Oral Presentation Proceedings

The 2nd International WEPA Forum
Water Environment Partnership in Asia

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia

3-4 December 2007
Beppu, Oita
Japan

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Oral Presentation Proceedings

The 2nd International WEPA Forum
Water Environment Partnership in Asia
International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia

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The 2nd International WEPA Forum
Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA)International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia
3-4 December 2007
Beppu, OitaJapan

Table of Contents

Session: Strategic Management of Water Resources1.

Tran Quang Toan, Nguyen Khac Hai, Le Thai Ha, Bui Van Truong, David Fredericks
Extended Field Trial of Household Iron Removal Plants to Remove Arsenic
From Groundwater ···········································································································1

2.

Akiko Nishimae
Groundwater Quality Management in Japan ··································································83.

Vilma T. Cabading
Water Quality Management in the Philippines ······························································14

4.

Nguyen Thi Hue
Overview of Water Environmental Pollution in Vietnam················································19

Session: Water Resource Management Policy

5.

Namiko Honda
The Effect of On-Site Inspection and Effluent Quality Examination in Fukuoka Prefecture··············································································································································24

6.

Wijarn Simachaya, Thiparpa Yolthantham
Policy and Implementation on Water Environment in Thailand····································30i7.

Dwina Roosmini, Suphia Rahmawati
Domestic Wastewater Services and Facilities in Indonesia: Policy and Regulation Role··············································································································································378.

Guo Jinlong
Water Environment Protection Legislation and Policies in China ·································44

Session: Regional Water Environmental Management

9.

Ahmad Rizal bin Khalit
Current State of Water Environment in Malaysia ···························································50

10. Youn-Joo An, Jae-Kwan Lee, Soon Cho
Korean Water Quality Standards for the Protection of Human Health and Aquatic Life··············································································································································54

11. Chrin Sokha
Water Environmental Management in Cambodia ·························································59

Session: Pollution Control Case Studies

12. Keigo Noda, Kazutoshi Osawa, Tadatsugu Tanaka, Shunsuke Ikeda
Agricultural Methods of Alleviating Sediment Runoff in the Case of Red-Soil Erosion and
Runoff Problem in Okinawa ······························································································65

13. Tang Xiaohuan,Wang Chengwen, Yao Yuan
Sustainability in the Water Polluting Plating Industry ···················································69

14. Rebecca Nelson
Emerging Public and Corporate Roles in Addressing Water Pollution in China··········74

15. Shubha Sudheendra
Contaminant Removal Mechanism in Wastewater Treatment Concept, Application andUtilities ··································································································································81

iiSession: Wastewater Treatment Processes for Asian Countries

16. Kazuaki Yamagiwa, Soon-An Ong
Upflow Constructed Wetland for On-Site Industrial Wastewater Treatment ···············87

17. Babel, S., Nitisoravut, S., Sharp, A.,Dacera, D
Low Cost Community Based Treatment Unit for Floating Food Vendors and Slum
Community in Thailand ······································································································92

18. Motoyuki Mizuochi
Small-Scale Domestic Wastewater Treatment Technology in Japan, and the Possibility ofTechnology Transfer·············································································································98

19. Takao Murakami
Membrane Bioreactors (MBR) for Wastewater Reuse ····················································104

Session: Review of Water Management System

20. Maria Rebecca A. Campos
Status of Improvement of Water and Sanitation Facilities in Metro Manila·················110

21. Mikiko Sugiura
Local Trade of Water Rights in Pre-modern Japanese Irrigation System·····················116

22. Chanchai Vitoonpanyakij
Development of Klongs (Canals) and History of Sewage Works in Bangkok················121

Session: Water Environmental Management Policy and Tools

23. Jacob Park
Water Environmental Governance in Asia-Pacific: Understanding the Policy Implicationsand Lessons of the Global Environmental Governance Process······································127

24. Tsunemi Watanabe
A Fundamental Study on Reinterpretation of Wisdom through Project Risk Management
for Water Environment Partnership in Asia······································································131iii

25. Motomu Uchimura
Approaches torward Better Lake Water Environment in Japan with reference to theConcept of Integrated Lake Basin Management(ILBM) ················································136

26. Aksa Tejalaksana
Water Management Pollution Policy in Indonesia···························································140

Session: Mekong Watershed Management

27. Le Anh Tuan, Guido Wyseure
Water Environmental Governance in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam ·····················146

28. Claire Mousquès, Phonexay Sengsoulychanh, Oloth Sengtaheuanghoung, Keoudone
Latchackack, Olivier Ribolzi, Alain Pierret
Relevance of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) for Watershed Management inNorthern Laos ······················································································································152

29. Lukas Parker
Healthy Schools in Rural Areas of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam·························158

Session: Watershed Management Case Studies

30. Winia Farida, Rika Winurdiastri, Setiawan Wangsaatmaja, Lusia Boer
The Water Quality Measurement through PROKASIH Program as Water Environment
Management Policy in Citarum River, West Java Province, Indonesia ··························164

31. Tan Kok Weng, Mazlin Bin Mokhtar
Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management in Malaysia: Some Issues
and Challenges ·····················································································································170

32. Song Guojun, Jin Shuqin, Xu Sha, Li Peijie
Evaluation on the Policies for Water Environmental Protection in Huai River Basin in
China ·····································································································································177

iv

Session: Community Activities Σ

33. Takayuki Tsuge
A Method of Water Quality Monitoring and Effective Use of the Results ······················187

34. Grace B. Villamor, Alberto Banatao, Amos Beta-a, Rodel D.Lasco
Watershed Services Agreements: An Analysis of Benefits towards a Pro-Poor Reward
Mechanism in Bakun, Philippines ······················································································194

35. Cora Z. Sayre
With Our Own Hands: Promoting Ecological Sanitation in Mindanao··························199

36. Esera Tupepepa
Public-Private and Community Participation in Water Resource Management:
The Missing Dimension-The Power of Three ····································································204
Session: Community Activities Τ

37. Prayogo Tri Budi
Collaboration Effort to Maintain the Water Resources Degradation at Batu Municipality,
East Java, Indonesia ············································································································210

38. Mu Mu Than
Community Activities Contribution to Water Environment Conservation of Inle Lake··············································································································································215

39. Junko Kusakabe
Citizens’ Activities toward Restoration of Lake Biwa·······················································222

Session: Sanitation

40. Mika M. Merviö
Water and Risk Society: Water Management and Historical Understanding of Water inJapan ·····································································································································227v

41. Carlos M. Pascual, Catherine P. Abadilla, Fairie Anne P. Acedebo
People-Centered Approaches in Sustaining Water, Food, and Environmental Sanitation in
the Philippines: A Review ····································································································233

42. Phengkhamla Phonvisai
Urban Wastewater and Sanitation in Vientiane, Lao PDR ············································239vi

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Extended Field Trial of Household Iron Removal Plants
to Remove Arsenic from Groundwater
Tran Quang Toan1, Nguyen Khac Hai1, Le Thai Ha1, Bui Van Truong1
David Fredericks2
1

National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, lB Yersin str., Hanoi, Viet Nam
2
7 Fox Place, Lyneham, ACT, Australia.

Abstract
The use of household sand filters or Iron Reduction Plants (IRPs) to remove dissolved iron is
widespread in rural areas of Viet Nam particularly in the Red River area. These devices also
have capacity to reduce arsenic concentration and therefore present an attractive method ofproviding safe water if they can be successfully adapted and maintained to remove arsenic.
The National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health (NIOEH) have developed astandard IRP design with improved capacity for removal which is simple and easy to maintain.
A field trial of NIOEH filters in 100 households in two villages was undertaken in 2005 withthe support of WHO.
The two villages had contrasting groundwater chemistry. Groundwater in Don Xa village had
a median arsenic concentration of 64.3 ppb and a median iron concentration of 6.25 mg/L. In
contrast Dung Tien had a median concentration of 24.6 ppb As and 3.76 mg/L Fe. In Don Xa
the efficiency of arsenic removal was increased from 87.1% to 97.8% with installation of
improved IRPs and in Dung Tien village arsenic removal increased from 50.4% to 64.1%.
The percentage of wells meet the urban standard of WHO /Viet Nam of 10ppb increased,from 71% to 96 % in Don Xa village and from 41% to 66% in Dung Tien. User satisfaction
with the improved design was high in both villages. The data suggest that the use of existing
IRPs can ensure most wells will reach the Viet Nam rural standard of 50 ppb arsenic but it
also indicates that improved designs are capable of reaching the urban standard of 10 ppb inthe majority of wells.

Introduction
The arsenic contamination of groundwater in Viet Nam had not been investigated until thelate 1990’s when discovery of widespread arsenic contamination of tube wells in Bangladesh
and the similar geological conditions between Bangladesh, the Red River and Mekong River
Deltas suggested the possibility of arsenic contamination in these areas. Since the early 90’s anumber of Government organizations and institutions in Vietnam have undertaken a range ofinvestigation concerning arsenic contamination of groundwater, focussing on rural areas in
Red River and Mekong River Deltas. These studies have revealed arsenic contamination ofgroundwater to be both high and widespread particularly in the Red River Delta.
The national testing program being carried out by the Government of Viet Nam with support
from UNICEF suggests that arsenic contamination is most severe in Red River area where insome provinces up to 50% of tube-wells have arsenic concentration in excess of 50ppb. Most
private tube wells in Vietnam have been in use for less than 10 years and experience has
shown that it can take 10 or more years before the first arsenic poisoning symptoms become
apparent. Currently there is no official estimate available of population exposed to arsenic in

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

drinking water in Viet Nam, however, the World Bank (2005) quote a UNICEF estimate of
the “Population at Risk” as 10 million.
Human exposure to unsafe levels of arsenic in drinking water has been identified as a priority
environmental health issue in Vietnam and the Government of Viet Nam is currently
developing a National Action Plan to respond to the emerging arsenic issue, including
provision of household water treatment (filters and chemical treatment) to remove arsenic.
The use of household sand filters or Iron Reduction Plants (IRPs) to remove dissolved iron is
widespread and well accepted in rural and sub-urban areas of Viet Nam particularly in the
Red River area. These devices also have the capacity to reduce arsenic concentration andtherefore present an attractive method of providing safe water if they can be successfully
adapted and maintained to remove arsenic. The promotion of IRPs to provide arsenic safe
water would be consistent with the National Action Plan if the devices were capable ofreducing arsenic to acceptable levels, were easy to use, cheap and were acceptable to thecommunity.

Objectives
The objectives of this field trial of NIOEH’s improved IRP in two villages in the Red River
Delta is to test arsenic removal efficiency under field conditions and to investigate user
satisfaction with the improved design.

Methods
Two villages, Don Xa village in Ha Nam province and Dung Tien village in Ha Tay province,
were selected for the field trial. Groundwater sources in both villages have highconcentrations of arsenic and iron and the use of IRP’s is common in both villages.
An initial survey of household water use was undertaken at the start of the project for 100
households selected randomly in each village. These households were using groundwater for
drinking and washing. Arsenic levels in the water supply of each household were measured
using field test kits and fifty households from each village with arsenic levels above 10 ppb
were selected for participation in the field trial of the improved IRP.
Each IRP was sampled in the condition it was found. Samples of untreated inflow and outflow
from existing filters were collected from each household and were analysed for pH, iron (Fe II
and total Fe), arsenic (As) by using methods in Standard Methods for Examination of Water
and Wastewater (APHA, 1989).
Existing IRPs were then modified or new IRPs constructed to be consistent with the NIOEH
design and a second round of water quality testing was undertaken 6-8 weeks after
construction. Samples of filtered water and IRP outflow were analysed for total iron andarsenic using the methods described above. A member of each household was alsointerviewed concerning the ease or operation and satisfaction with the NIOEH designed IRP.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Results
Water Quality
A summary of the water quality of the groundwater sources in Dung Tien and Don Xa
villages is presented in Table 1. The groundwater in both villages have near neutral pH’s andare contaminated by both iron and arsenic. Some 94% of water sources tested in Dung Tien
and 98% or sources tested in Don Xa have iron concentrations in excess of the National
Guideline (0.5mg Fe/l). The households selected for participation in the trial also had highlevels of arsenic contamination. The median concentration of arsenic in groundwater sourcesin Don Xa village was 64.3 ppb with 100% of households exceeding the 10ppb and 60%
exceeding 50 ppb. In Dung Tien the median arsenic concentration was 24.7 ppb which issignificantly lower than in Don Xa (Mann Whitney U Test p < 0.000001) with 86% ofparticipating household water sources exceeding 10 ppb and 18% exceeding 50 ppb.
Table 1.Summary of water quality of groundwater sources in Dung Tien and Don Xa
villages*.
Dung Tien (n = 50)
Don Xa (n = 50)
MedianMin
MaxMedian
Min
Max
pH
6.74
6.17
7.94
6.73
6.25
7.47
Fe2+ (mg/l)
0.38
0.01
8.55
4.75
0.02
10.35
Fe3+ (mg/l)
2.40
0.03
7.12
1.45
0.01
5.8
Total Iron (mg/l)
3.76
0.06
12.25
6.25
0.03
14.15
As (ppb)
24.6
1.8
75.8
64.3
21.8
155.1
* The dataset is relatively small, the water quality data is are not normally distributed. Non-parametric statistics
have therefore been used on the groundwater data throughout this report.
Parameter

High levels of arsenic are often associated with high levels of iron since both are released by
the microbially mediated reduction of iron oxyhydroxides. However, data from the two
investigated villages shows that the correlation between arsenic and iron is weak.
Existing Iron Reduction Plants
The existing IRPs used in the villages are slow sand filtration plants and generally use a local‘black’ sand as the filter material. There is no standard or even common designs anddimensions of the IRPs and thickness of the sand layer vary greatly between households. In
addition, the design and size of the IRPs are not related to the size and water requirements of
the household. Almost all households use 0.35 KW electric pumps to deliver water to the
IRPs. Figure 1 and 2 show some common types of the existing IRPs.
Villagers report that the iron removal efficiency of the existing IRPs is initially high but
decreases rapidly with use. The flow rate of filtered water is also rapidly reduced because ofclogging of filter sand. Villagers also complained that cleaning the existing IRPs is difficult as
washing the sand bed requires the sand be taken out of filter tank.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 1 & 2.
Existing IRPs.

