Case

Wide-Area Collaboration Efforts for Water Supply in Kitakyushu CityWater utility

Kitakyushu City Water and Sewer Bureau

General information of the utility (2019)
Operation
typePublic(wholesale + retail supply)Service area (km2)

514.56

Population
served987,947

Distribution (m3/d)

306,882

Servicecoverage
(%)

99.67

Pipe length (km)4,648

NRW (%)

9.82

Number of staff

361

Number ofwater
sources

Surface water (10), Groundwater (0), Others (0)Waterrates (JPY)

Basic fees JPY680 + JPY10/m3(in case of 10m3 of water use permonth for residential customers)

The Kitakyushu City Water and Sewer Bureau has been actively promoting
various wide-area collaborations, such as "integration of water supply services ","wholesale water supply" and “comprehensive contract for water supplyoperations” (Figure 1).

Summary

In the "Kitakyushu City Water Supply and Sewer Service Medium-Term
Management Plan (FY2016-2020)" formulated in 2016, the city positioned "widearea cooperation in various forms" as one of its priorities. Also, in the "Vision for
the Kitakyushu Urban Area," "consideration of wide-area cooperation” wasincluded based on the collaboration agreement for the Kitakyushu Urban Area,
which was signed in 2016 by the city and 16 neighboring municipalities. The city
is actively promoting wide-area cooperation by utilizing the city’s economies ofscale and technology and know-how that they have cultivated over many years as
water supplier.

Figure 1 | Current state of wide-area cooperation/collaboration

Current
Status &Challenges

Water utilities in Japan are facing various issues and challenges including "aging
water supply facilities," "delays in seismic reinforcement and retrofitting","vulnerable financial foundations at many small water supplies" and "significant
decline in the number of employees involved in water supply services". And theseissues and challenges are making it increasingly difficult for individual utilities tokeep providing their services in a sustainable and efficient way on their own.

Measures &Solutions

1. Service Integration
The city began to divert water to the neighboring town of Mizumaki in 1969, andhas since reinforced their relation with the town through various initiatives such as"outsourcing of water quality tests" and "emergency assistance agreement ".
Under these circumstances, the city conducted various simulations to facilitate
further wide-area cooperation with the town, including a sharing of systems, cooutsourcing, and service integration. At the time, Mizumaki Town consideredlowering its water rates (approximately 1.8 times higher than the city's) to be themost important issue, and for its drastic solution, the town formally requested
service integration with the city in August 2011, and the city integrated Mizumaki
Town's water services in October 2012.
During the examination of service integration with Mizumaki Town, it became
clear that there was a disparity between the level of water facilities between thetwo municipalities. To secure the financial resources to eliminate this disparity, the2 / 6

city kept the water rates of Mizumaki Town unchanged for a certain period of timeafter the integration. This way, they were able to unify the water rates within one
year of the integration (the town’s water rates were lowered to be the same as thecity’s).
As a result of the service integration, Mizumaki Town was able to lower its waterrates, and their service quality was greatly improved because they can now use thecity's system that can allow the customers not only to pay their water bills atconvenience stores but to call a call center and discuss a wide range of issues andinquiries. The city, in turn, was able to eliminate water diversions and secure a stablewater revenue.
2. Wholesale water supply using emergency connecting main
After the "Fukuoka Prefecture western offshore earthquakes" occurred in March
2005, the governor of Fukuoka Prefecture and the mayors of Fukuoka andKitakyushu Cities had a top-level meeting and agreed on the early implementationof the "Northern Fukuoka Emergency Connecting Main Project". The purpose of theproject is to connect the Kitakyushu City and the Fukuoka urban area so they canmutually accommodate up to 50,000 m3/d of water in case of emergencies such as
an earthquake or water quality incident. To keep the emergency main readily
available for emergencies, it is necessary to keep the water quality within the mainin good shape by maintaining a constant water flow. On the other hand, water
utilities located along the emergency connecting main (Munakata District
Administrative Association, Koga City, and Shingu Town) had had a problem with
their own water sources, and had been considering a switch to other sources.
In light of these circumstances, the city decided to establish the Kitakyushu City
Wholesale Water Supply to provide 20,000 m3/d, which was to be discharged formaintenance purposes from the emergency connecting main, to the water utilities
along the connecting main.
Both the emergency connecting main and the whole sale water supply werelaunched as a joint project in 2006, and were put into service in 2011. The 47-km
emergency connecting main and the wholesale water supply service utilizing its
water for maintenance purposes is a unique example in Japan.

