of an additional renewable energy resource,
for which the majority were not aware. However, since theHachijojima power plant is situated in the Nakanogo
region, and the leasing company aims to renovate thispower station, and reviewing the places of origin of the
respondents, it could be interpreted that awareness on the
project is significant, despite the majority not expressing
awareness.

The previous argument is supported by the respondents’
perceived types of energy sources in Hachijojima, shown in
Figure 6. Responses which fall under the geothermal power
are almost half, whose percentage equates to that of the oil
fuel source. Mainly, both these sources act as the main
generators of energy, as discussed. Around a third of
respondents also recognize that wind power is also utilized
as a source of energy. On the other hand, around 19 percentof the respondents recognize solar power as one of theisland’s energy source. The results confirm the prominenceof geothermal power as the main energy source

Figure 7 (a) Perceived importance of renewable energy in Hachijojima (b) perception on the current geothermal power plant(c) Perceived understanding on the mechanism of geothermal energy sources (d) Awareness on the current endeavor of
ORIX in establishing a geothermal energy resource

Investigating the perception of the respondents on
renewable energy in Hachijojima, importance is highly
placed on the establishment of these sources. Looking attheir perception on the Hachijojima geothermal power
plant, the impression was shown to be mostly positive,
meaning that there seems to be a consensus between theestablishment of the power plant and the lifestyle of theresidents of the island. On another note, in investigating theunderstanding of the respondents towards geothermalenergy, the result showed that majority of the respondents(96% in total) have at least an understanding on how theenergy source operates. It could be hypothesized that there
could be a relation between the understanding ofGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol. 764concerns which prevail despite the overall positive
perception of geothermal energy as a renewable resource.
Observing the perception on the installation of additional
geothermal power plant in Hachijojima, the consensus
showed mostly positive responses towards its development.
Shown in Figure 8 is the distribution of responses regarding
the perception on the possibility of construction of theadditional geothermal resource, where 84 percent ofrespondents showed at least a positive outlook. This is an
important result, since this could reflect the tentative image
towards the expansion of the current energy source.

Figure 7 (Upper figure) Perception on the potential hazards
of geothermal power generation in Hachijojima (Lower
figure) Details on potential worries on Hachijojima power
generation
On another note, reservations of the respondents were also
investigated to identify concerns towards construction ofgeothermal power plant in Hachijojima. Shown on Figure 7
on the left, the majority felt little worry about theestablishment of geothermal energy source in the region,
whose results agree with the previous result where there
were mostly positive responses towards the construction ofgeothermal power sources. However, looking at the details
in which the respondents worry about regarding theestablishment of this source, the majority (30%) of the
respondents responded they do not know particular factorsthat could induce negative effect to themselves or to theregion. Around 29 percent have cited pollution as thesecond highest concern of the construction. Concern
towards the wells is also shown, since excavation is
expected in establishing additional connections of water
sources. Tourism status is not an immediate concern.
Majority of the identified concerns lie on the environmental
degradation. Thus, while there is a general consensus
within the population on the establishment or operation ofgeothermal power facilities, there are environmental

Figure 8 Perceptions on the possibility of construction of
additional geothermal energy source in Hachijojima
V.

Summary

In this report, the feasibility of constructing an additional
geothermal power plant in Hachijojima island is discussed.
Geography and current initiatives towards the use ofgeothermal energy, as well as other renewable energy
sources are investigated. The proposed project involved
construction of additional connection to the alreadyexcavated main well, which aims to generate around 1.6
MW electrical power. The feasibility of the project isdetermined by estimating energy output of five selected
active onsens within the region and investigating the
cashflow of the project. A survey was also conducted to theresidents of the island to provide input regarding theirperceptions on the further installation of a geothermal
power plant. The results showed positive responses for theconstruction of an additional geothermal energy source.
However, some reservations are observed among thesurveyed respondetnts, which mainly included
environmental-related degradation concerns.
VI.
References[1] MATSUYAMA, Kazuo, Yasuto TAKEDA, Masahiro
SHIMODA, Koichi TAKAMURA, and Takashi ONO.
"Geothermal Development And Utilization In Hachijojima

Course Reports
65
Island". Journal Of The Japan Society Of Engineering
Geology 51, no. 6 (2011): 273-279.
doi:10.5110/jjseg.51.273.
[2] 八丈島における再生可能エネルギー発電 八丈島
における再生可能エネルギー発電 設備の接続に関する説明会. Ebook. Tokyo: The Tokyo Electric Power[11] Natural Park Systems In Japan. Ebook. Ministry ofEnvironment. Accessed 16 July 2020.
https://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/doc/files/parksyst
em.pdf.
[12] "平均年収ランキング 最新版（年齢別の平均年収）". Doda, Last modified 2020.
https://doda.jp/guide/heikin/age/.

Company, 2014.
http://rss.tepco.co.jp/e-rates/individual/shinene/saiene/pdf/hachijo.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3lEm4BZjuhZkkC
1dvRCSn76kD_w9Dw8DL7yxv5BRv7pL6s2G6veCT4nyg.

[13] "Japan's Famed Hot Springs Called On To Share The
Steam". Nikkei Asian Review, Last modified 2018.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-s-famed-hotsprings-called-on-to-share-the-steam.

[3] Eliasson, Einar Tjörvi, Sverrir Thorhallsson, andBenedikt Steingrímsson. GEOTHERMAL POWER
PLANTS. Ebook. El Salvador: UNU-GTP, 2011.
https://orkustofnun.is/gogn/unu-gtp-sc/UNU-GTP-SC-1233.pdf.

[14] Inoue, Yuko, and Leonora Walet. "Japan Approves
Renewable Subsidies In Shift From Nuclear Power". U.S.,
Last modified 2012. https://www.reuters.com/article/usenergy-renewables-japan/japan-approves-renewablesubsidies-in-shift-from-nuclear-poweridUSBRE85H00Z20120618.

[4] "八丈島地熱発電所｜地熱のページ｜日本の地熱発
電所 | JOGMEC 地熱資源情報".
Geothermal.Jogmec.Go.Jp.
http://geothermal.jogmec.go.jp/gathering/plant_japan/009.h
tml.
[5] "地熱利用農業用省エネルギーモデル温室団地".
Town.Hachijo.Tokyo.Jp. Accessed 16 July 2020.
https://www.town.hachijo.tokyo.jp/kakuka/kikaku_zaisei/re/greenhouse.html.
[6] 八丈島地熱利用農産物直売所 （えこ・あぐりまーと）. Ebook. Accessed 16 July 2020.
https://www.soumu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/09hatijou/b/bshigoto/b-noumu/b-ecoagri.pdf.
[7] "Small Geothermal Plants Gaining Steam In Japan".
Nikkei Asian Review.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Smallgeothermal-plants-gaining-steam-in-Japan.
[8] Natural Park Systems In Japan. Ebook.
https://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/doc/files/parksyst
em.pdf.
[9] 温泉エネルギー活用加速化事業. Ebook. Ministry of
the Environment. Accessed 16 July 2020.
http://www.env.go.jp/earth/ondanka/biz_local/24pamph/04.
pdf.
[10] Moon, Hyungsul, and Sadiq Zarrouk. "EFFICIENCYOF GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS: A WORLDWIDEREVIEW". New Zealand Geothermal Workshop 2012
Proceedings, 2012. https://www.geothermalenergy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/NZGW/2012/46654final0009
7.pdf.

[15] KONYALI, Ayşe. "FINANCIAL EVALUATION OFKIZILDERE GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT".
MASTER OF SCIENCE in Energy Engineering, Izmir
Institute of Technology, 2020.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
66

Working Paper on Development in Areas of Economic Water Scarcity:
Increasing Water Supply Access in the Rural Himalayan Town of Rongli, Sikkim
Eco Hamersma
Introduction
As part of the course GRM Joint Seminar II we were
tasked with finding a solution to an issue of economic
water scarcity. After an extensive region and site selection
process we opted to focus our attention on a region
suffering from economic water scarcity in North-Eastern
India. India is one of Asia’s rising economic andgeopolitical powers. Nevertheless, as a developing nation
there are still serious issues of poverty and inequality
which have contributed to unequal access to water
resources. Using an Eigenvector analysis our target area
became Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya, eventually
settling on the rural municipality of Rongli.
As part of this project, we set up a hypotheticalorganization under the name of Doshisha Utilities Co., Ltd.
which would be working with the local authorities toestablish a public private partnership (PPP) for thedevelopment of a rainwater harvesting system. Such alegal PPP legal construction was necessary due to thespecific legal circumstances which give Sikkim a special
status within India.
After weighing the different option, we decided on
utilizing a type of rainwater harvesting known as a Jalkund.
This is a type of dugout pit structure which is able tocollect and store runoff rainwater which has typically been
employed in an agricultural setting; One of the largest
water conception sectors in Sikkim. This technique has aproven track record as a viable low maintenance water
conservation technology which fits well within the frameof local development. In this project plan we are
combining rainwater harvesting with a UV filtration
system to provide an increase in drinking water supply
availability as well.
I. Region and Site Selection Process
The process to select the target region for this project wasdone in two stages. Firstly, the primary concern for thisproject was dealing with issues of economic water scarcity.
When we typically think of water scarcity, we imagine
physical water scarcity. This is when the natural watersupply is not enough to satisfy the demand. Such scarcity
is generally associated with arid regions, althoughenvironmental degradation can also play a part in this typeof scarcity. Meanwhile, economic water scarcity occurs
when, although ample natural water resources areavailable at a given locale, economic factors such as a lackof investment or human capacity significantly hamper one
or more links in the water supply chain. As a result, people
in such a region are unable to access water resources due
to economic reasons (FAO 2009).
One of the major areas suffering from this type of water
scarcity is Northeast India, also referred to as the North
Eastern Region (NER), a large area of 262.179 km2 with apopulation of 45 million people (Ibid.; North Eastern
Council Secretariat 2015, p.3). The NER receives a large