NIOEH sand filter systems (Improved IRPs)
A total of 50 NIOEH sand filters were installed in participating households in each village.
The NIOEH filter (developed with the support of UNICEF) overcomes many of thedisadvantage of the existing IRPs with increased filtration capacity, increased efficiency ofiron and arsenic removal, and an improved procedure for maintenance (sand washing andback flushing). The key features of the NIOEH design is indicated in Box 1; and NIOEH sandfilter system and some it’s components are showed in figure 3, 4 and 5.

Box 1. Key features of the NIOEH design include:
1. Standard design;
2. Spray system to aerate and disperse incoming waterover full area of filter;
3. Use of yellow sand (yellow sand has grains coatedwith iron oxy-hydroxides which promotes Fe/As
precipitation);
4. Inclusion of a washing valve to improve
maintenance.

Figure 3.
Electric Pump

Figure 4.
Spray system

Figure 5.
NIOEH sand filter system

Efficiency of arsenic and iron removal by the existing and the improved IRPs.
A summary of the water quality results collected in the first and second round of testing toevaluate the efficiency of the existing and the improved IRPs is provided in Table 2 andTable 3.
The overall median arsenic and iron removal efficiency of the existing IRPs for both villages
was 66% and 79% respectively. All IRPs lowered the arsenic concentration of raw inflow
water to some extent, besides, iron removal efficiency was highly variable and wassignificantly different in the two villages. Overall, nearly 29% of IRPs in Don Xa and nearly4International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

59% of IRPs in Dung Tien did not reduce arsenic levels to within acceptable limits for urban
drinking water (10 ppb) although all outflow samples were less than the rural limit of 50 ppb.
The efficiency of arsenic removal of the improved IRPs in the two villages increased
significantly from a median value of 66% to 85% but degree of improvement was different ineach village. In Don Xa the efficiency of arsenic removal increased (p=0.003 Wilcoxin
matched pairs test) from a median of 87.1% to 97.8% and the percentage of IRPs providing
water that reached the Viet Nam standard for urban areas (10ppb) increased from 71% to 96%
with all outflow samples less than 50ppb arsenic. In Dung Tien village arsenic removal
efficiency also increased significantly (p=0.005, Wilcoxin matched pairs test) but only from
50.9% to 64.1%. However, the percentage of wells that met the Urban National Standard(10ppb) increased from 41% to 66% and the median concentration of arsenic in the outflow
water was reduced to 8.9 ppb, which is less than the National Standard of 10 ppb.
The median Fe removal efficiency was increased from 79% to 97% and the percentage offilters meeting the National Standard of 0.5mg/L increased from 45% to 85%. The degree of
improvement, however, was also different in the two villages. The median efficiency of ironremoval in Don Xa only increased from 96.6% to 97.9% after installation of the improved
IRP and the percentage of IRPs providing water that reached the National Standard (0.5mg/litre) increased from 60 % to 84% largely as a result of the improvements to very poorly
performing IRPs. The improvement in iron removal Dung Tien village was much greater, themedian iron removal efficiency increased significantly from 59.3%% to 94.2% withinstallation of the improved IRPs and the percentage of wells that met the National Standard
increased significantly from 31% to 86%.

Table 2. Efficiency of arsenic removal of the existing and the improved IRPs.
Median conc. of As (ppb)(min-max)

Efficiency in As removal
Village

NumberofsampleMedianpercentage
removal (%)

Percentage of sample
with As conc. (%)
 10 ppb

 50 ppb

Don Xa- Existing IRPs
- NIOEH Sand Filter

42
50

87.1
97.8

71
96

100
100

Dung Tien- Existing IRPs
- NIOEH Sand Filter

49
44

50.9
64.1

41
66

100
100

5

Beforefiltration

After
filtration

64.3(21.84 -155)

4.8(0 – 17.60)

24.7(1.80 – 75.80)

8.9(0.13 – 32.30)

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 3. Efficiency of iron removal of the existing and the improved IRPs.
Village

NumberofsampleEfficiency in Fe removalMedianPercentage
removal (%)

Percentage of sample
with Fe conc.
0.5mg/l (%)

Don Xa- Existing IRPs
- NIOEH sand filter

40
50

96.6
97.9

60
84

Dung Tien- Existing IRPs
- NIOEH sand filter

38
50

59.3
94.2

31
86

Median conc. of Fe (mg/l)(min-max)
Beforefiltration

After
filtration

6.25(0.03 -14.15)

0.12(0.03 – 2.90)

3.76(0.06 – 12.25)

0.16(0.03 – 10.39)

User satisfaction with the improved IRPs
The user satisfaction survey was undertaken at the same time as the 2nd round of water
quality testing. The evaluation survey was conducted in approximately 100 households ineach village (selected in the pre-surveillance step), of which 50 households have the improved
IRPs, showed a high degree of satisfaction with the improved IRPs:- Approximately 80% of households installed with the improved IRP agreed that thewater quality improved considerably in terms of transparency and taste.
- 67.6% of households said the improved IRPs are easier to operate compared withexisting IRPs and 99% of households said the maintenance is simple and easy.
- Interviewing the households where the improved IRPs have not been installed foundthat 91% of the households wished to access and learn to operate the improved IRPs.

Conclusions
The use of household sand filters or Iron Reduction Plants (IRP’s) to remove dissolved iron is
widespread and well accepted in rural and sub-urban areas of Viet Nam particularly in the
Red River area. Arsenic contamination has been recognized in the groundwater resources of
the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta River regions of Viet Nam. Although the majority ofthe population in the two studied villages are aware of arsenic contamination of groundwaterand the health risks are known, potential of existing iron reduction plants for arsenic removal
is not widely known as yet.
A trial of the improved IRPs developed by NIOEH in two studied villages showed that the
improved design significantly improved arsenic and iron removal and solved many of thedisadvantages of the existing IRPs.
The evaluation survey showed that the improved IRPs of the NIOEH were well accepted by
the community in two studied villages and that the improved IRPs are capable of producing
water with less than 50 ppb. The majority, but not all IRPs could also meet the WHO
Standard of 10ppb and lowered the median concentration of arsenic to less than 10 ppb.
Given the success of this trial in lowering arsenic levels, the degree of satisfaction expressedby the users, and the current widespread use of IRPs we feel the improved IRPs can now be
expanded to larger operational use. This trial should not be considered as providing as the6International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

completion of investigation of IRPs and a number of areas need further monitoring andassessment. The different efficiency of arsenic removal of the improved IRPs in two village
suggests that expanded studies of the operation of the household level IRPs with regard to
the effect of groundwater composition on the efficiency of arsenic removal should beundertaken. In addition, the IEC activities on clean water and sanitation as well as the training
courses on the water treatment for the community play a very important role in increasing theefficiency of using the IRPs and should be expanded in future projects.

References
APHA. (1989). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 17th edition.
New York: American Public Health Association.
Berg, Michael, Hong Con Tran, Thi Chuyen Nguyen, Hung Viet Pham, Roland Schertenleib
and Walter Giger. Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater and Drinking Water in Vietnam: A
Human Health Threat, Environmental Science and Technology, Vol 35, 2621 – 2626.
UNICEF. (2004). ¤ nhiÔm th¹ch tÝn trong nguån n-íc sinh ho¹t ë
ViÖt Nam. Kh¸i qu¸t t×nh h×nh vµ c¸c biÖn ph¸p gi¶m thiÓu cÇnthiÕt. (Arsenic contamination in drinking water in Viet Nam. An overview of the situationand the solutions for reducing the arsenic contamination). Published by UNICEF Viet Nam
World Health Organization. (2004). Guidelines for Drinking - Water Quality. Third edition,
Volume 3. Published by WHO.
World Bank and Water Sanitation Program. (2005). Towards a More Effect Operation
Response: Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in South and East Asian Countries.
Volume II Technical Report7International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Groundwater Quality Management in Japan

Akiko Nishimae
Groundwater and Geo- environment Division,
Environmental Management Bureau, Ministry of the Environment

Abstract
Groundwater is as a water resource characterized for its 1) convenience in obtaining water by
digging a well, 2) comparatively low cost, 3) good water quality, 4) constant temperature
throughout a year and so on. There is a growing demand on groundwater with thesecharacteristics mentioned, especially in Asia facing population increase and rapid
urbanization. However, as groundwater management, with its difficulty in problem findings
or in monitoring, is often considered to be less prioritized than surface water management, thepromotion of appropriate quality management of groundwater in the region would be among
important issues related with water resource management.
This paper aims to review the groundwater quality management in Japan and clarify thebasics and related issues. The appropriate monitoring and pollution prevention are the keys ingroundwater quality management in Japan, in reflection of the specificity of groundwater thatpollution finding is difficult with little opportunity of perception in a daily life and that its
pollution is almost irreversible with its extreme difficulty of purification.

Introduction
When rainwater drops on ground, some flows into rivers or lakes, and some infiltrates into
ground flowing underground at very low speed to spring out to the surface water, river orlake. In this way, groundwater together with surface water forms so-called water cycle.
Groundwater is differentiated by its flow speed from surface water, as groundwater flows soslowly that it stays underground for from hundreds to thousands of years.
Groundwater is as a water resource characterized for its 1) convenience in obtaining water by
digging a well, 2) comparatively low cost, 3) good water quality, 4) constant temperature
throughout a year and so on. Groundwater, with the distinction mentioned, is used in Japanfor a variety of purposes including domestic, industrial and agricultural use. In 2006,
dependency rate of groundwater was 12.4% of all water resources in Japan, where abundantwith groundwater 1 .

Groundwater Quality in Japan
Monitoring of groundwater
As groundwater literally is sited underground and is unperceivable in a daily life, it is sodifficult to comprehend the condition of groundwater compared with surface water that it isconsequently hard for people to find problems. Therefore, appropriate monitoring is, as abasis for the groundwater management, too important to be exaggerated.

1“Water Resources in Japan in FY2006” published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Japan
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

In Japan, local governments (101 prefectures and major cities, at the end of FY 2006) are
required by the Water Pollution Control Law since 1989 to monitor groundwater quality
according to annual monitoring plans drawn by the local governments themselves and report
the results to the minister of the environment 2 . The ministry of the environment Japan(MOEJ) put the reported results together into the Monitoring Survey of Groundwater Quality
and announces it annually. Information sharing of monitoring data is the most effective toolfor encouraging people to step forward for the groundwater management as the biggest
obstacle for the groundwater management is the fact that groundwater is out of people’s sightand consequently people’s attention in a daily life. Hence, the monitoring data should be
open to public by trying every means available such as the internet.
Groundwater monitoring based on the Water Pollution Control Law in Japan
Monitoring of groundwater based on the Water Pollution Control is classified into 3
categories of General Monitoring Survey to check the overall quality of groundwater,
Periodical Monitoring Survey to continuously monitor pollutions and Monitoring for
Identification of Pollution to delineate the polluted areas.
The details of the monitoring are as follows.
a. Target substances
It is required to monitor all of the 26 substances with Environmental Quality Standards(EQSs) established (listed at the end of this paper). The EQSs for groundwater which are
identical nationwide were established to protect human health and their values are inconsistent of the EQSs for surface waters. However, the EQSs to protect living environment
or ecosystems, which were established for surface waters, have not been established forgroundwater and the pollution by oils and so on has not been monitored so far. The
establishment of EQSs for living environment/ecosystems should be discussed from thestandpoint of promoting the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
b. Number of the wells monitored
Total number of the wells monitored is about 12,000 nationwide with about 5,000 wells for
General Monitoring Survey and about 5,000 for Periodical Monitoring Survey. Monitoring
density is about 1 well/30 km2.
c. Monitoring method
Details of monitoring method is prescribed in the Notification by the minister of theenvironment such as measuring techniques of each substances or how to choose themonitoring points by accounting geological features, land use, drinking use, speed anddirection of flow, depth of the well and so on.
Summary of the Monitoring Survey of Groundwater Quality in FY 2005
The line chart described later shows the trend in non-conformance rate to EQSs in the General
Monitoring Survey of 5 items with highest non-conformance rate to EQSs of nitrate-N and
Nitrite-N, arsenic, fluorine, tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. Non-conformance rate
to EQSs of Nitrate-N and nitrite-N has been the highest among all substances monitored.
Pollution by arsenic and fluorine is often caused because they can be liquated out from rocks
or soils.