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Wholesale water supply project(up to 20,000m3/d from Kitakyushu City)
Shingu Town

Koga City

up to 4,000m3/d

up to 3,000m3/d(FY2016 to start)

Fukutsu City

Munakata City

up to 3,000m3/d up to 10,000m3/d(FY2016 to start)

Emergency Connecting Pipe [approx. 47km]

Kitakyushu City

Fukuoka urban area

Munakata District Administrative Association

Northern Fukuoka Emergency Connecting Main Project
Mutual water accommodation in emergency (up to 50,000m3/d)

Figure 2 | Emergency connecting main and wholesale water supply project
3. Comprehensive Operations Contract
In 2011, the city began a wholesale water supply to the Munakata District
Administrative Association, and in 2012 concluded a technical cooperationagreement with the Association, which covers "mutual support in case ofemergency," "acceptance of staff for technical trainings" and "promotion of widearea cooperation”.
At the time, the Association was facing difficulties in passing on the technicalexpertise necessary to keep a stable water supply due to a retirement ofexperienced staff members. In February 2014, the city received a request from theAssociation to consider a comprehensive outsourcing contract of water services.
Upon considering a way of outsourcing that would be beneficial to both parties, inNovember 2014, the city signed a basic agreement for the implementation of acomprehensive outsourcing contract. The contracted work started in April 2016.
Part of the reason why the city took on the task was because it can help the city
fulfill its duty as a major water supplier in the region.
The scope of work outsourced to the city by the Association includes: (1) technicalwork regarding water supply management, (2) work regarding water supply, (3)work regarding the collection of water bills and related fees, and (4) work regarding
the construction and improvement of water facilities. On the other hand, the tasks
that the Association will continue to perform on its own are the management andadministrative tasks for water supply service and the ordering and contracting forconstruction and improvement work.
This comprehensive outsourcing contract helped the Association to continue theirwater supply and to reduce the number of employees involved in the service
provision, while for the city, it helped with securing a certain amount of revenue,
contributing to the local community, and passing on technical expertise on watersupply management.

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Figure 3 | Munakata District Administrative Association

Munakata District
Administrative Association

Kitakyushu City

• Congress• Planning decisions• Application for permission• Determination of budget andsettlement of accounts• Setting of fees
• Contracts for construction andimprovement of facilities• Management of fixed assets*affiliated company established Dec. 2015

[Technical work related to management](Article 3)• Supervision of maintenance & management• Water quality inspection• Facility management• Management of service line equipment

A• Technical work regarding watersupply management• Work regarding construction &improvement of water facilities(excluding contracting work)• Work regarding water supply,
work regarding collection ofwater bills and related fees

Kitakyushu Water Service Co., Ltd

Kitakyushu City performs technical work regarding
water supply management as a ”contractor for watersupply management work”

CKitakyushu City manages and executes the work in thename of the Munakata District Administrative
Association[Facility construction & improvement work] (Article 4)• Drafting improvement plans• Preparing design documents for construction orders

C[Technical work related to management]• Facility management• Management of service line &related equipment supply• Meter replacement, etc.

[Facility construction and improvement work]• Preparing design documents for construction orders• Supervision & inspection of design & construction• Supervision & inspection of design & construction

Private operator

B[Supervision of sales operations] (Article 3)• Overseeing sales operations• Counter service & reception• Collection of water bills• Meter reading and replacement, etc.

D[Supervision of sales operations]• Counter service & reception• Collection of water bills• Meter reading, etc.

A: Third party outsourcing according to Article 24-3 of the Waterworks Act
B: Execution of work by substitute in accordance with Article 252-16-2 of the Local Autonomy Act
C: Outsourcing under private law (special no-bidder contract)
D: Outsourcing under private law (proposal method)

Figure 4 | Outsourcing Scheme from the Munakata District Administrative
Association to Kitakyushu City

Future plans

The revised Waterworks Act, which went into effect in October 2019, referred
to be prefectures a driving force to facilitate wide-area collaboration, and aJanuary 2022 ministerial notice jointly issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfarea stated that
prefectures should formulate a "Scheme for the Promotion of Wide-Area Water
Supplies" by March 2023 to promote related efforts.
The city would like to continue its current programs including a seminar andstudy session on wide-area collaboration. Also, while working with the national
5 / 6government and Fukuoka Prefecture, which is a facilitator of wide-areacollaboration, the city will proceed with negotiations and consultations based on
the needs of individual water utilities in the region to realize various types ofwide-area collaboration. As the central city of the Kitakyushu urban area, the city
will exercise its leadership and actively work towards the development of a widearea network that could have a positive impact on the entire region.

Figure 5 | Study session on wide-area collaboration

References

Citation (for information on the Northern Fukuoka Emergency Connecting Main
Project):
Kitakyushu City Water and Sewer Bureau. Wide-area Supply Division of General
Affairs and Management Department.
http://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/suidou/sui_kouikijigyoulist.html
Kitakyushu City Water and Sewer Bureau. Planning Division of Water Supply
Department.
http://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/suidou/s00600009.html

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