portion of its water supply from glacial runoff coming
down from the Himalayan mountains. As well as ample
rainfall during the June to August monsoon season(Pradhan et al. 2019, p.1). Nevertheless, the area is
economically disadvantaged. Some of the primary factors
which have been noted as contributing to poverty are theinaccessibility of certain areas. With a generally higher
poverty rate seen in those areas in or near forests or inareas with snow cover. Other geographic factors makeagriculture, the NER’s primary industry, a difficult sector
to work on. Issues such as steep or rocky slopes limit
useable agricultural land. Such terrain is also a limiting
factor on infrastructure as road construction is difficultand landslides cause frequently damage (Bhandari &Chakraborty 2015).
Setting our sights on the NER, we still had to narrow down
the specific state. The NER consists of eight states
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Each of thesestates poses their own challenges in development. As suchit was important to select the right area for the purposes ofour project. To achieve this, we utilized an Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP) wherein factors ten factors foreach possible regions of interests were assigned aquantitative value which is evaluated by calculating the
eigenvector. The ten factors were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Ease of access
Language
Availability of surrounding water
Affordability
Ease of legislation procedure
Impact population
Current development (Communication, Health,Environment, Technology)
Political stability (Security)
Willingness
Natural resources

Due to a lack statewide data for many of the NER states,
we opted to use the data from each state’s capital city andassume that rest of the state’s situation would becomparable or worse. The results of this analysis indicatedthat Guwahati, Assam, was the most suitable location forour project. However, one of our red lines for site selection
was the availability of the English language. As Assam isthe only NER state where English is nether the official orsecondary language, we had to exclude it from the results.
Therefor the second place Gangtok, Sikkim, became ourprimary target location (See figure 1). Because the projectfocus was to be on rural households we then searched forthe optimal municipality, eventually selecting Rongli, themunicipality directly south-east of Gangtok due toperceived infrastructure advantages close to the capital.

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#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

City
Agartala
AizawlGangtok
Guwahati
ImphalItanagar
KohimaShillong

State
TripuraMizoram
SikkimAssam
Manipur
Arunachal Pradesh
NagalandMeghalaya

Table 1, Eigenvector results. The numbers 1 through 8
correspond to the numbers in the top table indicating thetarget regions and capital cities.
(Source: GRM Joint Seminar II interim working paper,
Hamersma & Hernandez II 2021)
II. Historical and Geographic Background on Sikkim
The small Indian state of Sikkim is located in the Eastern
Himalayan, nestled between two independent states: The
Kingdom of Bhutan to the east and Federal Democratic
Republic of Nepal to the west. To the south is the Indianstate of West Bengal and to the north is the Tibet
Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China(PRC). This makes Sikkim one of the three Indian borderareas with the PRC, one of India’s major geopolitical
rivals.
There has been a nominally independent Sikkimese polity
since the 17th century, though at various times under thesuzerainty of Nepal, Tibet, the East India Company, theBritish Empire and eventually India. Within British India,
Sikkim had been considered a dependent territory and soupon Indian independence in 1947 the Indian government
felt that it was the inheritor of this protector status over thefledgling Himalayan state. One argumentation for thecontinuation of Indian interests in Sikkim was its
geographic location, one which was highly strategic,
acting as a potential buffer against China and it’s at thetime increasing interests in Tibet.
Although de jure independent, increasingly Indianpressure was put on the Sikkimese government to conformto Indian demands. This Kingdom of Sikkim had been
ruled by a dynasty of Chogyal’s, the Sikkimese title forabsolute monarch, of the Namgyal dynasty. In the late1960’s to early 1970’s, the final Chogyal, Palden Thondup
Namgyal, attempted to steer his country towards greaterinternational recognition and independence from India. As
a result, on the 10th of April 1975 the Indian army invaded
and called for a referendum on annexation to India to beheld on the 14th of April. The results were 97,55% of thevotes being in favor of abolishing the monarchy andintegrating with India. The ruling Chogyal, famous Indianintellectuals such as Morarji Desai, as well as Sikkim’s
neighbors decried the referendum as a forgery.
Considering Sikkim’s geography and the difficulty inaccessing large swaths of the population, this assessment
is not without merit.
The geography of Sikkim is very mountainous, containing
28 mountain peaks, including India’s highest. The total
area of the state is 7906 km2, making it a bit smaller thana combined Kyoto and Shiga prefectures. This small area
is nevertheless densely packed with more than 80 glacial
formations, resulting is ample available water in for formof rivers from glacial melt. One of these is the Rangpo

which runs through Rongli. Regardless of these ample
resources, issues of poverty and discrimination based on
ethnicity have led societal inequalities and as a result tounequal access to these resources.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
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Figures 1 & 2, On the left is a map of the administrative
divisions of India, highlighting Sikkim in the North East
via an arrow. On the right is a topographical map of
Sikkim.
(Source: Lodrick & Chib 2020; Basnett et al. 2013)
III. Land and Legal Issues
Sikkimese law does not make it possible for foreigners topurchase land. Representing a foreign development
organization for the purposes of this report we have tonavigate these legal complexities. Understanding theissues relating to land access have a long and turbulent
history. At its core the issues stem from Article 371F, also
known as the 36th Amendment, of the Constitution of India.
This article outlines the special provisions provided to theState of Sikkim within the Union of India in spite of theprovision applicable for the Republic of India. One of theimportant paragraphs of Article 371F is paragraph (k)which maintains in force all laws promulgated by theRoyal Sikkim Government prior to the Indian annexation(Constitution of India 2020, pp.167-169). As such, for theactual origins of the legal restrictions foreign persons ororganizations face we should look back to a 1663 peace
treaty.
With the rise of nationalism and the introduction of theconcept of citizenships the importance of defined
nationalities grew. The Sikkimese king perceived theongoing Nepali immigration, a trend with at least a
century of precedent, a threat to the nation’s stability. This
process was also stimulated by the increasing Indian threat
after that nation’s declaration of a protectorate over
Sikkim in 1950. As such, much like the development of
national identities in other emerging states, the ethnic
characteristics of the nation played a key role in thedevelopment of national citizenship. In the first draft ofthe subject regulation, two ethnic groups, the Bhutia andLepcha, were outlined as being natural citizens of theKingdom of Sikkim. Joined in the actual promulgation of

the Sikkim Subject Regulation of 1961 (SSR1961) by the
Tsong (Sikkimese Limbu). Together, these three ethnic
groups were historically significant in the foundational
process of the Sikkimese kingdom via a 1663 tripartite
treaty at the conclusion of the Mön Pa War(Vandenhelsken 2020 pp.6-9; Vandenhelsken &Khamdhak 2020, p.5; Chakraborty & Sarkar 2013).
Those residents of the Bhutia, Lepcha and Tsong ethnicity
who have their permanent abode within the territory of
Sikkim were considered to be citizens with theimplementation of SSR1961. Additionally, those people
who have made Sikkim their permanent place of residence
to the exclusion of all other territories can be consideredcitizens. Such persons must break all connection with theircountry of origin. This regulation was revised a year laterin 1962 when significant public outcry led to the removalof the ethnic criteria. Notification No.S/227/61 substituted
the ethnic criteria with a ancestry criteria where a person
can be registered as a citizen if they can prove theirancestors were Sikkimese subjects going back to at least
1850. This date happens to precede the settlement ofsignificant numbers of Nepalis. Therefore, although thewording changed the actual results had little effects on thesituation of foreigners who wished to acquire Sikkimesenationality (Vandenhelsken 2020, p.8)
Those residents not of Bhutia, Lepcha and Tsong origins
who have immovable property prior to 1961 were often
already discriminated against and barred from acquire
such property. As such the actual effect of this legislation
did not change the result that citizenship was in majority
limited to those of the aforementioned accepted ethnicities.
When Sikkim was annexed as a state of India, Article
371F of the constitution was implemented and as such the
Sikkim Subject Regulation of 1961 with the 1962 revision
was maintained even when contradicting the contradicting
the other provisions in the constitution. Particularly article
19, paragraph 1, subsection (e) guaranteeing the right toreside in any part of the territory of India (Constitution ofIndia 2020, p.27). As such even citizens or residents ofIndia from other states are not allowed to take up

Course Reports
69
permanent residency in Sikkim without fulfilling thecriteria of the SSR1961.
IV. Rongli

system through rapid or slow sand filtration, (b) increasing
the pipeline network of the current river harvesting
method through polypiping, and (c) development of arainwater harvesting system.