2

Dioxins in groundwater are monitored by the local governments under the framework of Law Concerning
Special Measures Against Dioxins control. Dioxins are hardly detected in groundwater because they are easily
trapped by soils.
9International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Policies on groundwater conservation in JapanFor the characteristics of groundwater as follows,
once polluted, it takes long time to purify, as groundwater flows so slow that we cannot expect the diffusion of pollutants,
purification of groundwater is technically difficult and is expensive,
it is difficult to identify the source
We have reached the conclusion that the prevention of pollution in the first place is the mostimportant key to the groundwater management and we have to take actions before we face
severe pollutions.
Regulation under the Water Pollution Control Law
The regulation of the quality of groundwater in Japan is implemented in Japan under the
Water Pollution Control Law and related ordinances set by local governments. The
framework of the regulation of groundwater by Water Pollution Control Law is as follows.
a. Monitoring
Refer to 3.2 above.
b. Ban on the infiltration into ground
Infiltration of water discharge containing controlled substances from specified commercial
facilities into ground is strictly prohibited regardless of whether the discharge is intentional ornot. Furthermore, in order to prevent groundwater pollution, local governments are able, if
necessary, to order improvement or periodical suspension of the facility with any possibilityof filtration of discharge into ground. The regulation itself is strict as unintentional
infiltration is prohibited and penalties are imposed in case of the violation, the scope of theregulation, however, is limited to specified commercial facilities, which is criticized to be too
narrow for effective regulations. On the other hand, in case there exists groundwaterpollution caused by infiltration, local governments are able to order the polluter(s) to purify
the polluted groundwater if any harm on human health is identified or if there is a chance ofthe harm. This order, however, has never been made since it is so difficult to meet theprerequisite for implementation of the order since they require the verification of thepossibilities of harm on human health in addition to the pollution itself.
c. Emergency measures
In case of accidents, owners of the specified commercial facilities are required to takeemergency measures to prevent infiltration into ground and report to the local governments.
If the owner does not take necessary emergency measures as required, the local governments
are able to order him/her to take them.
The local governments (101 prefectures and major cities, at the end of FY 2006) areresponsible for the administration of these regulations and MOEJ, on the other hand, is
responsible for the promotion of and technical support for the administration by local
governments by such as publication of guidelines for investigation and pollution control
measures.
The regulation scheme by Water Pollution Control Law is effective especially for thepollution caused by discharges from factories (i.e. point-source). In fact, the nonconformance rate to EQSs of VOCs such as tetrachloroethylene or trichloroethylene which is,
in most cases, discharged from factories has decreased since the ban on the infiltration under
the Water Pollution Control went into effect in 198910

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Non-regulatory measures
Regional approach to the pollution by Nitrate Nitrogen and Nitrite Nitrogen (NO3- and NO2-) 3
As mentioned above, Non-conformance rate to EQSs has been the highest of all substances
monitored (4.2% in FY 2005).
As groundwater pollution by Nitrate/nitrite-N has following characteristics,
Various pollution sources such as excessive application of fertilizers and improper
treatment of livestock excrement and domestic waste waterPollution sources are generally widely spread (non-point source)
Number of the possible polluters and stakeholders are large and it is difficult to identify
the real polluter.
(Especially in case of the pollution by excessive application of fertilizers) it is difficult to
reduce the load
The regulations under the Water Pollution Control Law, which were originally elaborated tocontrol the pollution especially from point-source such as discharge from factories, is not
sufficient to control Nitrate/nitrite-N.
For the control of the pollution by Nitrate/nitrite-N, the integrated policy to reduce theNitrate/nitrite-N load to the ground in compliance should be implemented, which isaccompanied with a careful account for the pollution sources, dignity of the pollution andnatural and social circumstances, apart from the related regulations such as by Law on
Promoting Proper Management and Use of Livestock Excreta. All the stakeholders including
framers, the staff of the government or owners of wells should be involved in its
implementation process and their activities should be well coordinated.
MOEJ has promoted such community based approach above all toward effective reduction of
Nitrate/nitrite-N load to the groundwater by technically supporting by drawing up manuals
and summary of case studies.
Until the end of FY 2005, 134 stakeholders meeting institutions have been established and 52
regional plans to control the pollution by Nitrate/nitrite-N plan have been elaborated. It isnecessary to reinforce the promotion of the community based approach, considering that
Nitrate/nitrite-N pollution has not been improved so far.
Other non-regulatory measures
Regionally, a lot of unique voluntary activities by stakeholders to conserve groundwater, i.e.
setting up conservation plan, promotion of the recharging into groundwater, establishing theregional network for groundwater conservation, integration of groundwater conservation
policy into land use planning and so on. These voluntary activities have worked so wellaccompanied by the regulations, both of which are essential and should go hand in hand forthe prevention of the pollution, the key to the groundwater quality management.
Promotion of voluntary activities to love and take good care of the valuable groundwater
For pollution prevention, in addition to the policies to control the BADs (pollution), suchpolicies are effective as to develop the GOOD environment by the activities to love and take3

Intake of some amount of Nitrate/nitrite-N may causes hypoxia called methemoglobinnemia among infants.
Groundwater polluted by Nitrate/nitrite-N is supposed to cause eutrophications in lakes .

11International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

good care of the neighbor valuable groundwater environment within the communities. MOEJ
has promoted these voluntary activities including the activities to conserve natural springs.
Natural springs are water resources which have been connected very closely to everyday lifeand beloved for long time in Japan. Natural springs are often called “a window togroundwater” since we can recognize the groundwater through it. MOEJ aims at thesecharacteristics of natural springs and expects that promotion of a variety of regional activities
to conserve natural springs may lead to conserve the whole groundwater environment behindthem.
Table 1. Environmental Water Quality Standards of Groundwater in Japan.
ItemStandard Value
Item
Standard Value
0.01mg/l or less 14㧚1,1,1㧙trichloroethane
1mg/l or less㧝㧚Cadmium
0.006mg/l or
Not detectable 15㧚1,1,2㧙trichloroethane㧞㧚Total cyanide
less
0.03mg/l or
0.01mg/l or less 16㧚Trichloroethylene
㧟㧚Leadless
0.01mg/l or
0.05mg/l or less 17㧚Tetrachloroethylene
㧠㧚Chromium (IV)less
0.002mg/l or
0.01mg/l or less 18㧚1,3㧙dichloroplolene
㧡㧚Arsenic
less
0.0005mg/l or
0.006mg/l or㧢㧚Total mercury
19㧚Thiram
less
less
0.003mg/l or
Not detectable 20㧚Simazine
㧣㧚Alkyl mercury
less
0.02mg/l or
Not detectable 21㧚Thiobencarb
㧤㧚㧼㧯㧮sless
0.01mg/l or
0.02mg/l or less 22. Benzene㧥㧚Dichloromethaneless0.002mg/l or
0.01mg/l or
10㧚Carbon tetrachloride
23㧚Selenium
less
less
0.004mg/l or
11㧚1,2㧙dichloroethane
24㧚Nitrate-N and Nitrate-N 10mg/l or lessless
12㧚1,1㧙dichloroethyle
0.02mg/l or less 25. Fluoride
0.8mg/l or lessne13㧚cis㧙1,2㧙dichloroet
0.04mg/l or less 26. Boron
1mg/l or lesshyleneIssues for better groundwater quality management
The groundwater quality management in Japan has worked well so far as a whole. However,some issues are left for the improvement as follows. MOEJ continues to take the leadershipfor groundwater quality management.

Establishment of more efficient pollution control scheme: leaving the natural-source
pollution which is uncontrollable for controllable man-made pollution under the growingpressure of the budgetary cutbackIncorporation of IWRM into groundwater quality management: establishment of EQSs
for protecting living environment and ecosystems, to be harmonized with EQSs for surface
waters
Integrated policy of soil contamination control and groundwater pollution control
12International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan


Revitalization of international information sharing: since groundwater pollution ispractically irreversible in most cases, it is important to share our knowledge and information
with our neighbor countries for prevention purposes and WEPA database shall be the best
option for it.

Nitrate-N/Nitrite-N
Tetrachloroethylene

Arsenic
Trichloroetylene

Fluorine
Lead㪎㪅㪇

Exceeding rate (%)

㪍㪅㪇
㪌㪅㪇
㪋㪅㪇
㪊㪅㪇
㪉㪅㪇
㪈㪅㪇
㪇㪅㪇
㪈㪐㪏㪐 㪈㪐㪐㪇 㪈㪐㪐㪈 㪈㪐㪐㪉 㪈㪐㪐㪊 㪈㪐㪐㪋 㪈㪐㪐㪌 㪈㪐㪐㪍 㪈㪐㪐㪎 㪈㪐㪐㪏 㪈㪐㪐㪐 㪉㪇㪇㪇 㪉㪇㪇㪈 㪉㪇㪇㪉 㪉㪇㪇㪊 㪉㪇㪇㪋 㪉㪇㪇㪌Year of survey

Figure 1. Trends of non-conformance rate to EQSs for groundwater in general monitoring
survey.

13

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water Quality Management in the Philippines

Vilma T. Cabading
Senior Science Research Specialist
Environmental Management Bureau
Philippines

Abstract
The Philippines is an archipelagic country consisting of 7,107 islands. It has an area of 300,000
square kilometers wherein 65 percent of its towns are coastal. It is politically divided into 17
regions and abundantly endowed with water resources. It has 18 major river basins, 421 principal
rivers, about 79 natural lakes, and extensive coastline that stretches 17,460 km. As of 2005, theEnvironmental Management Bureau (EMB) has classified 62 percent of the 525 water bodies
according to their intended beneficial usage. Of these, only five are Class AA, which are intended
for public water supply. Most of the water bodies are classified as Class C, intended for fishery,
recreation, and supply for manufacturing processes.
T

Rapid inventory of pollution sources revealed that domestic wastes are the major source ofpollution (33%), followed by livestock (29%) and industrial sources (27%). Non-point sources ofpollution account for 11 percent of the organic load contribution to water bodies.
In response to the growing problem in water quality, the government enacted the Philippine
Clean Water Act in 2004 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations the year after. The Act andits IRR require integrated approach, stronger collaboration among stakeholders, and promotion ofco-ownership of the water bodies.

Introduction
In response to the growing problem in water quality, the government enacted the Philippine
Clean Water Act in 2004 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations the year after. The Act andits IRR require integrated approach, stronger collaboration among stakeholders, and promotion ofco-ownership of the water bodies.
The Environmental Management Bureau is a line bureau of the Department of Environment andNatural Resources (DENR) mandated to implement on a nationwide scale the five (5) major
environmental laws. This report will present the major programs and projects on water quality
management currently implemented by the bureau in tune with the mission/vision of thePhilippine Clean Water Act (RA 9275of 2004).
x IMPLEMENTATION OF PHILIPPINE CLEAN WATER ACT OF 2004
The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 (Republic Act 9275) aims to protect the country’s
water bodies from pollution from land-based sources. It provides for a comprehensive andintegrated strategy to prevent and minimize pollution through a multi-sectoral andparticipatory approach involving all stakeholders.

14International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe DENR is the lead agency that is mandated explicitly by the Clean Water Act to take thelead role in ensuring the implementation of the law. It has been tasked to develop policies andguidelines in support to the implementation of the CWA.
x SURVEY AND CLASSIFICATION OF MAJOR RIVERS AND COASTAL WATER
BODIES.
Water Classification is a very important component in water quality management as effluent
standards are interpreted with respect to it.
The EMB has classified additional 34 water bodies in 2006 bringing to 567 the total of water
bodies that have been classified in terms of best usage and water quality to be maintained. To
date, there are now 270 classified principal rivers or rivers with drainage areas of not less than
40 sq. km. This accounts to 64.13% of the country’s 421 principal rivers identified by the
National Water Resources Board.
According to DAO 34 series of 1990 or the revised water usage and classifications, water
bodies are classified into nine (9) classes as follows:
Table 1.
Classification
Beneficial Use
For Fresh Surface Waters ( rivers, lakes , reservoirs, etc.)
Class AA : Public Water x Waters that require disinfection to meet theSupplyNational Standards for Drinking Water (NSDW)Class A : Public Water Supply
x Waters that require complete treatment to meet the
NSDWClass B : Recreational Waterx Waters for primary contact recreation ( e.g.
bathing , swimming, skin diving, etc.)
Class Cx Water for fishery production
x Recreational Water Class II ( boating etc.)
x Industrial Water Supply Class I
Class Dx For agriculture, irrigation, livestock wateringx Industrial Water Supply Class II
For Coastal and Marine Waters (as amended by DAO 97-23)
Class SAx Water suitable for fishery production
x National marine parks and marine reserves
x Coral reefs parks and reserves
Class SBx Tourist zones and marine reserves
x Recreational Water Class I
x Fishery Class I for milkfish
Class SCx Recreational Water Class II ( e.g. boating)x Fishery Water Class II ( commercial)x Marshy and/or mangrove areas declared as fish andwildlife sanctuaries
Class SDx Industrial Water Supply Class II
x Other coastal and marine waters

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Activities Undertaken Data Collection / Survey of Beneficial Use of Water
 Identification of monitoring stations
 Collection of water samples using prescribed water sample containers (Surface, middle orbottom samples of water collected)
 Frequency of Sampling - Quarterly Sample preservation and Analysis
 Assessment of Data / Reporting Public Consultation
 Approval of the Secretary Publicationx SAGIP ILOG PROGRAM / AMBIENT WATER QUALITY MONITORINGThe DENR-EMB conducts monitoring and surveillance of river water quality of major rivers
in Metro Manila and selected rivers in the provinces .
The parameters commonly monitored in the rivers are temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen,biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids. The bacterial count is also monitored at
the beach resorts.
Activities Undertaken
 Identification of monitoring stations (initial activity for new water bodies to be monitored) Collection of water samples using prescribed water sample containers (Surface, middle orbottom samples of water collected)
 Frequency of Sampling - Monthly
 Sample preservation and Analysis
 Assessment of Data / Reportingx INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENT AND COMPLIANCE MONITORINGThe DENR-EMB requires industrial and manufacturing establishments to install and operate
efficient pollution control facilities/devices. For new plants, DENR sees to it that before it
starts operation, it must have appropriate built-in anti-pollution facilities to prevent the
emergence of new sources of pollution.
Series of industrial plants surveys, investigations and follow-up inspections are conducted bypersonnel of the DENR EMB Regional offices. Violators are penalized by a fine or by closure
or both.
Compliance of industrial wastewater discharge is based on DAO 35. A specific set of effluent
standards is set for every classification of the receiving body of water.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Activities undertaken:o On-site inspection of peripheral areas prior to entry in the facilityo Facility tour (inspection of production areas, storage areas and treatment facility, location ofsources of pollution, sample collection)o Analysis of wastewater sample
o Assessment of Findings and Reportingx BEACH WATCH
The Beach Watch Program is one of the priority programs activities of the EMB-DENR as
part of advocacy for good water quality.
The program aims to establish baseline data and provide the latest / updated information on
the present quality of the bathing beaches. It also aims to inform the resort / facility owners to
institute measures to improve the quality of their respective bathing beaches
Activities undertaken :1. Monthly on site measurement of physical parameters such as pH, temperature including fieldobservations
2. Monthly sample collection for Total Coliform and Fecal Coliform
3. Sample Preservation and Laboratory Analysis
4. Data Assessment / Reporting
Water Quality Management Areax Designation of a WQMA will pave the way for the local stakeholders to institute measures andidentify programs to effectively manage the water body in their respective area.
x The Governing Board of a WQMA shall formulate strategies to coordinate
policies/regulations/local legislation necessary for the effective implementation of thePhilippine Clean Water Act.
x The DENR Regional Office will chair the Governing Board.
Activities Undertaken:o Gathering of relevant information/data by the EMB Regional Office (e.g. maps, major threats
to water quality, sources of pollution, common interests in water quality development
programs, socio-economic data, stakeholders’ support in the form of LGU resolutions)o Evaluation of the data and information (based on criteria set for boundary setting and otherimportant factors like development plans of LGUs, etc.)
o Convening of key stakeholders (identification of stakeholders, conduct of information
dissemination activities, conduct of key stakeholder consultation activities)
o Conduct of public consultations (identification of participants in the public consultation,
information dissemination activities, actual public consultations)o Recommendation of WQMA designation and composition of the WQMA Governing Board to
the DENR Secretary17International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japano Designation of the WQMA by the DENR Secretary (publication of a DENR Administrative
Order in a nationally-circulated newspaper)o Inform LGUs, NGAs, business, civil society/NGOs, GOCCs and water utility sectors to
submit nominations in the GBo Once, a WQMA and its GB are established, each WQMA is required to develop a WQMA
Action Plan and each member-LGU is required to set an LGU Compliance Scheme
Proposed WQMA :x Meycauayan – Marilao River system / Region 3x Iloilo River / Region 6
x Saranggani Bay / Region 12

Industrial Ecowatch
A public disclosure program where the industrial and commercial establishments/firms are rated
with corresponding color in accordance with their environmental performance
Priority industries have been identified for initial ecowatch rating (Softdrinks, Bottling,
Beverages, Pulp and Paper Mill, Sugar Industry, Canning, Cement Plant, Fish Processing, Power
Plant).

Performance Indicator

Table 2.
Broad Category

Efforts beyond legal requirements

Excellent
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Bad
Very Bad

Efforts level sufficient to comply
Effort not sufficient for compliance
No effort to comply

Color CodeGOLD
SILVER
GREEN
BLUE
RED
BLACK

References
DENR Administrative Order No.34,Series of 1990“Revised water usage and classification Water
Quality Criteria “DENR Administrative Order No. 35, Series of 1990” Revised Effluent Regulations of
1990,Revising and Amending The effluent Regulations of 1982”
Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9275 “The Philippine Clean Water Act
of 2004”18

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Overview of Water Environmental Pollution in Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Hue
Institute of Environmental Technology (IET), Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology(VSAT).
18-Hoang Quoc Viet R., Caugiay distr.,Hanoi,Vietnam
Tel: (04)7 911 654; Fax: (04)7 911 203; Email: nthue2003@yahoo.com

Abstract
Many rivers are choked with contamination and untreated waste from craft villages andindustrial production zones in Vietnam. Most of the monitored rivers are found to bepolluted with substances like N and P, from 4 to nearly 200 fold compared with water resource oftype A in and from 2 to 20 times in comparison with water source of type B in Vietnamese Standard
limit. 20% of the old industrial enterprises have renovated and modernized their production
technologies. 90% of the old enterprises do not have any wastewater treatment system and most of
the old industrial zones do not have a central wastewater treatment plant. Wastewater is directly
discharged into lake/pond and river, causing serious pollution of surface water quality. The water
resource management is facing a some problems. Although law on water resources was enacted andcame into force since 1st January 1999 but it had not been implemented in direct contact withenterprises/companies, which the cause of pollution. The polluted water resource not only affect thepresent generation but also future generations. If the situation continues, fish and othercreatures will die and become extinct causing irreversible damage to Vietnam’s ecologicalsystem.
Keywords: surface water, ground water, pollution.

Surface water quality
For river
Viet Nam country has 2360 rivers with a length of more than 10 km. The total area in- andoutside Viet Nam of all international catchments is close to 1.2 mill. km², which is approximately 3
times the size of Viet Nam. The rivers flowing through Viet Nam include many internationalrivers, such as Mekong and Red rivers. The monitored data for 4 rivers running the main
urban of Vietnam as Red river (Hanoi), Cam River (Haiphong), Huong River (Hue) and Saigon
River (HCM City). The result in Fig.1 and 2 showed that ammonia-nitrogen (NH4-N) andbiochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) vary was considerably and exceed national water quality class
A standards by several fold. The problems are worst during the dry season, when the flows in therivers are reduced.
The Cau, Nhue and Day rivers in the Northern Vietnam are also seriously polluted. Water in
the Cau river contains many dangerous pollutants including industrial lubricants. Waste
products dumped in rivers affect natural levels of bacteria and nutrients and biochemical
reactions occur. BOD and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels are two to three times
higher than Vietnamese standard limits. At a lower section of Cau river, the water quality had
been infected with a high concentration of BOD and COD, which are 10 times Vietnamesestandard limits. By 2010, it is forecast in the social-economic development plan put together
by the provinces which the Cau river passes through, that levels of BOD will rise by 1.5 timesof what they are now, phosphorus and nitrogen levels are also expected to increase by a19

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

similar amount. Rivers, which run though Hanoi city (Tolich, Kimnguu, Nhue), are also
containing very high concentration of COD, NO2-, NO3- and SS. The water of Nhue river in
Ha Tay province is turning black and noxious (MONRE, 2006).
Fig 1. BOD levels in Vietnamese major rivers

Fig 2. NH4 levels in Vietnamese major rivers

Source: NEA, SOE reports 1997-2002.
Rivers in the southern region are in deep trouble and in a high alert situation. Organic
pollution in Sai Gon, Vam Co Dong rivers is very serious. The COD level is three time higher
than it should be. According to MONRE, there are about 4,000 enterprises discharging
wastewater, of which 439 enterprises are the most serious, and are required reallocated, closed
or will have to adapt cleaner technologies and treatment of their wastewater. In accordancewith industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in the Southern Key Economic
Zone (SKEZ) discharge over 137,000 m³ of wastewater containing nearly 93 tons of waste
into the Dong Nai, Thi Vai and Saigon Rivers each day. By 2010, waste in the Dong Nai river
20

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

will increase by 1.7 times compared with 2007. Meanwhile, two out of 12 IPs and EPZs in Ho
Chi Minh City, three out of 17 in Dong Nai, two out of 13 in Binh Duong, and none of the IPs
and EPZs in Ba Ria-Vung Tau have wastewater treatment facilities.
According to environmentalists the SKEZ needs investment of 5.7 trill. VND (380 mill. USD)
in 2005 and 13 trill. VND (867 mill. USD) in 2010 to deal with environmental pollution.
For reservoirs and lakes
Viet Nam is about 3600 reservoirs of various sizes, of which less than 15 percent are large or
medium (capacity of over 1 mill. m³ or a height of more than 10 meters). A several major naturallakes having a large area, such as Ba Be (4.5 km² for a surface area and of 90 million m³ for a
volume) and West Lake.
Most of the lakes in Hanoi are seriously polluted with high BOD levels. Lakes in the capital
city are losing their capacity to regulate water levels, especially during the rainy season due toloss of lakes and unsuitable embankments. The water samples of 25 lakes and 5 rivers in
Hanoi city were surveyed for two seasons as dry season (March 2005) and rainy season(August 2005) by Institute of Environmental Technology (IET,VAST) and ALMEC
Corporation Ltd., (Japan). The results showed that the COD’s values, which are approximately
24% in dry season and 44% in rainy season, are over Vietnamese Standard for the 25 lakes.
The water quality of Ngoc Lam (LB7), Ba Mau (DD7) and Kim Lien (DD9) lakes was gravely
polluted (JICA, 2005).
The parameters, such as COD (Fig.1), BOD5 (Fig.2) and SS (Fig.3) are also exceeded
Vietnamese Standard in both seasons. It can be explained that the lakes are not regularly
cleaned. Domestic wastewater was directly discharged into the lakes and garbage is disposed
into the lakes. Hoan Kiem lake located in the center of city but water is polluted. The value of
COD and BOD in Hoan Kiem lake exceed Vietnamese Standard. Garbage is disposed into lake.
In dry season, water level is quite low. Most the concentrations of toxic metal are lower than
Vietnamese Standard value, but some parameters such as Fe, Mn and Coliform are always
varied between dry and rainy seasons.
35
30

BOD5 (mg/l)

25
100
90
80

COD (mg/l)

70
60

20
15
10

50

5

40
30

0

20

Ng
o
Th c Lac amh
Ca Banu
Va Doi
Ho n N
T oi
Ho ay
1
Ng Ta
h y
Tr ia D 2
uc o
BTh achG u
Ng ian Le
o g
Th c K Vo
an ha
h nh
D Co
Lin ong ng
h D
Qu a
Baang
M
Ho Xa auD
Th an an
K
an ie
h m
Nh
Ba a
y n
Ki Ma
Di m L unh ienTh Con
a g
Lin nhh Tri
Ye Dam
n
Ye So
n 1
So
5

10

N

go
c

Th Lam
ac
h
B
C an
au
D
Va oi
n
No
H
i
o
Ta
H y1
o
Ta
y
N
gh 2
ia
D
Tr
uc o
Ba
c
Th h
u
Le
G
i
N ang
go
c Vo
K
Th ha
an nh
h
C
o
D ng
on
Lin g D
a
h
Q
ua
n
Ba g
M
a
Xa u
H
D
oa
an
n
Th Kie
an
m
h
N
h
Ba an
y
M
Ki au
m
D Lie
in
h n
C
o
Th ng
an
h
Lin Tr
i
h
D
a
Ye m
n
S
Ye o 1nSo
50Lake name

Lake nameDry season

Rainy season

Dry season

Vietnamese Standard

Rainy season

Vietnamese Standard

Fig. 1. The value of COD in dry and rainy season Fig. 2. The value of BOD5 in dry and rainy season

21

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

250

SS (mg/l)

200

150

100

50

0
Lo riverHong river

Liem Mac

Hoa Binh 1

Hoa Binh 2

River nameDry season

Rainy season

Vietnamese Standard

Fig. 3. The value of SS in dry and rainy season

Fig 4. Exploitable Groundwater Bill. m³/year

Groundwater quality
Figure 4 indicated that groundwater resources in Viet Nam are abundant with the total potential
exploitable reserves of the country's aquifers estimated at nearly 60 bill. m³ per year. The
availability varies from abundant resources in the Mekong River Delta to somewhat limited
resources in the North Central Region.
The level of ammonia in the groundwater in Hanoi is higher than the National standard by 2-8times. All samples taken from the upper aquifer exceed ammonia standard many times.
Scientists estimate that with the current abstraction rate of 700,000 m³/day, there will be a highrisk of lowering the water table down to 114 m and the groundwater pollution would spreadover the Hanoi city (VEPA, 2003).
In close coordination with National Arsenic Sub-committee and being fruitful supported by
Vietnam government, UNICEF in Hanoi has been granted to implement many projects/programs
regarding to this issue including basic survey of arsenic contamination in underground water insome regions, studies on arsenic removal technology. A broad survey of arsenic pollution in the
12 provinces of the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta and Central area was carried out from
November 2003 to April 2004 by IET with UNICEF funding support. A total of 12,439 water
samples were tested with arsenic in 419 communes of 33 districts in the 12 provinces.
Analytical results showed that in some provinces of the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta,
where tube well water had arsenic content exceeding much higher than the Vietnamese
allowed standard (there are 34.92% and 21.07 % of tube wells found with arsenic higher than
0.01 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l, respectively). Especially some communes in Ha Nam province, thetube wells water was a high arsenic level like Vinh Tru, Binh Luc, Duy Tien, Kim Bang
communes (there are 52.46 % and 35.16 % of tube wells found with arsenic higher than 0.01
mg/l and 0.05 mg/l, respectively). 3 provinces in Mekong, in spite of that the number of field test
was still limited, a remarkable number of water samples was found with high arsenic in Dong
Thap province (39.15% tube wells found with arsenic higher than 0.05 mg/l) (MONRE, 2004).

Activities of Water Environmental Protection in Institute of Environmental
Technology (IET)
IET researchers’ ability to develop and apply water quality monitoring technologies andwastewater treatment technologies, and to conduct training necessary for protecting water
environment is carried out. Transfer technologies on water quality monitoring and analysis(National and provincial monitoring system on water quality; methods for implementing

22

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

monitoring objectives; water sampling points; sampling frequency; the evaluation method ofanalytical data/results; water quality monitoring in field works and equipment used) are
implemented. Recommend appropriate monitoring procedure to relevant governmentorganizations through the process of collecting and assessing data from some pilot state water
monitoring stations are affirmed. Transfer technologies on wastewater treatment (physicalchemical and chemical treatment processes; biological aerobic treatment processes;
wastewater treatment by aquatic plants; biological anaerobic treatment processes) are realized.

Recommendation
Water resource is also being polluted by people who live in rural areas who use it for washingand other daily activities. That’s why a lot of diseases concerning the intestine, skin and othercancers keep occurring. The Government has implemented the standard values on the basis of
new scientific data on health effects to human health has the highest priority of protection. A
detailed action plan should be developed with the coordination of concerned ministries.
Effective and close coordination between multi-sectors, scientists and authorities andsufficient investment are very important to properly study and accurately remedied in water
resource protection.

References
MONRE, National environment report 2006, state of water environment for river valley: Cau,
Nhue-Day and Dong Nai systems.
Report on sampling and analyzing of LAKE and river water in HANOI. the contract between
Institute of Environmental Technology (IET) and ALMEC Corporation (JICA Study Team) July 15,
2005.
VEPA website. Jun 11, 2003.
Ministry of Rural and Agriculture Development, MONRE, Institute of Environmental
Technology,VAST. Project “Broad survey of arsenic contamination in tube well water in 12
provinces, Vietnam”. Hanoi, May 2004.

23

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe Effect of On-site Inspection and Effluent Quality Examinationin Fukuoka Prefecture

Namiko Honda
Environment Preservation Division, Environment Department, Fukuoka Prefectural Government, Japan

Abstract
In Fukuoka Prefecture, as a measure to reduce pollutant in public water areas, on-site
inspection of effluents discharged from industries is carried out and administrative guidance isperformed based on the results of the inspection.
As a result of having continued the guidance based on the on-site inspection, the number ofcase exceeding the effluent standard and the guideline has been decreased significantly, andtherefore recently the prefecture seldom performs the orders to improve and suspends
discharge of effluent.