Rongli is a subdivision of the East Sikkim district (seefigures 3 & 4). This area consists of 22 towns, villages orhamlets (Gazeis 2017). The largest town is also called
Rongli and is located in the southern part of the subdistrict.
It is specifically this town, not the entire subdistrict, which
we will be targeting for this project. The town of Rongli
has an estimated population of 30.000 people in the 2011
census. East Sikkim, and by extension Rongli, is has a cooland humid climate with temperatures ranging between aminimum of 1.5 to a maximum of 27.5oC. Annual rainfall
is approximately 3800mm, however, this is not evenly
distributed as there is a monsoon season from May to
September and a dry season in the winter (NICRA 2013).

After careful consideration we decided on a rainwater
harvesting system would be the best fit considering
Rongli’s geography and developmental level. For thisproject we are looking for a solution which has low
operating overhead, due to the economic state of theregion, small in relative size due to the lack of available
build space. While it’s possible to build a small rapid sandfiltration plant, the operating overhead would affect the
project detrimentally. Conversely, a slow sand filtration
plant would take up too much space in the difficult
Himalayan terrain. Considering the pH value of theavailable water supply, presence of unwanted microorganisms the necessity of treatment is obvious. However,
the other factors give a negative indication of projectviability. As such, rainwater harvesting is perhaps a better

Figure 3 & 4, The left map outlines the districts of
Sikkim, with East Sikkim shown in green. The right map
shows the subdivision of East Sikkim, with the Rongli
municipality shown in purple. The town of Rongli ishighlighted with a red arrow.
(Source: Maps of India 2019 & Gazais 2017)

solution. The type of rainwater collection method we
opted for in the design of this project is a Jalkund.

This project is a design to increase the Rongli watersupply by 10%. Household water demand is roughly 150
liters per capita per day according to WHO standards.
Therefore, the total demand is around 510,000 liters per
day for this fraction of the population.
V. Project Selection Process
The water supply infrastructure is Sikkim is outdated, withlarge parts such as the only sand filtration plant in thecapital Gangtok predating Sikkim’s annexation into India.
Similarly, the pipe network is severely outdated, sufferingfrom leakages and illegal piping connections. Lack ofavailable means and sufficient care by the Indian
government has led to a gradual decline in the quality of
the water supply. This combined with strong population
growth and growing popularity of Sikkim among tourists(pre-COVID-19 pandemic) has increased water demand
not in line with available capacity. As such three different
projects were proposed in the initial phase of this study.
These included (a) development of a water purification

VI. Jalkund
A Jalkund is a rainwater harvesting method utilizing adugout pit used to collect runoff (see figure 6). Jalkunds
come in various shapes and sizes, with varying water
storage capacities. However, certain factors are
standardized. Jalkunds are usually found near hills in order
to utilize the gravitational water flows. By design a barrieris placed between the Jalkund and the soil pit to prevent
collected water from seeping into the ground. This barrier
is usually a simple LDPE agri-film lining. As suchprecautions are taken to minimize the damage to thisotherwise delicate material. These precautions include
plastering the sides of the Jalkund and using cushioning
material. In hilly terrain this method rainwater collection
carries many benefits. Not only does it protect against
erosion and provide agricultural irrigation water, it alsooffers other water use possibilities such as wish rearing or
drinking water after treatment (Singh et al. n.d.).
According to the Central Coastal Agriculture ResearchInstitute in Goa, the general the Jalkund construction
steps involve (ICAR CCARI 2019):

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
70
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Dig a bit to the desired specifications
Remove debris and sharp material
Smooth the walls of the Jalkund (clay, plasteror concreate)
The usage of insecticides between the walls
and agri-film is recommended
Dig drainage trenches to guide water flows
Line the Jalkund with LDPE agri-film lining
Weigh down the sheet to maintain stability

Figure 6, Jalkund and water treatment system design forthis project.
(Source: Hernandez II 2021)
Hernandez II (2021) calculated the number of Jalkunds
needed for this project based on a sizeable 10% increasein water supply. The format used by NICRA 2013
consisted of 30.000 liters capacity Jalkunds withdimensions of 5,0 x 4,0 x 1,5 meters. Meanwhile, ICAR
CCARI 2019 outline specifications for Jalkund atdimensions of 8,0 x 6,0 x 1,5 meters for a capacity of
72.000 liters. We decided to opt for several of the smaller
Jalkund version, spread over a larger area to maximize thecatchment area. The formula for calculating the number of
Jalkunds needed was:
Number of Jalkunds needed = Yearly intake/Number of
total liters

Figure 5, the various stages of Jalkund construction(Source: ICAR CCARI 2019)
VII. Rongli Rainwater Harvesting Project Design
Sikkim gains a significant amount of its revenue fromtourism (Jamal 2020). One of the reasons these tourists
come to Sikkim for its clean air and water (Ministry of
Tourism & Culture 2002, p.64). Yet the population of
Sikkim is still dealing with issues of economic water
scarcity and polluted water resources. This project hopes
to deal with this issue through the application of theaforementioned Jalkund system.
The use of Jalkunds rainwater harvesting is not new to
Sikkim. In the region of South Sikkim, the Dhara Vikas
project seeks to implement a climate adaptation strategy
which utilizes Jalkund rainwater harvesting to combat
rural water scarcity (NITI 2015). The seemingly
successful project use collected rainwater for the purposesof environmental restoration, including aquafer and lake
replenishment. Also in the East Sikkim region, the same
region as Rongli, a recent project constructed 25 Jalkunds(NICRA 2013). This successful project expanded local
farmers agricultural activities. Taking these two examplesof Jalkunds we believe that the expansion to other regionsin Sikkim has merit.

Course Reports
71
Assume a fixed amount of rainfall and using the surface
area of the smaller Jalkund type, we can calculate thetotal amount of evaporation loss. We have the following
table:
Months

4,10
5,9
6,8
7

Total
rainfall(L/sqm)
200
400
800
600

Total Water LossWL (L/sqm)

Jalkund Surface
Area JSA (sqm)

60
60
60
30
Total Litres TL
Number of
Jalkunds = (YI/TL)

20
20
20
20

Total Rainwaterin Jalkund
TR (Litres)
2800
6800
14800
11400
35800
92

Percentage of
Jalkund filled PJ =(TR)/30000
0.1
0.2
0.5
0.4

Daily
intake (DI)9000

YearlyIntake YI (DIx 365)
3285000

Table 2: Number of Jalkund units based on the monthly amount of rainfall. (Source: Hernandez II 2021)
As seen in the above table 92 Jalkund units are necessary
to meet our targeted water supply increase. In terms of
total added water supply, the following formula is used:(92 units) * (4m x 5m x (1.5m - 0.001m)) * (1000 L/m3)= 2758160 L of rainwater supplied for the Jalkunds,
per year.
*Note that this result does not necessarily mean that the
Jalkunds are filled. (see column PJ in the above Table)
In the next step, calculate the monthly available watersupply delivered by the Jalkund units. We use theformula:AWj = TRm x Nj,
Where AWj is the available water via Jalkund per month,TRm is the amount of rainfall per month N j = 92 is thenumber of Jalkund units.
TRm
AWj (L)Month
January00February
0
0
March
0
0
April
2800
257600May
6800
625600June
14800
1361600
July
11400
1048800
August14800
1361600
September
6800
625600
October
2800
257600November00
December00
Table 3, Available water in Jalkund per month based onmonthly rainfall.
(Source: Hernandez II 2021)
Note that this result is assuming that the water the supply
per month is independent of one other, meaning that the
Jalkunds are emptied each month. This is somethingshould not happen. We now look at the monthly overall
demand in Sikkim, to see where we can best utilize thiswater collected. Monthly water supply, demand, andallocation to agriculture in Sikkim was collected in the
below table.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
72
Month

Available
Water(1000 L)

Estimated
Agricultura
l Demand(1000 L)

Estimated
Household
Demand(1000 L)

Total
Demand(1000 L)%Agri(=Agri/Total)%Household(=Household/Total)January
February
March
April
May
June
July
AugustSeptember
OctoberNovember
December
Total
Estimated
Suppliedwater

3000002000002000002500005000005500001500000
3000000
3250000
1200000
600000500000

75000
70000
1650002150005150002150005650006150003650004650002650003150003845000
2480000

25000
30000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
35000
405000100000100000200000250000550000250000600000650000400000500000300000350000

0.75
0.7
0.83
0.86
0.94
0.86
0.94
0.95
0.91
0.93
0.88
0.9

0.25
0.3
0.18
0.14
0.06
0.14
0.06
0.05
0.09
0.07
0.12
0.1

Table 4, Monthly water supply, demand, and allocation toagriculture in Sikkim. Red regions indicate a shortage inwater, in which we can allocate the Jalkund water. Greenregions indicate those months where surplus is observed.
(Source: Hernandez II 2021)
The above table shows that, in line with the dry season,
there are periods of water deficit. To overcome thisshortcoming water will need to be stored to maintain an
equal supply the whole year round. The below schematic
outlines the strategy by indicating output as a measure ofintake.