Introduction
In order to comply with the environmental standard for quality of public water areas, thereduction of the pollutant discharged to public water areas is essential. It is one of the mostimportant measures to control the effluent discharged from factories and establishments topublic water areas.
Water Pollution Control Law (In the following, it is called "the law.”) regulates a standard ofeffluent quality from factories and establishments with facilities which discharge polluted
water and wastewater into public waters areas. The Law defines them as “specified facilities”.
Fukuoka prefecture establishes stricter effluent standard under an ordinance for the factories
and establishments in the prefecture than the national standard, in order to enhance theeffluent control of pollutants from them.
Since the items related to living environment in the effluent standard regulated by the law andthe ordinance are not applied to the small-scale specified facilities which discharge theeffluent below 50m3 per day on average, Fukuoka prefecture establishes "Fukuoka small-scalecommercial facilities effluent water quality improvement guidelines" as the guidance standard
for the Fukuoka demarcation area.
In order to monitor the status of the compliance with the effluent standard, the Fukuoka
Prefecture examines the water quality of effluent discharged from the specified facilities inFukuoka demarcation area by the on-site inspection. In case that the result of effluent quality
examination shows the sample does not meet the standard or the guideline, the Fukuoka
Prefecture conducts the improvement guidance and other administration advices for thefacilities.
This report summarizes the system of the on-site inspection and effluent examination but also
the actual situation of guidance to the specified facilities which does not comply with standard
or guideline as the result of effluent examination in the Fukuoka demarcation area.

24

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Target of on-site inspection
Fukuoka Prefecture prepares an annual plan of on-site inspection. Based on the plan, theinspection is carried out ordinary more than one time by a year for the specified facilities
which discharge a toxic substance or the effluent over 50m3 per day on average or more.
Other specified facilities are inspected considering the status of a claim or other condition
In consideration of usage material and pollutants to be included an effluent at each facility, theeffluent quality examination items are selected among the items regulated the effluent
standard or the guide line. The effluent sample is brought to the analysis office.
The on-site inspection method
The on-site inspection and extraction of effluent are carried out by two or more personnel inthe presence of the staff of inspected factory, in principle without any notification.
Simple water quality tests of the extracted drainage using indicator paper or pack-test are
conducted at the site. Moreover, the following items are investigated;(1) Past record of operation and maintenance of effluent treatment facilities(2) Result of voluntary effluent water examination(3) Color and turbidity of effluent(4) Usage situation of chemical substances(5) Difference of actual situation from notified design, numbers and treatment method of
the facility based on the law
In case that the water quality level of the investigated effluent is suspected to exceed the valueof the effluent standard from the results of these investigations and the simple test, the factoryor establishment is advised to address the issues promptly even before the result of effluent
examination is released.
Guidance and order to the facility exceeding the standard
When the effluent water quality level exceeds the value of the standard or guideline as a resultof an effluent examination, the prefecture conducts again on-site inspection immediately toconfirm the result of the first investigation. At the same time, the responsible person of the
facility is to be interviewed on the reason of its excess and the improvement plan
Administrative actions to the facility which does not comply with standard or guideline areclassified into four levels based on the reason of excesses, improvement plan, excesses item
and the past excesses situation and other issues.
Table 1 shows example condition of administrative action level. Actions of Level A and B are
called administrative guidance which can be realized by only arbitrary cooperation of an
opposite party. On the other hand, ones of Level C and D are called administrative order.
Punishment will be applied if one dose not follow the order. In addition, the effluent
inspection results are notified to the facilities which meet the standard.

25

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 1. Example conditions of administrative action.
Level

Based onLevel A

Guideline

Level B

Level C

Ordinance(Standard)

Type

Example of conditions-

administrative
guidance

In the case that improvement has been completed
or will been completed immediately
The serious violation or in the case that theestablishment does not follow the administrative
guidance on Level B.
In the case that needs to stop an institution andneeds to improve on living environment
preservation.

administrativeorder

Level DThe factory discharging exceeded effluent is advised by the prefecture to improve the facility
and prepare its improvement plan. Moreover, the establishment which does not follow theadministrative advice is to be imposed stiff penalty such as upgrading of effluent treatment
facility within a definite period of time or a temporary stop of the discharge of effluent.
In case that the exceeded effluent is due to temporary accident, its improvement iscomparatively completed within a short period by replacing or repairing the fault parts. Whenthe capability of effluent treatment plant is not enough, it takes a long time to improve its
treatment capacity because its redesign and reconstruction are required. Until the
improvement is completed, not only emergent measures should be arranged but also theimplementation of countermeasure is monitored by on-site inspection and the result ofvoluntary effluent quality examination. The specified facilities of which the effluent has
already exceeded the standard in the past, the on-site inspection without effluent examination
as well as the supervision and advice of effluent discharge improvement are carried out
several times per year.
The result of the inspection of the 2006 fiscal year
The number of specified facilities is 5350 at the end of the 2006 fiscal year in Fukuoka
prefecture jurisdiction area. Among the specified facilities, 855 factories are applied to theeffluent standard. The total number of effluent quality examination in the 2006 fiscal year is
658 times. The result of the test shows that 31 and 29 facilities did not comply with thestandard and the guideline, respectively.
Table 2 shows the number of cases that exceeds the standard classified by both administrative
action level and pollutant at the 2006 fiscal year. Most of the exceeded pollutants are the items
related to living environment. Especially, the number of cases of hydrogen-ion activity (pH)and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) or chemical oxygen demand (COD) is significantly
large.

26

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 2. The number of excess cases at the 2006 fiscal year.
Level

pH

A

23

B

BOD or COD

SS

n-Hex

phosphorus

F

total

5

2

3

 -

-

29

20

6

4

-

1

30

C

-

1

-

-

 -

-

1

D

-

-

-

-

-

-

0

2

Total
43
12
6
3
2
1
* SS : suspended solids, * n-Hex : n-hexane extracts, * F : Fluorine and its compounds

60

The main reason that pH level of effluent exceeds the standard is over-aeration of a septic
tank. Over-aeration can be generated by the following conditions. If influx amount of waste
water is much less than the planning one in the effluent treatment facility with microorganism
treatment system, influx of air to a reaction tank becomes excessive and then nitrification of
nitrogen takes place. As the result of these reactions, pH level is fallen.
Over-aeration can be easily improved by intermittent air supply to the reaction tank. However,if the volume of supplied air is decreased, BOD or other items level in the tank is to be
increased because of inadequate microorganism treatment.
Excesses of BOD and COD are caused by lack of ability of effluent treatment facilities, under
the following example conditions.
(1) Change of manufacturing process or the increase in the amount of production.
(2) Trouble of effluent treatment facility.

㪎㪇㪇㪇

㪋㪇

㪍㪇㪇㪇

㪊㪌

㪌㪇㪇㪇
㪋㪇㪇㪇

㪯㩷㪪㫇㪼㪺㫀㪽㫀㪼㪻㩷㪽㪸㪺㫀㫃㫀㫋㫀㪼㫊㪊㪇㪰㩷㪜㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋㩷㪼㫏㪸㫄㫀㫅㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㫊㪉㪌㪱㩷㪫㪿㪼㩷㫉㪸㫋㫀㫆㩷㫆㪽㩷㪰㩷㫋㫆㩷㪯㩷㩿㩼㪀

㪉㪇

㪊㪇㪇㪇

㪈㪌

㪉㪇㪇㪇

㫉㪸㫋㫀㫆㩷䋨㩼䋩䋨䂦䋩㫅㫌㫄㪹㪼㫉㩷㩿䂹㪃䂾䋩

Effect of on-site inspection
On-site inspection and administrative action as the result of the inspection have been
implemented since 1971 when the law was enforced. Figure 1 shows the trend of the numberof specified facilities and the ratio of the annual effluent quality examination number to total
number of the specified facilities. According to Figure 1, the number of specified facilities
was rapidly increased between 1971 and 1976, because new type of facilities such as hoteland other business were added to the specified facilities due to the legal revision. Then, thenumber of specified facilities has been constant since 1976. The ratios of the number of
specified facilities which comply with the effluent standard and the annual effluent inspection
number to the total number of specified facilities are 11% and 15%, respectively.

㪈㪇

㪈㪇㪇㪇

㪌

㪇

㪇
㩷㩾㪎㪇

㩷㩾㪎㪌

㩷㩾㪏㪇

㩷㩾㪏㪌

㫐㪼㪸㫉

㩷㩾㪐㪇

㩷㩾㪐㪌

㩷㩾㪇㪇

㩷㩾㪇㪌

Figure 1. The trend of number of specified commercial facilities and effluent inspection.
27

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 2 shows the trend of ratio of the number of administrative action to the effluent quality
examination "Action rate". From the Figure 2, the Action ratio is stable at 10% or less inrecent years, although it was 30 to 50% in the 1970s. As a result of having continued
administrative action on the upgrading of the effluent treatment facilities and proper control ofmaintenance to each facility, it is considered that water quality of discharged effluent is
improved, and therefore, the number of effluent samples which do not meet the standard isdecreased.
Figure 3 illustrates the trend of the number of administrative order. According to Figure 3, thenumber of administrative order is stable from none to 2 cases per year in recent years,
although it was 40-50 cases per year during 1970s. Administrative order is performed when afactory does not follow the improvement advice or commit a serious violation. Therefore, it isassumed that the number of administrative order is decreased, because the factory addresses
promptly the issues on effluent quality based on the administrative improvement advice.
㪎㪇

㪈㪇㪇㪇

㪍㪇
㪌㪇

㪏㪇㪇
㪍㪇㪇

㪜㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋㩷㪼㫏㪸㫄㫀㫅㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㪋㪇㪘㪻㫄㫀㫅㫀㫊㫋㫉㪸㫋㫀㫍㪼㩷㪸㪺㫋㫀㫆㫅㩷㩿㪸㫃㫃㩷㪣㪼㫍㪼㫃㪀㪊㪇㪘㪺㫋㫀㫆㫅㩷㫉㪸㫋㫀㫆䇭㩿㩼㪀㩷㩿䂓㪆䂹㪀㪋㪇㪇㫉㪸㫋㫀㫆㩷㩿㩼㪀㩿䂦㪀㫅㫌㫄㪹㪼㫉㩷㩿䂹㪃䂓㪀

㪈㪉㪇㪇

㪉㪇

㪉㪇㪇

㪈㪇

㪇

㪇
㩷㩾㪎㪇

㩷㩾㪎㪌

㩷㩾㪏㪇

㩷㩾㪏㪌

㫐㪼㪸㫉

㩷㩾㪐㪇

㩷㩾㪐㪌

㩷㩾㪇㪇

㩷㩾㪇㪌

Figure 2. The trend of the number of effluent examination and administrative action
Note: The number of case Level B in 1971 is unknown. 1974 and 1975, since the number ofcoaching is unknown, the number of excess the effluent standard was made into number ofadministrative action.
.
㪍㪇㫅㫌㫄㪹㪼㫉

㪌㪇㪣㪼㫍㪼㫃㩷㪚
㪣㪼㫍㪼㫃㩷㪛

㪋㪇
㪊㪇
㪉㪇
㪈㪇
㪇
㩷㩾㪎㪇

㩷㩾㪎㪌

㩷㩾㪏㪇

㩷㩾㪏㪌

㩷㩾㪐㪇
㫐㪼㪸㫉

㩷㩾㪐㪌

㩷㩾㪇㪇

㩷㩾㪇㪌

Figure 3. The trend of administrative order. Note: 1975 and 1974, the number ofadministrative order is unknown.

28

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Conclusions
In Fukuoka prefecture, the on-site inspection of specified facilities has been performed since
the law was enforced (1971). Administrative order is hardly implemented in recent years.
On-site inspection not only can control the effluent exceeding the standard and guideline fromthe following reasons, but also becomes effective in reduction of public water pollution.
(1) Once the factory does not comply with the effluent standard and guideline, it should
continue to receive the administrative guidance until its improvement will be completed.
(2) Educational activities on effluent treatment is performed for the factory at the on-site
investigation.

29

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Policy and Implementation on Water Environment in Thailand

Wijarn Simachaya, Thiparpa Yolthantham
Pollution Control Department of Thailand
Email: wijarn.s@pcd.go.th, thiparpa.y@pcd.go.th

Abstract
Based on geographical characteristics, Thailand can be divided into 25 river basins. From themonitoring programs of major rivers in 25 river basins, surface water quality varies widely inthe different regions in Thailand. The results showed that the water quality at about 19 % ofsampling stations were in good while most of them were in fair and worst condition (53 %and 28 %, respectively) compared to the water quality standards. Highest contaminants werehigh total solids (23 %), fecal coliform bacteria (22 %), Ammonia-nitrogen (21%), total
coliform bacteria (18%) followed by dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion (9 %), and highbiochemical oxygen demand, BOD (7 %). There are two major sources of pollution; point andnon-point sources of pollution. For the whole country, the main source of pollution comesfrom domestic wastewater. Wastewater pollution management is mainly basesed oncommand and control approach under the Enhancement and Conservation of National
Environmental Quality Act, 1992. Under the act, the effluent standards from major point
sources of pollution were established and enforced. Besides, ambient water quality was set up
as a goal for water quality management based on various beneficial uses. Existing water
environment policy is addressed under the National Economic and Social Development Plan
for 2007-2011 and the National Environmental Quality Plan for 2007-2011 which aims at therehabilitation of water quality and increasing local and community participation. However,there is still a lack of integration of water resources management. The Thai government haslaunched many projects to resolve these problems, few of these attempted to take a basin-wide
approach. Most actions to date have been local in nature, with the result that water quality of
the river continues to deteriorate. The agencies responsible for water environment and water
quantity are different. Currently, basin management approach is being implemented in someriver basins in the country such as Bang Pakong and Thachin River Basins in the central partof the country. This approach incorporates water quality and quantity, aquatic resources andland development
Keywords: water quality, basin management approach, water environment

Introduction
The Kingdom of Thailand covers a land area of 513,115 square kilometers. As reported in
2004, the estimated population was about 63 million with a growth rate of 0.7 percent. The
urban population was approximately 15 million with high density in the capital and theregional centers. Based on geographical characteristics, Thailand can be divided into 25 river
basins. The average of annual rainfall for the country is about 1,700 mm. The total annual
rainfall of all river basins is about 800,000 million m³ of which 75 % of the amount is lost
through evaporation, evatranspiration and the remaining 25 % (200,000 million m³) is instreams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Thus, the available water quantity was about 3,300 m³/
capita/year.

30International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Like many countries in Asia, increasing population, economical, agricultural and industrial
expansion, inefficient enforcement of laws and regulations, and insufficient management ofinstitutions established for the handling of waste and wastewater in Thailand are the major
causes of water quality deterioration in various water sources, including surface and coastal
waters. High loading of pollutants from human activities beyond the water resource carrying
capacity can contribute to the degradation of water quality in the country. Despite aworldwide trend of declining water pollution, Thailand witnessed an increase of more than 60
percent of organic water pollution between 1980 and 2000. While quality varies throughout
the country, the central region faces the poorest conditions because of dense populations andintense economic activity. Water pollution causes damage to human health, fisheries, andagriculture, and results in huge health and economic costs.
In general, the water quality of water resources in Thailand is in fair condition with a slight
trend of improvement. However, the surface water quality of major rivers, lower Chao Praya,
Thachin, Lam Takhong and Songkhla Lake, particularly in the areas where receiving
pollutants discharged from industrial, agricultural or populated areas are highly deteriorated.
Similarly, the coastal water in the Inner Gulf and certain highly populated areas of the Outer
Gulf of Thailand are in poor quality, particularly in the areas into which four main rivers
flowing (Mae Klong, Thachin, Chao Phraya and Bang Pakong Rivers). Thus, mitigation
measures such as construction of wastewater treatment plants, hazardous waste treatment,
agricultural waste management, industrial waste control, and management of other pollution
sources are required.
In the past, wastewater problems were managed within political boundaries. New approaches,such as basin management and maintaining the carrying capacity of the receiving waters, hasbeen adopted for controlling both point and non-point sources pollution in some areas. Futurewater quality policies and implementation should not solely focus on managing domestic
wastewater but should also include measures for controlling other urban and rural sources ofpollution. Nutrient and sediment loads from agricultural activities should also be considered
as integral to future planning strategies.

State Of Water Quality
Surface water quality varies widely in the different regions in Thailand. In 2004, Pollution
Control Department (PCD, 2005) monitored the quality of 49 rivers and 4 lakes in Thailand.
Finding revealed that 68% water bodies surveyed were suitable for agriculture and general
consumption (“good” and “moderate” quality). Only less than 40% of Thailand’s surface
waters were in poor or very poor quality. According to the survey of major rivers and lakes by
PCD, no surface water was categorized as “very good” quality (extra clean water which issuitable for aquatic animals and human consumption after normal treatment), and the surface
water quality appeared to be slightly worse than that of last year in terms of dissolved oxygen(DO) and total coliform bacteria (TCB) indicators. The results showed that the water quality
at about 19 % of sampling stations were in good condition while most of them were in fair
and worst conditions (53 % and 28 %, respectively) compared to the water quality standards.
Highest contaminants were high total solids (23 %), fecal coliform bacteria (22 %),Ammonia-nitrogen (21%), total coliform bacteria (18%) following by dissolved oxygen (DO)depletion (9 %), and high biochemical oxygen demand, BOD (7 %). This varies region byregion. The results of water quality monitoring revealed that surface water monitored in the
Northern, Central and Southern regions appear to have poor quality; while the water quality in

31

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanthe Eastern region was fair. Compared to the other regions, the rivers and lakes monitored in
the Northeastern region had good quality surface water. In terms of DO, surface water in the
Northern regions rank the best, approximately 6 mg/L, followed by the Northeastern region
with DO concentration around 4 mg/L. The Central, Eastern and Central regions rank thelowest, about 2 mg/L. The highest concentration of TCB, among surface waters monitored, isfound in the Central region with concentration of TCB higher than 4000 MPN/100ml, while
the surface water in the other regions have relatively lower TCB levels.

Water Environment Policy
The National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2007-2011 and the National
Environmental Quality Plan for 2007-2011 continue to emphasize the rehabilitation of natural
resources and the environment by strengthening environmental management and increasing
local and community participation. Under the plans, policies for water environment aim toaccelerate the rehabilitation of water quality in major water resources, to reduce and control
water pollution originating from domestic, industrial, and agricultural activities, to apply thepolluter pays principle, and to promote and support private sector investment in solving waterpollution problem. The goal for water quality of the water bodies in the country was set up tocomply with the ambient water quality standards within fair and good condition of not lessthan 85 % of water bodies in the country. Under those plans, area approach for water
resources management is concerned. This should integrate water quantity, water quality andrelate resources as a whole basin or a boundary of geographical area. The best practices ofwater quality management in developed countries are implemented under basin approach.
The approach includes the following step: (1) identifying basin uses, (2) setting appropriate
water use and water quality targets, (3) determining the current “state of the basin”, (4)identifying specific issues and management options, and (5) developing a process for public
consultation (Heathcote, 1998). In Thailand, there is no such integrated approach applied towater environment management since 2000. The management has been separated between thequantity and quality of water due to agency responsibilities and their respective regulations.
For major rivers in the country, observed water quality problems were dissolved oxygen
depletion, fish kills, high ammonia nitrogen, high coliform bacteria, and eutrophication
phenomena. Generally speaking, these problems were perceived to be most serious during
summer low flow periods when there is minimal dilution capability available and first flush ofhigh flow periods. Thus, once water quality problems have been identified, it is necessary todevelop targets for restoration to undertake the planning exercise on a basin-wide basis(Wijarn, 2000). The strategy and plan should identify key areas for water quality
improvements as well as a framework of actions for interested stakeholders, including: (i)ensuring better environmental governance through institutional restructuring, compliance, anddecentralization; (2) introducing a sustainable financing mechanism, i.e Polluter Pays
Principle; (3) promoting more active community participation in water resource management ;(4) improving waste and wastewater management in large cities in the country; and (5)improving water environment of the major river basins (World Bank, 2002).

Management Approaches and Implementation on Water Environment
Command and Control
Command and control is usually the normal approach to control waste discharges from point
sources of pollution which is based on European and American pollution control models. In

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Thailand, this model has been implemented with the establishment of effluent standards andtheir subsequently enforcement. The lists of parameters and values of each parameter of
effluent standards can be found at http://www.pcd.go.th/. Effluent standards from point
sources of pollution have been established such as factory, industrial estate, building, pig farm,
gas station, and shrimp pond. The size of point source pollution has also been classified.
From the results of monitoring the discharges by PCD, some point sources have not been incompliance with the effluent standards especially from agricultural activities. Thus, PCD iscurrently developing a compliance assistance centre to assist the polluters. The pilot program
has been established for pig farm.
Wastewater Treatment and Disposal
The Government of Thailand has made some progress in the collection and treatment of urban
wastewater over the past decade compared to other countries in the region. Wastewater
management services are currently provided by the local government authorities, althoughagencies of the central government play the dominant role in sector planning and funding.
Under investment in environmental infrastructure is clearly evident in the municipal
wastewater management sector. Only a small proportion of total urban wastewater generation
presently receives any treatment. At present, Thailand has 95 central wastewater treatment
plants installed in large communities and major tourist areas. The 70 treatment plants, with a
total capacity of about 1.13 million m3/d, are in operation, and a total capacity about 1.87
million m3/d, are now under rehabilitation and construction. These facilities will finish within
the year 2008. As a result, the estimated total capacity of about 3 million m3/d of wastewateror approximately 21% of total generated domestic wastewater in Thailand (14 million m3/d by
2003) will be treated properly before discharging into receiving water. However, there are stilla large amount of untreated wastewater drained into the environment causing many vitalwater sources to gradually deteriorate. (Wijarn, 2003a).
For industrial source, there are more than 120,000 factories and about 30 industrial estates inThailand. Industrial wastewater management services are mainly undertaken and funded byindividual industries. From monitoring program by PCD, some treatment facilities are notfunctional and the discharges are not in compliance with the effluent standards.
Voluntary Approach
The Cleaner Production (CP) is the most popular of voluntary approach where it initiallystarts as a tool for industrial sector to prevent pollution from its sources. Currently, theconcept has been expanded into various sectors which include processes, products andservices. CP is also the backbone in “Sustainable Consumption and Production” which is theumbrella method supporting sustainable development. The Thai Government has developed
the National Cleaner production Plan for the year 2001-2009. The vision of the plan statesthat “Principle of cleaner production will be applied to all activities with efficiency for theachievement of production, reduction and control of pollution, natural resources andenvironmental management, quality of life with benefits from the country development”.
Since then, CP has been widely applied to reduce waste discharge from industries in pilot
areas such as factory in the Thachin and Songkla Lake basins. Ministry of industry has also
promoted cleaner production for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The government iscurrently developing the green procurement to support waste minimization.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Basin Management
The basin management approach can support the concept of protection of the water
environment by keeping pollutant loads to the environment within carrying capacity of thenatural purification process. This approach incorporates water quality and quantity, aquatic
resources and land development. Human activities as well as natural events that occur in abasin or watershed can effect water quality throughout the entire system. The basin approachis a coordinated and integrated method to link science, waste discharges under permit system,and other water pollution control and prevention activities to meet the goals of water quality
standards. The Pollution Control Department (PCD) has developed master plans for waterquality management for all 25 river basins in Thailand. In the water quality management
plans, major river basins were undertaken which mainly include wastewater management in
the plans. Priority to construct wastewater treatment facilities in municipalities wasprincipally recommended as well as the controlling of wastewater from industrial andagricultural sources. Water quality modeling and the geographic information systems (GISs)
have also been continually developed and used as tools to help decision-makers in water
quality management processes.
Up to now, integrated water resources management such as basin management, has not yet
been put into practice in Thailand. PCD has been taken a leading role by firstly developing awater quality improvement master plan at the Thachin River Basin as a whole basin in 1996
and then initiating implementation of the action plan since 2000. Since then, there is not muchprogress due to the lack of cooperation and budget availability especially for construction
treatment facility at the lower part of the basin.
Public Participation
Public participation in water quality management in Thailand is becoming more progressive
especially in the water quality monitoring activities. The volunteer or civil society groups
were formulated. The volunteer groups monitor the conditions of streams, river and lakes.
They want to help protect the water resources for beneficial uses. Many projects aim at raisingawareness of basic water management issues, human and nature links and the importance ofwater quality to aquatic life, plus integrating local environmental studies into the school’s
curriculum in line with national educational policy such as in the Songkram River in thenortheastern and the Thachin River in the central parts of the country.ҏ Development of water
curriculum is also a challenges in encouraging schools to teach their children about theenvironmental problems and its situation. When they know about the situation, they will
participate to solve the problems. In Thailand, the public has participated as volunteers invarious activities such as litter cleanup, water quality monitoring, macroinvertebrate sampling,tree planting, stream inventory, and educational exhibits. The civil society or non governmentorganizations (NGOs) have been established in some areas to implement some activities
related to water issues.
Partnership Formulation
In 2002, the Director General of the PCD, and the four Governors from provinces in theThachin River Basin agreed to cooperate for restoration of the basin by signing thePartnership Agreement of the Thachin River Basin. The Partnership aims to cooperate inorder to of reduce waste loads from various sources of pollution in their political boundaries,
to monitor water quality, to establish the center of Thachin database, to promote and support
public participation, and to support implementation of the Thacin Rehabilitation Plan. The
meeting of the Partnership was set once a year to evaluate and review the implementation plan.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

However, the Partnership Agreement was not maintained and the governors were transferredfrom the basin. Other than this, partnerships between government agencies and private sector
should also be established especially with major polluters in the basin while public canparticipate and monitor the progress of the action plan implementation (Wijarn, 2003b).

Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusion
Currently, surface water quality in most part of Thailand can be considered to be in faircondition, while some rivers flowing through large communities are in poor condition. Water
quality problems are affected by domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, agricultural
point and non-point source discharges, deforestation, and development projects. In many
parts of the country, surface water is severely polluted which has affected aquatic resources,
water uses for various proposes as well as human health. Enforcement of relating regulations
has to be seriously practiced. To manage water quality in the whole watershed, integrated
approaches should be taken into account in future such as the ecosystem approach. Public
participation should also be promoted.
Thai government has launched many projects to resolve these problems, few of theseattempted to take a basin-wide approach. Most actions to date have been local in nature, withthe result that water quality continues to deteriorate in the river. Currently, the most urgent
water quality problems relate to dissolved oxygen depletion or excessive organic loads andhigh loadings of ammonia and bacteria, primarily from agricultural and domestic sources. The
government has put in place policies, plans and water quality standards in an effort to combat
the problem and has embarked on an ambitious program for the management of waterpollution generated from various sources especially municipal sources. But a lack of an
integrated approach combined with laws that are not enforced, weak capacity, insufficientinvestment, and poor operations and maintenance systems have exacerbated the problem.
Limited community participation and low involvement of the private sector has further
pushed the onus on the government.
Recommendations
To maintain and improve water quality in major rivers in Thailand, the following
recommendations should be considered:- Since many pollution problems occurred as a result of improper land use in the basin.
Regional water quality planning at the basin level is required because it provides logical areas
for water quality management. The basin is a natural system with readily identified boundary.
The basin approach for water quality management should be applied because it highlights theconnection between land, water, and people. Water quality is impacted by population growth,industrial development, agricultural production, and urbanization and development. Thisapproach incorporates on both point and non-point sources of pollution control. Thus, theimplementation of basin-wide total pollutant loads controls should be considered.
- Waste load allocation should be applied to management wastewater discharges from various
sources of pollution. This depends on the assimilative capacity of the receiving water bodyand guidelines to attaining receiving water quality standards.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan- Economic instrument for water pollution control should be applied. These instruments canprovide incentives that will result in a changed behavior of water users and polluters such as
pricing, tax etc.
- The government should promote public participation on water quality management.
Partnership program between government agencies and public or private sector should also be
developed. This will help government agencies to implement the water quality action plan.
- To address water pollution, Thailand should develop an integrated approach for water
resources management. This will involve:- fostering local community participation in water resources management;- harmonizing functions and regulations by addressing overlaps in institutions andjurisdiction,- improving the efficiency of budget allocation and rationalize investments for thewastewater and water resources management sectors; and- promoting opportunities for private sector participation and public awareness about
the state of water environment.