Figure 7, outline of the water supply strategy across the
wet and dry seasons.
(Source: Hernadez II 2021)
Conserving Jakund water means limiting distribution. To
achieve this we estimate fractional amounts of water C (C< 1) that are not distributed to households or agriculture
during months of surplus. When C = 1 it means no Jalkund
water is used while C = 0 means that no water is conserved.
If we assume this system starts operation in January, we
can estimate that the total initial supply from only the
Jalkund is equal to AWj, with the allocation for households
and agriculture to be utilized correspond to:
Uhj = (1-C) x AWj, x Ph,
Uaj = (1-C) x AWj, x Pa

Surplus =Available
water Total
Demand(1000 L)
20000010000000-500003000009000002350000
2850000
700000300000150000

Allocation
toAgriculture(1000 L)

15000050000-50000-50000-100000
2500008500002300000
2800000
6500002500001000000.87

From there we can calculate the sum of the available water
for the following month (Awj_original_this_month) andconserved water of the current month:Awj (next month) = Awj_original_next_month + Awj(this month) - (Uhj + Uaj)
= Awj_original_next_month +Conserved_water_this_monthCourse Reports
73
For household and agriculture respectively. Applying thisconservation strategy, assuming C = 0.2, we have themonthly allocation:
MonthJanuary
February
March
April
May
June
July
AugustSeptember
OctoberNovember
December

Water
Deficit(Litres)-200000-1000000050000000-300000-900000-2350000-2850000-700000-300000-150000

Awj (Litres,noconservatio
n)0002576006256001361600
1048800
1361600
62560025760000

Awj (Litres,withconservatio
n)0002576006771201361600
1321120162582495076544775389551
17910

Table 5, Monthly Allocation of Jalkund water supply.
(Source: Hernandez II 2021)
As we can see in table 5, when C = 0 in the month of May
due to the water deficit all water utilisation is required.
Therefore, we can project that after one yearly cycle has
been completed, we can start the following year with a3582 Litre surplus.
VIII. Filtration system
Considering the difficulty and cost associated with
developing complex facility such as a rapid sand filtration
plant in the remote Himalayan location, and the space
limitations making a slow sand filtration plant difficult, we
decided to look for other options. Ultimately, we decided
on UV filtration due to the simplicity of the system. As asterilization method UV light is effective by disrupting
cellular function in bacteria and fungi (see table 6).
Although requiring slightly more frequent maintenancethen a sand filtration system, the maintenance consists
primarily of replacing the lamps at their end of life. For
the UV treatment system, the average lifetime of a UV
lamp is estimated at 5000 hours.

Table 6, Example of the sterilisation effect of UV light. In
this case outlining the time in seconds to administer alethal dose of UV radiation to kill the above bacteria.
(Source: Shenzhen Sinos Technology Co., Ltd 2021)

C

Pa

0
0
0
0.2
0
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2

Ph

0.75
0.7
0.83
0.86
0.94
0.86
0.94
0.95
0.91
0.93
0.88
0.9

Conserved
water in
Jalkund(Litres)
0.25
0.3
0.18
0.14
0.06
0.14
0.06
0.05
0.09
0.07
0.12
0.1

Uaj (Litres)

Uhj (Litres)

000177229636493936781
9934821235626
692157333128
63044
12895

0
0
0
28851
40627
152499
63414
65033
68455
25074
8597
1433

0
0
0
51520
0
272320264224325165190153
89551
17910
3582

IX. Budgeting Estimates & Lifecycle
Budgeting is broken up into several stages. These include
among others the construction of the Jalkunds andfiltration system, installation of the necessary equipment
and piping, permitting. An outline is given in table 6. All
prices are given in US dollars. If no current dollar price isavailable, then the dollar price is calculated based on the
14th of December 2020 exchange rate.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 774
30 years before needing maintenance (PCA 2019).
Category

Content

Example Procurement
Option or Source
https://www.labourlawreporter.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/12/SikkimMinimum-Wages-Notification-1st-July2017.pdf
Water Security & P.H.E. Department
Gangtok (14/11/2014)

Labour (Construction Phase)

Skilled labour category by Sikkim government

4,56 USD per person
per day

Permitting (All)No Objection Certificate
New Connection Fee
Cost of application Form

0,82 USD
8,16 USD
0,34 USDFILTRATION SYSTEM
Settling tankPer unit

40.000 USD

Aeration tankPer unit

30.000 USD

UV filtration

Per lamp

300 USD

Labour (Plant Management)

Unskilled and Semiskilled workers category by
Sikkim government
Administrative building (50 sqm) &Interior/Furnishings

4,08 & 4,35 USD perperson per day
10.000 USD
2.000 USDHDPE (Transfer from Jalkund)
PVC (Drinking)0.27/meter

Main building
PIPING NETWORK
Pipes

Water meters

Measuring the water flow

Mesh
Labour

One mesh is 600cm2
Unskilled and Semiskilled workers category by
Sikkim government (pipe fitter & pipe fitter
grade I/II)

RAINWATER COLLECTION
Capture & Storage System
Digging
Plastering surface ofcollection pond

1.365 USD/meter
Approximately 10
USD per unit
3 USD per mesh
4,08 & 4,35 USD perperson per day

https://www.alibaba.com/productdetail/Cheap-price-Column-supportedsettlingtank_60550891763.html?spm=a2700.772
4857.0.0.4a13bc13RnT4DU
https://www.alibaba.com/productdetail/Aeration-Tank-DaZhangWastewater-TreatmentAeration_60686380726.html?spm=a2700.7724857.0.0.50353b38l7Wx6P
https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?I
ndexArea=product_en&CatId=1101&fsb=
y&viewtype=&tab=&SearchScene=&Searc
hText=uv+filtration

https://dir.indiamart.com/

http://www.cnwatermeter.cn/product/M
echanical-water-meter-115

https://www.labourlawreporter.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/12/SikkimMinimum-Wages-Notification-1st-July2017.pdf

Per 40m3

16 USD

Sharma & Behera 2011. ‘Resource
Conserving Techniques in Crop
Production’, Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur

Per 5m2
For Jalkund baseline

2 USD
3.26 USD/bag

Ibid

Water supply projects such as these typically include aslew of required permits. These can include: Wastewater
System and Potable Water Supply Permit, Source Permit,
Construction Permit and Operating Permit. Much of thiscan be provided by our partner organisation, the publichealth engineering department, as they are often theissuing authority as well. In the case of Sikkim some ofthese can be found here: Certificate of ownership ofpremises for water supply and sewerage connection 1 ,request for a water supply line from state main 2 andrequest for a sewerage connection3.
X. Maintenance & Training
Maintenance costs for a Jalkund have been described as
negligible or low cost (ICAR CCARI Goa 2019; Saha etal. 2007). A typical clay/soil Jalkund has a lifespan of 3
years and costs approximately 7400 rupees in 2012 (ICAR(RC) NEH, n.d.). To mitigate the necessary maintenance,
we have opted for the use of a concrete base. The lifespanof the concrete lining of the Jalkund can be estimated at

1

Estimated Cost

https://www.justdial.com/Gangtok/Ceme
nt-Dealers/

Considering for instance a project duration of 5 years until
handover, it would be up until 2050 before we could
expect a single round of heavy maintenance to the
Jalkunds to be necessary. Based on the previously
calculated 122.111 rupees (1.675 USD) per Jalkund
excluding labor we can expect a single Jalkund’s lifetime
cost to be 339 rupees (4 USD) per month for 30 years.
The lifespan of the LDPE Agri-film is shorter.
Degradation of LDPE Agri-film is generally prevented via
what is referred to as ‘Buried Membrane Lining’. Thismeans that a layer of clay is placed between the Jalkund
structure and the water to prevent wear, erosion anddeterioration to the thin Agri-film caused by flowing water.
As well as damage by the use of operation andmaintenance equipment. The alternative to buried
membrane lining is ‘Exposed and Hard Surface Lining’
constructed of cement concrete (Kumar and Singh 2010,p.8). LDPE Agri-film has been cited as a potential source
for microplastic pollution (Norwegian Environment
Agency 2014; Ohtake and Kobayashi). This is caused by
the degradation of the agri-film and as such we

http://sikkim-wsphed.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CERTIFICATE-OF-OWNERSHIP-OF-PREMISES.pdf
http://sikkim-wsphed.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PDF-10-Water-Supply-Application-Form.pdf
3
http://sikkim-wsphed.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PDF-11-Sewerage-Application-Form.pdf
2