References
Bureau of Water Quality Management. 2005. Water Quality Criteria and Standards inThailand. Pollution Control Department.
Heathcote, I.W. 1998. Integrated Watershed Management: Principles and Practice. New
York, John Wley & Sons, Inc.
Pollution Control Department. 2005. State of Water Quality. Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment
World Bank. 2002. The Thailand Environment Monitors. World Bank Office Bangkok
Wijarn Simachaya. 2000. “Water Quality Management in Thailand” In: Workshop on
Environmentally Sound Technology on Water Quality Management. Mekong River
Commission, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, November 2000
Wijarn Simachaya. 2002. “Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Application in
Thailand” In: The Third World Water forum Session: Water Quality Monitoring andModelling – The Present Situation and Partnership in the Future, United Nation University
Centre in Tokyo, Japan, October 16-17, 2002
Wijarn Simachaya. 2003a. “Environmental Financing Strategies: User Charges in
Wastewater Sector in Thailand” In: Financing Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in Asia,
OEDC Emerging Asian Economies Programme, Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members,
Port Dickison, Malaysia, 17-18 September 2003
Wijarn Simachaya, 2003b. “Lessons Learned on Integrated Watershed and Water
Quality Management in the Thachin River Basin, Thailand” In: Proceeding FirstSoutheast Asia Water Forum. 17-21 November 2003
Wijarn Simachaya. 2005. “Water Quality Management in the Mekong Region” In: 5thWorkshop on Enhancement of International Cooperation for Water Quality.

36International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Domestic Wastewater Services and Facilities in Indonesia: Policy and Regulation Role

Dwina Roosmini, Suphia Rahmawati
Environmental Management Technology Research Group, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Institut Teknologi Bandung , jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia
email: droosmini@bdg.centrin.net.id, suphia_rahmawati@yahoo.com

AbstractIndonesia still faces many sanitation problems; one of the crucial problems is poor domestic
wastewater facilities and services. Domestic wastewater pollution causes the spreading ofwaterborne diseases as the major cause for infant mortality. The effectiveness of wastewater
management and sanitation facilities and services are highly influenced by government policy
and regulation in both national and local levels. Policy and regulation in each wastewater
management stages which are started from planning or programming, design, construction(design and financial aspects), operations and maintenance and monitoring were indentified
and analyze. Results showed that there are no clear institutional roles in wastewater
management. Lack coordination between central and local government also identified. There
are no clear regulation and policy that state about operational and maintenance of domestic
wastewater management. Wastewater management awareness in community and government
are still low. Coordination within government agencies which are related to domestic
wastewater is not well implemented. In term of financial aspect, domestic wastewater services
and management was not the priority for central and local government budget. In monitoring
aspect, effluent and stream standard regulation was not well implemented. There are nopunishments or rewards for the local government with poor or goon domestic wastewater
management. No clear institution which has the task to monitor the implementation ofstandard.
Keywords: policy, regulation, domestic wastewater

Introduction
Public health qualities are depending on sanitation condition, waterborne diseases are
spreading because of poor sanitation. Improper domestic wastewater management will cause
the spreading of microorganism from one infected people to other people through unsafe
water or food. Ministry of Health reported that Diarrhea and gastroenteritis was the ten maindiseases of inpatient in 2005 followed by typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever (Ministry of
Health, 2007). In term of healthy sanitation facilities coverage, Indonesia was in 7th rank outof 9 countries in South East Asia.
Existing condition of sanitation in Indonesia is apparently stagnant from time to time because
the sanitation development cannot catch or even surpass high population growth. After 7
times periods of five yearly development program and long term development program until
year 2005, the number of sanitation facilities compared to population growth are not increase
even tend to decrease in some places in Indonesia. Data in 2005 showed that only 55% of
people in Indonesia have an access to healthy sanitation.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe effectiveness of wastewater management and sanitation facilities services are highly
influenced by government policy and regulation in both national and local levels. There areseveral stages to achieved better urban domestic wastewater management: (1) planning andprogramming, (2) design, (3) constructions, (4) operation and maintenance, and (5)monitoring. The clear frame work should be designed to regulate this management processsmoothly. On the other hand, program for each agencies/institutions related with sanitation
also an important aspect to be considered. Good coordination and synergized between eachrelated agencies/institutions will support the implementation of sanitation management
The aim of this study is to identify and evaluated the existing government policy andregulation which are related to each stages of domestic wastewater management. The
institutions role and practiced are also evaluated.

Methodology
This study is conducted as desk study by collecting the data from many sources related todomestic wastewater management. Existing policy and regulation regarding sanitation incentral and local government ware identified. These data are analyzed according to the stagesof domestic wastewater management. Standard and manual which are have correlation with
wastewater and sanitation facilities also collected and evaluated. Implementation of policy
and regulation and its factor that influenced also analysis using secondary data from agencies
such as Statistic Centre Bureau, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Health. Coverage
access of wastewater facilities in several area of Indonesia is an excellent indicator for
wastewater management performance.

Discussion
Wastewater development in Indonesia was starting since Repelita (five yearly development
program) in 1945-1980, through Kampong Improvement Program (KIP). In Pelita III until VI(1980-2000) program was continued focusing on the development of onsite sanitation
facilities and rehabilitation on central system. Several pilot projects were conducting inseveral cities such as Tangerang, Jakarta, Mataram, Balikpapan, and Banjarmasin.
Community Based Development System is implemented in Malang and Semarang City
(Ministry of Public Works, 2003). In 1999-2000 central governments give the authority tolocal government as the policy of decentralization are conducted. Local government role in
conducted wastewater facilities are increase as decentralization policy are implemented.
National Action Planning (Ministry of Public Work, 2003) reported the condition ofwastewater access in Indonesia, onsite sanitation are dominant method that are use both inurban and rural area. Off site sanitation method are used in urban area only and mostly is theold facilities. Access to wastewater facilities in Indonesia in 2000 are shows in Figure 1. As
the onsite facilities are built privately, the construction and operation of the facilities can notmonitor easily. In some places like West Java Province the domestic wastewater are dominantpollutants to surface water (Wangsaatmaja, 2004).

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Not detected(25,98%)National Accessto Wastewater
Facilities(100%)

Untreated (8,16%)
Onsite (8,16%)

Urban area
(37,52%)Off-site (1,26%)

Rural area
(36,50%)

Mostly not
optimal, not inpropermaintenanceOnsite (21,96%)
Untreated (14,54%)
Off-site (0%)

Figure 1. Access coverage of wastewater services in Indonesia at 2000.
Source : Minitry of Public Work, 2005.
The distribution of onsite sanitation facilities in each province in Indonesia are show in Figure
2, in several province the facilities are lower than 20%. West and East Nusatenggara,
Maluku and Papua were the province with onsite sanitation facilities lower than 20%. Other
province has the onsite sanitation facilities around 50-60%.

Figure 2. Total percentage of onsite services of domestic wastewater in Indonesia.
Source: Statistic Central Bureau, 2000 .

Figure 3 are figure out the methods use for onsite sanitation facilities in several provinces inIndonesia. The main method used is septic and the other method is latrine. Coverage of septictank used in urban area is higher compare to rural area. In several province the septic tankcoverage is higher than 50%.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 3. Percentage of onsite services of domestic wastewater in Indonesia.
Source: Statistic Central Bureau, 2000.
In decentralization period, the sanitation becomes the responsibility of the local government
in provincial as well as district level (Law 32 in 2004, article 13 and 14). Law 32 in 2004
regulates the responsibility of local government in sanitation comprise of: designing andmonitoring the construction, regional planning, providing facilities, and environmental
management. The function of local government are monitored and assisted by central
government, as written in Law 32 in 2004 article 217. Central government should deliver thenorm, manual and standard (NSPM), training and course. Nationally, local government
function in assisting and monitoring are coordinated by the ministry of home affair (article
222 Law 32 in 2004). In regency and city level coordinated by governor and in district levelby the head of city.
Based on Law 32 in 2004, domestic wastewater management becomes the responsibility of
local government at provincial level as well as city level. Several laws are regulating theimportance of domestic wastewater management in terms to protect environmental health andwater pollution. Law 7 in 2004 describing the water quality management and water pollution
protection in terms of enduring and recovering water resources. Article 24 (Law 7 in 2004)
regulate that people and business organization are prohibited to do any activities that may
degrade the water resources.
Currently, the conditions of domestic wastewater facilities in cities are deprived. The concernof local government who responsible for the business are low and the consequences is thedevelopments of domestic wastewater facilities are very slow. The GOI had commited to the
MDG target in 2015, this commitment are delivered in Rencana Pembangunan Jangka
Menengah (RPJM-Mid Term Development Program) written in Government Rule - PP 7
2005. RPJM target for domestic wastewater is open defecation free in all cities in 2009;
increasing the utility of IPLT and IPAL (Wastewater Treatment Plant) up to 60%; decreasing
river water pollution form feces up to 50% based on 2004 condition and centralized seweragesystem development in metropolitan city. To achieve those targets, Bappenas, Ministry of
Public Works and Ministry of Health have been developed their strategies and plans.
Bappenas creating National Policy for Community Based Drinking Water Supply andEnvironmental Sanitation and Institutional Based Drinking Water Supply and Environmental
Sanitation. In other side, Ministry of Public Work setting the National Action Plan ofWastewater and the Ministry of Health establish the National Planning in Environmental
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Health 2005-2009. So far, there isn’t specific law in regulating city domestic wastewater
management. Government decree no. 16 in 2005 (PP No. 16 Tahun 2005) regulates the
Drinking Water System Development: protecting the raw water, potency of solid and liquid
waste to pollute the raw water. Law 23 in 1992 regulate that Ministry of Health areresponsible in securing the solid waste as well as liquid waste in attempting environmental
health as stated in article 22 that: “The environmental health is conducted to create the qualityof the healthy environment in the public place, settlements, working environment, public
transport and other environments including effort for a better water and air, preventing fromsolid waste, liquid waste, gas emission, radiation and noise, controlling diseases vectors andother efforts or security on the above matters”.
People right for over well being and environmental health are regulated by Law 23 in 1997
article 5, chapter V regulate the conservation of environmental function and chapter VI for therequirement of environmental arrangement.
In terms of financial arrangement, local government has their authority to manage theirfinancial as stated in Law 25 year 1999 Financial Balance between Central and Local
Government including the determination of the health development priority by their own
appropriate as the capability, condition and local needs. Government decree (PP No. 82 year
2001) regarding the water quality management and controlling of water pollution, among
others states there will sanction of any action polluting water and the authority of the
Bupati/Walikota to issue permit on liquid waste utilization.
At ministry level, there is a set of decrees or ministerial decree has also been developed,
including: Decree of Ministry of Health No. 907/2002 regarding qualification and controllingof drinking water quality, which need further local regulation (Perda) to follow up. Ministryof Health Decree (Kep.Menkes) No. 1457/2003 regarding Minimal Standard of HealthServices in Kabupaten/Kota, among others those regarding: Preventing and mitigating
diarrhea, dengue fever, environmental health and hygiene service at public place as well as
appointed bupati/walikota in charged on the health service in accordance to this Minimum
Services Standards.
Strategic Plan of Ministry of Health regarding the availability of healthy environment
program, which include: provision of clean water facility and basic sanitation, maintaining
and controlling of environmental quality, controlling of environmental pollution and healthy
area development. This strategic plan are stated in Ministry of Health Decree (Kep.Menkes)
No. 1274/2005. In addition, technical guidelines/technical or manual has been developed,
some of which developed in cooperation with other ministries with financial source frominternational institution, including: CLTS, Community Lead Total Sanitation, equipped withmodule and the team; MPA Movement (Methodology Participation Assessment), and PHAST(Participatory Hygiene Transformation); Guidelines on Sanimas (Community Sanitation);
Technical Guideline (Juknis) on air and liquid waste quality assessment (By Dirjen P2MPLP
in 1994); Guidelines on Installation of Hospital Liquid Waste Management (Dirjen
Yanmedik, 1993).
The law on spatial planning (UU Tata Ruang) currently is on changing process including the
preparation of related government regulation (PP). The draft (RUU) or government regulation(PP) explicitly not mentions any sanitation aspect. The arrangement of such aspect will becovered on the arrangement of spatial circulation (people, service, goods including waste). It

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanis proposed that waste aspect should be officially included so that the opportunity forchanging in particular of the RPP is widely opened.
Law/regulation compilation is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Law and Regulation Relating to the Sanitation.
No

Law/Regulation

Stipulation

1

UUD 45: Article 33 Alinea 3‘Land and water and the wealth beneath governed by state andutilized for the greatest benefit of people welfare’2

UU No.23 Year 1992:
Chapter IV, Article 9
Article 10

HealthGovernment has tasks to mobilize community participation inadministering and financing of health
Efforts to realize optimum health for community as a preventive
approach
Environmental health covering water and air pollution control,
protection against solid waste, liquid waste, gas emission, radiation,and noise, control of diseases vector, and other protection.
Environmental health, diseases abatement and health education
represent part of health efforts.
Health education is administered to improve knowledge, awareness,
willingness, and capacity for health life
Environmental Management
Each person has right over well being and health environment
Protection of environmental function
Requirement for environmental arrangement
Local Government: Province, Kabupaten, and Kota have authority
to govern and administer local community interest according totheir own aspiration based on community aspiration.
National Development Program (2000-2004) on healthenvironment, health behaviour, and community empowerment.
Settlements infrastructure and facilities development program at
local level.