Course Reports
75
recommend regular maintenance. When replacing the
agri-film every 10 years then this would mean an
expenditure of 16,66 Indian rupees per month to maintainthe agri-film.
Long term viability of this project is to be guaranteed via
the training of local professionals who will take over thetask of infrastructure maintenance. Most of the solutions
provided are not high tech in nature, so a modest training
in the workings of the various aspects should suffice. At
other Jalkund projects, these skills are developed via a
combine regime of meetings, trainings and exposure visits(NICRA 2013). Training can be assisted via already set up
training programs and publications such as the ‘Village
Water Safety Planning: Sikkim Rural Drinking Water’ by
the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP2010). Similarly, the Sikkim Rural Management andDevelopment
Department
conducts
information
campaigns, including on issues of water management,
which would be useful for the functioning of this project.
Once a skilled worker has been trained the estimated wage
would be approximately 4,56 USD per person per day.
This is based on the ‘skilled labor category’ of the Sikkim
government (Department of Labour 2017).
XI. Limitations & Constrains
Having already covered the land property issue andnecessity for training, there are still other limitations tothis project. One of the primary concerns is the large scaleof this project. As outlined in table 2, a total of at least 92
are needed for this project. That is a major infrastructuredevelopment for an otherwise remote Himalayan town. As
such further a detailed feasibility study is highly
recommended. Another issue related to the scope of the
project at hand is related to the economics of Sikkim. As
stated in section VII, tourism is an important industry for
Sikkim and Rongli. One of the main pull factors attracting
foreign and domestic tourists is the beautiful Sikkimesenature. If this project significantly disrupts the scenic
landscape, it could negatively impact tourism. As a result,
this project would end up having the opposite effect,
worsting the economic situation in Rongli.
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Basnett, Smriti & Kulkarni, A. & Bolch, Tobias. (2013).
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on the recession of glaciers in Sikkim
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Bhandari, L., Chakraborty, M., 4 January 2015. ‘Spatial
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QKN1h6kkUS9KtN/Spatial-poverty-insikkim.html (Accessed on 9 February 2021)
Chakraborty, S., Sarkar, S., 2013 April. ‘Perspectives of
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Department of Labour, 2017. Notification No.440,
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Gazais, 3 July 2017. ‘Villages in Sikkim, East District’,[Online] Available at: http://gazeis.in/villagesin-sikkim-east-district/ (Accessed on 9
February 2021)
Hernandez II, J., Expected 2021. ‘Water Purification
Project for North-Eastern India (tentative
title)’, Journal for Information, Study andDiscussion of Global Resource Management,
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ICAR CCARI Goa 2019. ‘Low Cost Rain Water
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http://agrigoaexpert.res.in/icar/crop_technolog
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Jamal, A., 27 December 2020. ‘Sikkim suffers Rs 600crore blow as coronavirus pandemic cripples
tourism industry’, Hindustan Times [Online]
Available at:https://www.hindustantimes.com/travel/sikkim-suffers-rs-600-crore-blow-as-coronaviruspandemic-cripples-tourism-industry/storyzjz6X1mx4AGiQrtEHpg8yL.html (Accessedon 9 February 2021)
Kumar A., Singh, R., 2010 ‘Plastic Lining for Water
Storage’, Directorate of Water Management. ‘’,[Online] Available at:
http://www.iiwm.res.in/pdf/Bulletin_50.pdf(Accessed on 9 February 2021)
Lodrick, Deryck O. and Chib, Sukhdev Singh. "Sikkim".
Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Mar. 2020,[Online] Available at:https://www.britannica.com/place/Sikkim.
(Accessed 8 February 2021)
Maps of India, 2019. ‘District map of Sikkim’. [Online]
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tricts/ (Accessed on 9 February 2021)

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
76
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (A),
31 January 2021. ‘List of projects for SIKKIMStates under ALL SCHEMES(MDONER)’,
Table- MDoNER: List of Projects Sanctioned
Since inception [Online] Available at:https://mdoner.gov.in/dashboard/schemetables/
common_all_project_list_scheme.php?scheme=total_doner&&state=sikkim (Accessed on 9
February 2021)
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (B),
28 January 2021. ‘Non Lapsable Central Poolof Resources (NLCPR)’ [Online] Available at:https://mdoner.gov.in/activities/nlcprbackground (Accessed on 9 February 2021)
Ministry of Tourism & Culture, November 2002. ‘20
Years Perspective Plan For Sustainable
Tourism Development In The State Of
Sikkim’, Ministry of Tourism & Culture,
Department of Tourism, Market Research
Division. [Online] Available at:https://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/202004/sikkim%20part-A.pdf (Accessed on 9
February 2021)
NICRA, 2013. ‘Rainwater harvesting and utilization’,
National Innovations in Climate Resilient
Agriculture. [Online] Available at:
http://www.nicraicar.in/nicrarevised/index.php?option=com_co
ntent&view=article&layout=edit&id=192(Accessed on 7 February 2021)
NITI, 2015 ‘Dhara Vikas: Creating water security
through spring-shed development in Sikkim’,Social Sector Service Delivery: Good Practices
Resource Book 2015. [Online] Available at:
http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/bestpractic
es/Dhara%20Vikas%20Creating%20water%20
security%20through%20springshed%20development%20in%20Sikkim.pdf(Accessed on 7 February 2021)
North Eastern Council Secretariat, 2015. ‘Basic Statistics
of North Eastern Region 2015’, [Online]
Available at:
http://necouncil.gov.in/sites/default/files/uploa
dfiles/BasicStatistic2015-min.pdf (Accessed on
8 January 2021)
Norwegian Environment Agency, 2014 December 04‘Sources of microplastic- pollution to themarine environment’, Norwegian Environment
Agency (Miljødirektoratet). [Online] Available
at:https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/boomer
angalliance/pages/507/attachments/original/14
81155578/Norway_Sources_of_Microplastic_
Pollution.pdf?1481155578 (Accessed on 9
February 2021)
Ohtake Y., Kobayashi T., Asabe H. & Murakami N.
1998. ‘Studies on biodegradation of LDPE –observation of LDPE films scattered inagricultural fields or in garden soil.’ Polymer
Degradation and Stability, 60, 19-84.

Pradhan, R., Singh, N., Singh, R., December 2019.
‘Onset of Summer Monsoon in Northeast India
is preceded by Enhanced Transpiration’,
Scientific Reports, Volume 9
R. Saha, R., Ghosh, P. K., Mishra V. K., andBujarbaruah, K. M. 2007 May 10, ‘Low-cost
micro-rainwater harvesting technology(Jalkund) for new livelihood of rural hill
farmers’, Current Science, Vol. 92, No. 9, pp.
1258-1265
Shenzhen Sinos Technology Co., Ltd, 2021. Productdetails for 300W and 400W IP68 Ultraviolet
Water Purification Treatment Facility on
Alibaba. [Online] Available at:https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/300W400W-High-Power-IP68Ultraviolet_62447235132.html?spm=a2700.gal
leryofferlist.normal_offer.d_title.3beb7e1ezyY
ahC (Accessed on 11 February 2021)
Singh, H., Singh, Y., Jyotsna, N., no date. ‘Jalkund (Awater harvesting structure)’, Foundation forEnviroment & Economics Development
Services, Manipur. [Online] Available at:https://kvk.icar.gov.in/API/Content/PPupload/k0197_81.pdf (Accessed on 5 February 2021)
Vandenhelsken, M., 2020 August 02. ‘The 1961 Sikkim
subject regulation and ‘indirect rule’ in Sikkim:
ancestrality, land property and unequalcitizenship’, Asian Ethnicity, DOI:
10.1080/14631369.2020.1801338
Vandenhelsken, M., 9 February 2020 ‘The 1961 Sikkim
subject regulation and ‘indirect rule’ in Sikkim:
ancestrality, land property and unequalcitizenship’, [Online] Available at:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/
14631369.2020.1801338 (Accessed on 9
February 2021)
Vandenhelsken, M., Khamdhak, B., 2020 May 13.
‘Loyalty, resistance, subalterneity: a history of
Limbu ‘participation’ in Sikkim’, Asian
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10.1080/14631369.2020.1763777
WSP, October 2010. ‘Village Water Safety Planning:
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Available at:https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/SIKKIM_Training_Manual.pdf(Accessed on 11 February 2021)

Course Reports
77
Abstract
Rongli is a town located in the Eastern Himalayan state of
Sikkim. Sikkim, a state of India since 1975, is dealing with
the negative effects of economic water scarcity. Thisimplies that while water as a natural resource is available
in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the population,
the economic circumstance of population is such that thecitizens are unable to utilize the available resources
effectively, leading to poor distribution and sanitation. As
such our project aims to provide a cheap source ofdrinking water through an innovative rainwater collection
project. The Sikkim region was chosen via Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP) wherein factors of each possible
regions of interests were assigned a quantitative value
which is evaluated by calculating the eigenvector. Here,the city with largest value of eigenvector is selected to be
the region under study. Although our target was smaller
rural communities, due to data limitations the eigenvector
analysis was based on data available from the regional
capitals.
Despite the ample physical availability of water via theyearly monsoon season and the river Rangpo, access ishindered due to high infrastructure costs in the state’sdifficult Himalayan terrain. As a resort to accessing water,(illegal) polypipes are being connected to the government
water infrastructure to connect to individual households,
such illegal connections are prone to leakages and otherhazards. Moreover, the Sikkim region experiences arecurring dry season during the months of March to May,
which greatly affect the livelihood of the citizens. With
regard to the region’s water supply for agriculture
purposes, Sikkim relies on precipitation which peaks
during the months of June and July. For household
purposes, the Sikkimese capital of Gangtok, the state’s
largest urban area, is limited to only one old water
treatment facility. Current methods of water purificationthat could be implemented in the region involve slow andrapid sand filtration, as well as rainwater harvesting.
Considering the features and disadvantages of eachprocess, our project settled on rainwater harvesting. Sincesome of the main problems of rainwater harvesting,however, include issues of scale. Particularly the numberof required collection units to supply each residence,
traditional rooftop harvesting is said to be a costly process.
Currently, the region implements the construction and useof a Jalkund trench consisting of polymer film as a basin
for rainwater collection. However, the use of rainwaterfrom the Jalkund is traditionally implemented for
agricultural purposes, which accounts for approximately
70 percent of the entire Sikkimese water demand. Fromthe precipitation data of Sikkim, the region experiences asurplus of rainwater in the months of June and July. Since
there is a projected increasing demand for both
agricultural and household water supply, the feasibility forthe development of a water collection, distribution, andpurification system based on the Jalkund system in Rongli
province is investigated. The distribution consists of aseries of pipes directed to systems for both agricultural anddomestic usage. For domestic usage, an ultraviolet lighttreatment system has been proposed.
The project goal is to provide ample water supply to 10
percent of the Rongli population of approximately 30.000
people. The household water demand is roughly 150 liters

per capita per day, as per WHO standard. Thus, the total
demand is around 510,000 liters per day for this fractionof the population. We considered the current available
water supply in the region to identify how many Jalkund
systems are required. Land acquisition for the constructionof these Jalkunds is not possible due to special exceptionsin the Indian constitution for the state of Sikkim legislation,
the project therefore assumed to directly cooperate withthe local government. Possible social participation interms of task delegation in the construction of thesesystems, as well as the utilization of water towards are
enumerated. From the system maintenance andconstruction materials, the project is expected to last for
thirty years.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
78

Feasibility Study in the Development of a Water Purification and Distribution System
in Rongli, Sikkim, North Eastern India
James Edward Hernandez II
I.

Background
A. Economic Water Scarcity
Among all the water content in the planet, only
three percent is freshwater, with one-third of which iscontained within glaciers which are unable to be used [1].
Thus, water scarcity is considered to be a major global
problem. As it is perennial, there are regions affected by thisphenomenon the greatest. According to the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are
two major classifications of water scarcity: physical andeconomic; the former is described as the lack of proper
access of a nation to ample water sources due togeographical situation, the latter is described as the inability
to access sufficient water supply due to the inability of the
population to establish systems in usable water harvesting[2]. Thus, despite the availability of usable water within thenation, economic issues become the main hindrance inmeeting the water demands of the population. In thisproject, the objective is to establish a method in increasing
the water supply of a region undergoing economic water
scarcity.
B. Rongli, Northeastern India
In choosing the region of interest, the regions
which economic water scarcity, shown in Fig. 1 is firstinvestigated. The proponents of the project selected
northeastern (NER) India as the region of interest. The NER
consists of eight states Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. An
eigenvector method is then adopted, where factors including
data availability, language used, and GDP of the region wereconsidered. After the eigenvector calculation, particularly
Sikkim, a town in Northeastern India.

Figure 1. Physical and economic water scarcity map
Within Sikkim, the region with the lesser
population is sought. Using the factors in the eigenvector
calculation such as geography, data availability, project
implementation viability, affordability, cultural diversity,
political openness, and religious diversity, the province
Gangtok, in east Sikkim is chosen as region of interest.
Within Gangtok, the town Rongli was further narrowed
down as the region where the feasibility of constructing awater purification is considered.
Rongli is a small town in northeastern India in
Sikkim region with a population of 27741 as of 2011.
Rongli is a mountainous area situated around 3300 feetabove sea level. Agriculture is one of the main livelihoods
within the region. Historically, the kingdom of Sikkim
reigned from 1642 to 1975. Sikkim consists of several
ethnicities including Bhutia, Nepali, Lepcha, and Tsong.
Due to Indian annexation of Sikkim, within the IndianConstitution (Article 19, par.1, subsection e), Sikkim isconsidered to be part of India, while having its own
regulations. One of which is land ownership, where only
citizens of Sikkim are able to acquire land for private
purposes. Consequently, initiatives originating from theprivate sector involving land purchasing must involve
residents of Sikkim. In terms of water utility, Rongli
currently has a dam from which a hydroelectric
Brahmaputra power plant is constructed [3]. In terms of thewater quality in Gangtok, the pH values of the water
samples are around 8.4 [4]. Moreover, microbial activity
was present in the Gangtok freshwater samples. This
indicates that the quality of the existing freshwater supply is
not sufficient for consumption.
II.

Water Distribution and Purification Systems in
SikkimA. Water Distribution
In terms of water distribution, freshwater istransported across localities by means of illegal piping.
Polypipes, or branched out metal pipes are connected
throughout freshwater reserves such as rivers throughprivate households. Figure 2 shows the installation ofpolypipes within Singtam. One possible disadvantage ofutilizing polypipes is the difficulty in monitoring the qualityof water from the source region when water leaks ensue,
since the identification of the leak would mean traversing
through the complicated piping connections. As weathering
frequently occurs within these pipes, maintenance costs
would be significant.

Figure 2. Polypipe installation in Singtam, adopted from
Ref [5]

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79
B.

Water Purification
In terms of water purification, current water
filtration systems fall into two categories: slow and rapid
sand filtration. Slow sand filtration is typically employed forregions with a relatively large area of freshwater, which
requires relatively little maintenance to its rapid counterpart.
Moreover, the skill required for the operation of slow sandfilter is lower than that of the rapid sand filter. However,rapid sand filtration supplies more water at a faster interval
than the slow sand filter, which deems it to be the main
method in supplying water to large cities. This leads to thecomparison between the two systems. Shown in Fig. 2 is thecomparison between slow and rapid sand filtration methods.
Since the target population is under 10000 people, it may
seem that the slow sand filter would be optimal for the
Rongli town. However, a major concern is the lack of spacewithin the region, as the town mostly consists ofmountainous area. Thus, in order to establish purification
systems applicable to the region, other means of harvesting
freshwater are sought. Another type of freshwater
accumulation and purification system is through rainwater
harvesting, described in the following section.

collector. Although rainwater is considered to be freshwater,
its quality may also depend on that of the evaporated water.
As per the project objectives of providing water supply toaround 3000 people, this method of water supply system isselected. In this work, due to available resources, theassumption that data obtained from different areas of
Sikkim are sufficient to be applicable to the entire region.
In South Sikkim, the precipitation pattern isshown in Fig. 3. From the months of June to September (asshown from the labels 6 to 9), the rainfall is shown to behighest, while January, February, November, and December
were shown to have little to no rainfall. This is indicative of
the wet and dry seasons in Sikkim, where periods aftersummer have the most amount of precipitation, whilesummer and winter seasons have the least amount of
rainfall.

Fig. 3. Rainfall in South Sikkim in millimeters versus
monthsFig. 2. Comparison between slow and rapid sand filtration.
Adopted from Ref. [6]
C. Rainwater Harvesting
Another method of freshwater accumulation andtransport is through rainwater harvesting. Rainwater
harvesting is commonly utilized in regions with little
available flatland to employ large scale water filtration
systems. Due to smaller area requirements, rainwater
harvesting systems can be localized in residential levels.
However, due to the same reason, increasing water supply
via rainwater harvesting poses some disadvantages
including size and location-dependent output. As therainwater system consists mainly of a collection andtransport region, the amount of specification of the size ofthe collector region. Moreover, the precipitation distribution
may differ across regions, which also affect the output of theFollowing the rainfall distribution in Sikkim, thecurrent water supply and demand pattern is investigated.
Fig. 4 shows the monthly water availability and demand in
East Sikkim. Surplus in available water is observed from themonths of June to October. Since the highest precipitation
values in the distribution fall under these months, the excess
available water (shown in blue bars) are classified as
rainwater. On another note, the pink bars indicate the total
demand which is shown to be higher in the months ranging
from March to May, most probably due to the summer
season at which evaporation losses reach the highest.
Household (HH) and livestock (LS) demand is shown tohave a constant pattern throughout the year. The graphshows the time periods where water scarcity is observed. A
possible strategy is to utilize the surplus rainwater from Julyto October for those periods where water shortage is
expected.

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 780
lined with a waterproof agrifilm made from low density
polyethylene (LDPE) where rainwater is settled. Boulders
are placed on the agrifilm to keep the film intact. Once
rainwater is stored, the Jalkund is covered by grass andfenced to keep animals from contacting with the Jalkund. In
Sikkim, the Jalkund is utilized for agricultural purposes,
where the region mainly grows corn and ginger as a maincrop.

Fig. 4 Monthly water availability and demand in East
Sikkim. Ref [7]Fig. 5. Schematic of a rainwater filtration system Left figure
adopted from Ref. [8] Right figure adopted from Ref [9]Cost-effective Water purification system
Since the collected rainwater can be a source ofcontaminants, filtration is required for household
consumption. Moreover, the material cost for filtration also
requires to be inexpensive. A self-cleaning filtration
mechanism was reported based on filter fabrics, shown in
Fig. 5 [9]. The mechanism design consists of water inlet,
outlet, and filter components. The water is first directed
downward toward the filter fabrics. Increased water pressure
pushes the water upward through the fabrics and toward theoutlet component. The valve outlet consists of a spring
attached to the water sealant and a magnet attached near thevalve exit. As the water pressure between the water outlet
and the valve outlet is further increased, the pressure appliedon the spring results to its contraction and the opening of thevalve, releasing the water. As a result, the filter fabrics is‘cleaned’ by the filtered water located between the outlet
region and the filter fabric region. This mechanism is
proposed to reduce maintenance as well as labor costs,
while increasing the quality of water output. The proponents
claimed the apparatus conformed to the water quality
standards such as that imposed by the WHO. In this project,
the use of this mechanism is adopted due to its costeffectiveness and simplicity.

(a)

D.

III. Jalkund-based Water Harvesting System
A. Structure of the Jalkund
A Jalkund is a lined trench dug in mountainous
regions and is utilized for rainwater storage. The steps in theconstruction of the Jalkund is shown in Fig. 6. The typical
Jalkund trench has a size of 5 m x 4 m x 1.5 m, which holds
around 30,000 liters. Concrete is poured on the trench as afoundation, although clay can also be used. The Jalkund is

(b)

(c)
Fig. 6 (a) Steps in Jalkund construction a. excavation, b.
plastering with clay, cushioning with pine leaf, d. lining
with LDPE agrifilm, e. rainwater collected in Jalkund, f.
thatch covers Adopted from Ref [10] (b) Cross section of a
Jalkund. Adopted from Ref. [11] (c) Rejuvenation of lakes
via Jalkund system, Adopted from Ref. [12]The Jalkund can be utilized as means for
replenishing water on dried lakes. In South Sikkim, runoff
from surface rainwater flows to the Dolling lake via piping

Course Reports
81[12]. This is currently performed by the Dhara Vikas
project, where locals participate in the water transport in
rejuvenating springs and other freshwater bodies.

hour [13]. The output water is claimed to be suitable fordrinking. Output water coming from this setup acts as the
final stage, after transporting water coming from the storage
tanks for household purpose. Advantages of the system
include the possibility of rerouting the water towards either
agriculture or household, which increases the versatility incatering for the demand. Another advantage, compared tothe slow sand filtration process, is that the systems can be
expanded, given adequate connection. Two or more Jalkund
systems can be linked via piping, to increase overall supply.

B.

Schematic of Water Harvesting and Purification
systemThrough the use of various components ofcurrently implemented apparatuses and systems for theincrease in water supply, a schematic for incorporating thesecomponents is proposed, as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7 Schematic of the Jalkund-based water collection,
distribution, and purification system
The proposed schematic can be separated into
three regions: collection, distribution, and treatment. In thecollection region, rainwater first poured into the Jalkund
which fills the volume of the trench. The water then flows
as runoff through pipes similar to that of the Dhara Vikas
system. Directional valves steer the water flow to storage
tanks designated either for agriculture or household purpose.
The distribution region consists of polyvinylchloride pipes,
which are typically used for water transport. These pipes
connect the Jalkund systems to the storage tanks and fromthe storage tanks to the crops and the treatment facilities.
Within the pipes, supporting valves are attached so thatremoval and maintenance of the pipes becomes easier.
Filtration meshes are installed within the pipes to remove
large sediments, which could be a cause of clogging. For
water transported to storage tanks for agriculture, noadditional treatment is required. For the treatment region, an
ultraviolet (UV) light water treatment system is adopted. In
Sikkim, small-scale UV filtration systems are alreadyavailable, where output water is approximately 50 liters per

IV. Supply and Demand analysis
A. Available water and Water Allocation
In order to identify the quantity of Jalkund
systems required, the demand is investigated. From Fig. 4,
the monthly demand is tabulated, as shown in Table 1. The
data corresponds to that of Taktsom chu, which has apopulation of 5000, which is well above the 3400 target
population.
Table 1. Tabulated data for available water and total demandin Taktsom Chu

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
AugustEstimated
Available
Agricultural
Water (1000
DemandL)(1000 L)
30000075000
20000070000
2000001650002500002150005000005150005500002150001500000
5650003000000
615000Estimated%Agri (=
Household D Total Demand
Agri/Total)emand (1000 (1000 L)
Pa
L)
25000
1000000.75
30000
1000000.7
35000
2000000.83
35000
2500000.86
35000
5500000.94
35000
2500000.86
35000
6000000.94
35000
6500000.95%Household (=Household/Tot
al)
Ph
0.25
0.3
0.18
0.14
0.06
0.14
0.06
0.05

Surplus =Allocation
Available water to Agriculture
Total Demand(1000 L)
(1000 L)
20000015000010000050000
0-500000-50000-50000-100000
3000002500009000008500002350000
2300000

September

3250000

36500035000

4000000.91

0.09

2850000

2800000

October

1200000

46500035000

5000000.93

0.07

700000650000November

60000026500035000

3000000.88

0.12

300000250000December

50000031500035000

3500000.9

0.11500001000003845000

405000

Month

Total
Estimated Supplied water

2480000

0.87

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
82
Equation 1:
The table also shows the percent allocated tohousehold and agriculture, wherein the mean allocation for
DI=60×TRP+60×10×TRP/5(1)
agriculture is shown to be approximately 87% of the total
demand. Surplus above 900,000,000 liters of water iswhere TRP=3400 is the target population. The factor 60
observed from the months of July to September, indicative
represents the WHO requirement minus the currentlyof the rainy season. On the other hand, water shortage isconsumed water (150 – 90 liters per day). The second term
observed from march to May, where the surplus is greater
represents the water allocation for agriculture, which isthan or equal to zero. This indicates a yearly water scarcity
approximately 10 times that of the household consumption.
problem within this area of Sikkim. The household water
The divisor 5 assumes that a household of five members
demand in areas in Sikkim across various socioeconomic
share the same part of water for agricultural use. The resultclasses is shown in Fig. 8. In this graph, the lowest andof 6240 units considers the yearly water intake. Althoughhighest socioeconomic group based on income is labelled as
one threat to this number of units would be the construction,‘Category I’ (monthly income below 10000 Rs.) andthis number satisfies the demand of the target population‘Category V’ (monthly income from 41000-50000 Rs.)
under the assumption that the amount of water utilized forrespectively [14]. Gangtok does not show major variation inagriculture is always fixed (around 9 times the householdwater consumption across the socioeconomic groups. Daily
consumption amount). From the previous discussion, thehousehold water consumption in Gangtok is 9907 liters,
amount of additional household demand of 60 liters per day
from 28 households, resulting to around 90 liters consumed
depends on the average individual water consumption of thedaily per capita, assuming a household of four members.
residents. Thus, DI can be lower.
According to the WHO standard, daily consumption ofwater should be approximately 150 liters. This indicates a
Table 2. Calculation of required number of Jalkunds based
shortage of 60 liters per capita among the residents. Givenon yearly intake
this assumption, the number of%TRj
YI
Jalkund systems, assuming a 30,000
TRa
WL(TR)/3000(DI x 365, L)
liter capacity of the Jalkund is(L/sqm) (L/sqm)
JSA (sqm) TOj (Liters) 0
DI, L
Monthscalculated, as shown in Table 2.
4,10
200
60
20
2800
0.1
5,9
400
60
20
6800
0.2
However, it is only assumed that 150
612000223380000
6,8
800
60
20
14800
0.5
liters is the minimum supply for the
7
600
30
20
11400
0.4
resident. Depending on the daily
Total Liters TL
35800
activities of the citizen, the water
Number ofusage varies. Thus, this measurement
Jalkunds = (YI/TL)
6240
of minimum daily water consumption
only serves as a baseline for calculation of the water supply.
C.
Water Conservation
In order to increase theutilization efficiency of water in the
Jalkund system, a conservation
strategy is adopted. In this strategy,
the amount of water collected in thepresent month is conserved for use in
those months which experience water
shortage. Assuming that sufficientstorage units are available for use forthe excess water and the amount ofwater can be monitored, the strategy,
when adopted, can accumulate foruse even for the succeeding years. In
order to integrate the strategy in thecalculation of water supply, a factor
C<1 is introduced in the Jalkund total
output water. The total amount of water utilized forFig. 8 Household water consumption in Gangtok, Ravangla,
household and agriculture 〖U_h〗_j and 〖U_a〗_j are
and Pelling across various economic groupsthen〖U_h〗_j=(1-C)×AW_j×P_h(2)
B. Calculation of Number of Jalkund units〖U_a〗_j=(1-C)×AW_j×P_a(3)
As shown in Table 2, a simplified precipitation
distribution is adopted where the highest rainfall is in July
with a total amount of rainfall (TRa) of 600 mm (600L/sqm) of precipitation, followed by June and August (400L/sqm), May and September (200 L/sqm), and April andOctober (100 L/sqm). All other months were assumed tohave zero precipitation. The Jalkund surface area (JSA) is
20 sqm. Water loss (WL) is also considered to be 1 mm per
day in Sikkim [15]. The total amount of water in liters fromthe daily (DI) and yearly (YI) intakes is obtained from

where AW_j is the available water in the Jalkund equal to
the total monthly amount of rainfall times the number of
Jalkund units, P_h and P_a is the percentage of water
allocated to household and agriculture. When the factor C isequal to 0 or 1, total water utilization or storage,
respectively, is expected. For C=0 from January to May and
C=0.2 elsewhere, we have the calculation shown in Table 3.
Assuming the construction finishes in January, theconserved water in the Jalkund in December the same year

Course Reports
83
amounts to around 200000 liters, following this scheme.
Table 3. Calculation of Jalkund water supply with C=0 fromJanuary to May, and C=0.2 elsewhere

Month

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
AugustSeptember
OctoberNovember
December

Water
Awj (Liters,
Awj (Liters,
Deficitnowith(Liters) conservation) conservation) C-20000000-10000000000017472000
2576005E+0742432000
625600-300000
92352000
1361600-900000
71136000
71408320-2350000
92352000
106633664-2850000
42432000
63758733-700000
17472000
30223747-300000
06044749-150000
01208950

V.

Lifecycle assessment
Lifecycle assessment of the project mainly
focuses on the operation costs of the proposed system. One
reason for considering the Jalkund-type rainwater harvesting
system is its affordability and relative ease of construction.
Moreover, the current availability and utility of the Jalkund
system would imply that construction of such units would
not be an entirely new experience for the Sikkim residents.
However, the construction of the units has to beinvestigated. Cost estimation is separated into the following
components: the Jalkund system, piping and distribution,
storage, and treatment facilities. An estimate for the Jalkund
is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. (Upper) Estimated costs involved in theConstruction of Jalkund (30,000 liter capacity), Adopted
from Ref. [14] (Lower) Estimate legal, distribution, andtreatment expenses for the Jalkund system.

Pa
0
0
0
0
0
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2

Conserved
water in
Jalkund(Liters)

Ph
0.75
0.7
0.83
0.86
0.94
0.86
0.94
0.95
0.91
0.93
0.88
0.9

0.25
0.3
0.18
0.14
0.06
0.14
0.06
0.05
0.09
0.07
0.12
0.1

0
0
0
0
0
27232014281664
21326733
12751747
6044749
1208950241790Ua (Liters) Uh (Liters)
0
0
0
0
0
0
22153636064
58806437536
936781
15249953699057 3427599
81041585 4265347
46416357 4590629
22486467 1692530
4255504
58029687044496716

It can be observed that the total cost of
construction of Jalkund is around 4000 rupees which isapproximately 60 USD. For comparison, the cost of each
Jalkund unit is, one-tenth of a Category V resident.
However, the cost of other components of the system could
add to the difficulty of construction, such as the pipelines.
Thus, it is recommended that all the components would not
be established simultaneously. For instance, 10 Jalkund
units, when full, will supply 400 households of five people
in a day, or the household needs of 60 people in a month.
However, assuming that the consumption of Jalkund wateris around 20 percent, then approximately 300 people, or
10% of the target population will be benefitted in a monthby the installation of 10 units. Conservation of water allows
for additional water supply, which implies for additional
benefactors of the system.
In terms of project milestones, it is foreseen thatthe project would last for 30 years. This time period ischosen due to the lifespan of the Jalkund foundation, whichis concrete. For the preparatory arrangements, legalities andpermits have to be settled for the first few years. Thisimplies that the social participation concerning Sikkim
residents has to be already settled by then. At least fifty
Jalkunds are then constructed and monitored every year.
Depending on the water allocation, the number of units mayvary. Pricing and monitoring of the water also depend on theregulations to be implemented by the current government,so negotiations have to be conducted. This makes social
participation vital to the progression of the project.
VI. Opportunities for Social participation
Since Jalkund systems are a relatively familiar
form of rainwater harvesting amongst the residents of
Sikkim, opportunities for social participation are also
envisioned. One possible endeavor is the establishment ofagri-business initiatives. Since the Jalkund systems cater toboth agricultural and household demand, increase in watersupply would lead to increase in crop production. The
Jalkund system can also be an avenue of opportunities toform citizen groups with designated roles. An example ofroles is classified in the following.
1. Constructiona.
Diggingb.
LiningGlobal Resource Management Journal Vol. 7
84
2. Pipinga.
Installationb.
Maintenance3.
Storage
1.
Installation
2.
Monitoring
4.
Treatmenta.
Lamp maintenanceb.
Wiringc.
Monitoring
These roles cane be delegated with appropriate
leadership established by the residents themselves. Close
cooperation with the project management and the localities
is expected. The agri-based business can be utilized toincrease income amongst the population, thus increasing thepurchasing capacity for better water quality. Once theincome is sufficient for daily household and agriculturalneeds, expansion via construction of additional Jalkund
units can be expected.
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https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity.
[2] "Understanding Water Scarcity". Fao.Org, 2021,
http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographicsdetails/en/c/218939[3] Water Security And Public Health Engineering. 2021, p.
1, http://sikkimfred.gov.in/user/Documents/Dem33.pdf.
Accessed 1 Feb 2021.
[4] A. Tiwari, Current Science, Vol. 103, 1, 10 July 2012[5] Sharma, Ghanashyam et al. "Water Management
Systems Of Two Towns In The Eastern Himalaya: Case
Studies Of Singtam In Sikkim And Kalimpong In West
Bengal States Of India". Water Policy, vol 22, no. S1, 2019,
pp. 107-129. IWA Publishing, doi:10.2166/wp.2019.229.
Accessed 1 Feb 2021.
[6] "Slow Sand Water Filter And Rapid Sand Water Filter".
The Water Treatments,
https://www.thewatertreatments.com/water-treatmentfiltration/comparison-slow-sand-filter-rapid-sand-filter/.
[7] Sharma, Santosh et al. "Water Security In The Mid Elevation Himalayan Watershed, East District With Focus
In The State Of Sikkim". Indian Mountain Summit – 3(SMDS) Kohima Workshop, 2013, p. 10,https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259975888_Water_security_in_the_mid__elevation_Himalayan_watershed_East_district_with_focus_in_the_State_of_Sikkim_Santosh_Sharma_Kireet_Kumar_
and_KK_Singh. Accessed 1 Feb 2021.
[8] Silva Vieira, A. et al. Self-Cleaning Filtration: A Novel
Concept for Rainwater Harvesting Systems. 2021,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921
344913001389.
[9] Godfrey, S. et al. "Safe Greywater Reuse To Augment
Water Supply And Provide Sanitation In Semi-Arid Areas
Of Rural India". Water Science And Technology, vol 62, no.
6, 2010, pp. 1296-1303. IWA Publishing,doi:10.2166/wst.2010.414. Accessed 1 Feb 2021.
[10] "Doable Technology - How To Prepare Jalkund".
Kiran, http://www.kiran.nic.in/jalkhund.html. Accessed 1
Feb 2021.
[11] Sharma, A. R., and U. K. Behera. Resource Conserving
Techniques In Crop Production. Scientific Publishers(India), 2011, p. 287,
https://books.google.co.jp/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VCZgDw
AAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA279&dq=water+filtration+jalkun
d&ots=N4cW2kvT3x&sig=5SSCVOFBMRmYPZjEk0nBid

NoGiE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=water%20filtration%2
0jalkund&f=false. Accessed 1 Feb 2021.
[12] "Dhara Vikas: Creating Water Security ThroughSpring-Shed Development In Sikkim". 2015, p. 60,
http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/bestpractices/Dhara%20
Vikas%20Creating%20water%20security%20through%20sp
ring-shed%20development%20in%20Sikkim.pdf. Accessed
1 Feb 2021.
[13] "Industrial Uv Water Purifier". Indiamart.Com,
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/industrial-uv-waterpurifier-21346365348.html.
[14] Shit, Pravat Kumar et al. "Assessment Of Domestic
Water Use Pattern And Drinking Water Quality Of Sikkim,
North Eastern Himalaya, India: A Cross-Sectional Study".
Journal Of The Geological Society Of India, vol 94, no. 5,
2019, pp. 507-514. Springer Science And Business Media
LLC, doi:10.1007/s12594-019-1348-9. Accessed 1 Feb
2021.
[15] Saha, R., et al. “Low-Cost Micro-Rainwater Harvesting
Technology (Jalkund) for New Livelihood of Rural Hill
Farmers.” Current Science, vol. 92, no. 9, 2007, pp. 1258–
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Feb. 2021.

Contributors

KHALILI, Mostafa
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow,
Institute of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies,
Sophia University

HAMERSMA, Eco
Doctoral Student,
Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University

HERNANDEZ, James Edward II Aquino
Doctoral Student,
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University

ROLA, Armand Christopher Casiple
Doctoral Student,
Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University

Global Resource Management Journal Vol. 72021 年 3 月 発行
編集・発行者 同志社大学高等研究教育院〒602-8580 京都市上京区今出川通烏丸東入
電話：（075）251-3259
E-mail：ji-grmld@mail.doshisha.ac.jp
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