Chapter V,
Fifth Part. Article 22
Article 38

3

4

UU No. 23 Year 1997
Chapter III, Article 5 Clause 1
Chapter V, Article 14-17
Chapter VI
Law No. 22 Year 1999

5

Law No. 25 Year 2000

No

Law/Regulation

6
7

Law No. 32 Year 2004
Government Rule No.25 Year
2000
Government Rule No.7 Year2005
Government No. 16 Year
2005

8
9

10
11
12
13

Ministry of Health Decree
No. 907 Year 2002
Ministry Public Work Decree
No. 409 Year 2002
Minstry of Environmental
Decree No. 111 year 2003
Minstry of Environmental
Decree No. 112 Year 2003

Stipulation
Local Autonomy
Government and provincial authority as autonomous district
Rural development
Acceleration of infrastructure development
Development of Water Supply System which integrated withsanitation infrastructure and facilities development
Wastewater infrastructure and facilities
Solid waste infrastructure and facilities related to raw water source
protection
Requirement for Healthy Drinking Water
Type of drinking water
Administration of KPS (Government-Private Sector Cooperation) in
administration and/or management of water supply and sanitation
Requirement and procedure for permit of wastewater facilities
discharge
Domestic wastewater quality standard

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

It appears that at the moment, the current laws and regulations are not working properly in thevarious sectors responsible for the domestic wastewater management. Each sector (agency)
based on its purpose (program) tried to prepares a strategic plan with the same aim for
improved wastewater management but it seems need synergized one another to implement the
program to avoid the overlapping programs and to increase the services.
Local governments rule that supporting domestic wastewater services regulation are limited as
seen in Table 1. Water quality degradation in surface and ground water is an indication ofpoor wastewater management in every management process, especially aspects of monitoringsuch as construction, and the performance of built infrastructure (effluent standards, surface
water standards, etc).

Conclusion
Policy and regulation which related to domestic wastewater management in Indonesia are notwell implemented in the many sectors that responsible to the wastewater services. Law or
regulation are need to be develop to increase the coordination between related institutions indomestic wastewater management both in local and central government. There are no clear
regulation and policy that state about operational and maintenance for domestic wastewater
management both in central and local government

References
Ministry of Health (2007), Indonesia Health Profile 2005
Ministry of Public Works. (2005). National Action Planning Report.
Statistic Central Bureau . (2000). Sanitation Facilities in Indonesia
Ministry of Health (2000). Sanitation coverage data in Indonesia.
Wangsaatmaja, S. 2004. Perubahan tata guna lahan terhadap rezim aliran air dan sanitasi
lingkungan (Land use change impacts on surface water regime and environmental sanitation:
Case analyses of the Upper Citarum Watershed). PhD thesis. Bandung: Institut Teknologi
Bandung.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water Environment Protection Legislation and Policies in China

Guo Jinlong
Department of Pollution Control, State Environmental Protection Administration
No. 115 Xizhimennei Nanxiaojie, Beijing 100035, China. E-mail: guo.jinlong@sepa.gov.cn

Abstract
The environment protection and its legislation in China are briefly reviewed firstly. Then, thelegal system about water environment protection is systematically elaborated from different
levels as national law, administrative regulation, ministerial rule and environment standard,
and the main water environment protection policies established by the relative laws andregulations as Total Water Pollutant Discharge Amount Control, Integrated River BasinManagement and Source Water Protection Zonation, etc. are analyzed. Finally, the generalwater environment status in 2006 is presented.
Keywords: Water Environment, Legislation, Policies, China

Introduction
The environment protection of China starts in the field of water protection. The foundation of
GuanTing Reservoir Water Pollution Treatment Office in 1972, which was ratified by PremierZhou Enlai, marked the startup of water pollution prevention and control in China. Then, theFirst National Environment Protection Conference was hold in 1973, which initiated thegeneral environment protection work in China.
Environment protection is one of China's basic national policies, and Chinese government
pays great attention to the environment legislative work. To promote the coordinateddevelopment of economy, society and environment, China enacted and implemented a seriesof principles, policies, laws and measures for environment protection from the 1980s. Up tonow, China has established an environmental statutory framework that takes the Constitutionof the People's Republic of China (PRC Constitution) as the foundation and theEnvironmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (PRC Environment
Protection Law) as the main body.
The PRC Constitution stipulates: The state protects and improves the living environment andthe ecological environment, and prevents and remedies pollution and other public hazards.
The state organizes and encourages afforestation and the protection of forests. The PRC
Environment Protection Law is the cardinal law for the environment protection in China,
which has established the basic principle of coordinated development for economic
construction, social progress and environmental protection, and defined the rights and duties
of governments at all levels, all units and individuals as regards the environmental protection.
Based on PRC Constitution and PRC Environment Protection Law, the legal system for water
environment protection in China was setup.

Water Environment Protection Legislation in China
Water environment protection is always the most important field of environment protection
work. China has enacted and promulgated quite some special laws and regulations on the44

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

protection of water environment as well as on the related natural resources.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) has approved the Law of
the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution (PRC WPPC
Law) in 1984 and revised it in 1996, approved the Water Law of PRC in 1998 and revised it in
2002, and approved the Law of PRC on Water and Soil Conservation in 1991.
Chinese government has enacted some administrative decrees regarding water environment
protection, including Interim Regulations on the Prevention of Water Pollution in the Huai
River Valley (Order of the State Council of PRC, No. 183, Promulgated in 1995),
Implementation Rules for the PRC WPPC Law (Order of the State Council of PRC, No. 284,
Promulgated in 1989 and revised in 2000), Regulations on the Administration and Use of
Pollution Discharge Fee (Order of the State Council of PRC, No. 369, Promulgated in 2003),
etc.
The concerned ministries and departments of Chinese government have issued a number ofadministrative rules on water environmental protection, which include Interim Measures on
the Administration of Key Water Pollutants Discharge Permit in Huai River Basin and Tai
Lake Basin (Issued by State Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA of
China) in 2001), Interim Measures on the Administration of Water Pollutants Discharge
Permit (Issued by SEPA of China in 1988), Provisions for the Administration of thePrevention and Control of Pollution in Protected Areas for Drinking Water Sources (Issued by
SEPA of China, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Construction, etc. in 1989),
Measures on the Supervision of Sewage Treatment Facilities for Environmental Protection(Issued by SEPA of China in 1988)ˈ Measures on the Administration and Use of Pollution
Discharge Fee (Issued by Ministry of Finance and SEPA of China in 2003), etc. What is more,some technologies and policies about lake eurtophication prevention, urban sewage treatment
and pollution prevention, industrial wastewater treatment, etc. were issued.
Environment Standards, which are an important component of China's environment statutory
framework, include environment quality standards, pollutant discharge or emission standards,
basic environmental criteria, criteria for samples, and criteria for methodology. As stipulated
in Chinese law, the environment quality standards and pollutant discharge standards arecompulsory standards, and those who violate these compulsory environment standards mustbear the corresponding legal responsibility. The water environment quality standards of China
include Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water (EQSSW, GB 3838-2002), Sea
Water Quality Standard (GB 3097-1997), Quality Standard for Ground Water (GB/T
14848-93), and Standard for Irrigation Water Quality (GB 5084-92), etc. The water pollutant
discharge standards include Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard (GB 8978-1996),
Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB18918-2002), and the discharge standards for the paper-making, chemical, brewery and otherindustries. A series of criteria for water environment monitoring and methodology were also
issued.
To implement the state's water environmental protection laws, regulations and standards,
people's congresses and people's governments at local levels, according to the specificconditions in their own areas, have established and promulgated a series of regulations andstandards on water environmental protection.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Up to now, the water environment protection statutory framework, which is based on the PRC
WPPC Law, is basically established, and a series of effective water environment protection
policies as total pollutant discharge control, environment impact assessment, information
publication and public participation have been setup, which have played an important role in
the water environment security in China.

Main Water Environment Protection Policies in China
Total Water Pollutant Discharge Amount Control Policy (TWPDAC Policy)
The PRC WPPC Law (Article 16) stipulates: With regard to water bodies where the standards
for water environment quality established by the State still cannot be attained although thedischarge of water pollutants has conformed to the discharge standards, the people's
governments at or above the provincial level may institute a system for control of the total
discharge of major pollutants, and a system for making an estimation before deciding on thequantity of major pollutants to be discharged by an enterprise who is charged with the task ofdischarge reducetion.
TWPDAC means that the total water pollutant discharge amount to certain area(administrative area, river basin or water environment function zone) in a certain period
should be limited in certain amount, which was determined by environment objectives orfunctions. Compared with the concentration control under the discharge standards, TWPDAC
has three main factors, i.e. the total amount, region and time of discharge. The TWPDAC can
be classified into two types, and one type is Objective-oriented while the other is
Capacity-oriented.
Objective-oriented TWPDAC indicates that the TWPDAC Plan of China, which was
proposed through the coordination of economy development and environment protection, will
be determined from national level. Then the planned national discharge amount will be
divided and sub-divided to the local government of different levels as their TWPDAC target,
and they must achieve this target in certain time. At present, because of the large amount ofwater pollutant discharge and poor water environment status in some area, most of the
TWPDAC in China is Objective-oriented.
The Capacity-oriented TWPDAC target is determined on the basis of water environment
capacity for certain pollutant load. In this type TWPDAC, the water bodies (rivers, lakes, etc)
will be separated into different environment function zones, and the dilution and assimilation
capacity of each function zone will be calculated, based on which the bearable pollutant load
will be determined and set as the TWPDAC target for this function zone. Then, the national
Capacity-oriented TWPDAC target can be estimated by summarizing that of each water body.
China has carried out quite some work about the water environment capacity calculation,
which has provided solid foundation for the Capacity-oriented TWPDAC.
TWPDAC policy can rationalize the distribution of the industries, optimize the industrial
structure, and improve economy increasing mode, which has played an important role in thewater pollution prevention and control in the key basins of China. At its Fourth Session in
March 2006, China's Tenth NPC adopted the Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of PRC
for National Economic and Social Development, in which the COD (Carbon Oxygen Dioxide)
reduction target from 2005 to 2010 was established, i.e. 10 percent (from 14.14 million ton to46

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

12.73 million ton).
Integrated River Basin Management Policy (IRBM Policy)
According the PRC Water Law, the State shall formulate the strategic plan for water resourcesof the whole country. The development, utilization, preservation and protection of water
resources, and the prevention and control of water disasters, shall be planned in a unified way
on the basis of river basins or regions. In order to draw up a river basin plan, a comprehensive
scientific survey and an investigation and assessment of water resources must be undertaken
first, and the region plan within a river basin shall be subject to the river basin plan. The
development and utilization of water resources shall take into consideration the interests of
upstream and downstream areas, of the left and right banks, and of all regions concerned, thus
to make full use of the comprehensive benefits of water resources.
The PRC WPPC Law formulates the integrated river basin pollution prevention and control
policy, and it stipulates as follows: To prevent and control water pollution, it is necessary to
make unified plans on the basis of river basins or regions. The water pollution prevention andcontrol plan for major river basins, which should be put forward by the environmental
protection and concerned departments under State Council, together with the people's
governments of relevant provinces, shall be submitted to the State Council for approval. The
water pollution prevention and control plan for other trans-jurisdictional river basins should
be approved by the people’s government of higher jurisdiction level. Once approved, thewater pollution prevention and control plan shall serve as the essential basis for prevention
and control of the river basin, and any modification of such plans shall be subject to approvalof the original departments that approved the plans. In accordance with the approved river
basin (water) pollution prevention and control plan, local people's governments at or above
the county level shall work out plans for water pollution prevention and control of their own
administrative regions.
From 1995, Huaihe River, Haihe River, Liaohe River, Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and Dianchi
Lake were listed as the major basins for water pollution prevention and control by NPC, andthe ninth (1995-2000), tenth (2000-2005) five year plan for the pollution prevention andcontrol of these major basins were approved by State Council and then implemented. Up tonow, the water pollutant discharge in the major river basins decreased greatly, thedeterioration trend for the water environment was basically controlled, and the quality ofsome water bodies improved obviously.
Source Water Protection Zonation Policy (SWPZ Policy)
Drinking water security is vital for the public health and industrial and agricultural production.
Since the water pollution can not be fully controlled for the economic and technologicalreasons, the source water protection is one of the most important barriers for the drinking
water security.
According to the PRC WPPC Law (Article 20), The people's governments at or above theprovincial level may delineate surface Sources Water Protection Zones (SWP Zone) for
domestic and drinking water. Certain water areas and land-based areas near the intakes ofdomestic and drinking surface water sources may be delineated as the First-grade SWP Zone.
Certain water areas and land-based areas beyond the first-grade protection zones may bedelineated as the Second-grade SWP zone and protection zone of other grades.

47

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe SWP zone delineation principles are as follows, to ensure the water quality of First-grade
SWP zone meet the Grade II Standard under EQSSW, and to ensure the water quality ofSecond-grade SWP zone meet the Grade III Standard. The principle and methods are listed
and illustrated in the Technical Guideline for Delineating Source Water Protection Areas(HJ/T338-2007). Up to 2005, about 70% percent of the centralized drinking water source hasdelineated SWP zone of different grades for protection.
Within the First-grade SWP zones for drinking water, the construction or expansion of any
projects that have no relation with water supply facilities and protection of water sources is
prohibited. Within the Second-grade SWP Zone for drinking water, the new-construction or
expansion of any projects that discharge pollutants into the water body is prohibited. Anyreconstruction projects in the Second-grade SWP Zone must cut down its pollutant discharge.
Environmental Impact Assessment Policy (EIA Policy)
In order to implement the sustainable development strategy, take precautions against adverse
impacts on environment of plan implementation and project construction, and to promote thecoordinated development of the economy, society and environment, China has enacted andimplemented the Law of PRC on Environmental Impact Assessment in 2003. Environmental
Impact Assessment means the analysis, prediction and evaluation of the possible
environmental impact of plan implementation and project construction, the measures andactions putting forward to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects on environment, and thefollowing monitoring.
The construction projects can only start after the ratification of its EIA report, and the water
environment protection facilities must be planed, implemented and developed synchronouslywith the project construction (the Three Synchronizes policy), thus to control the environment
pollution and ecological damage at its origin. Water environment is one of the most importantfactors that should be considered during EIA, and the implementation of the EIA and Three
Synchronizes policy has played an active role in the water pollution prevention andenvironment protection.
According to the Environment Protection in Chian (from 1996 to 2005, The State Council
Information Office, June, 2006), until 2005, more than 1.46 million construction projects
implemented the EIA policy while more than 0.63 million new construction projects carriedout the Three Synchronizes policy, which accounts for 99.3 and 96.4 percent of all the
projects respectively. Moreover, the pilot work on planning EIA has been initiated in an all
round way.
Pollutant Discharge Charging Policy (PDC Policy)
Based on the Polluter Pays Principle, the idea of PDC was brought forth in late 1970s, and thepilot study was carried out from 1978 to 1981. With the enaction and implementation of theInterim Measures on the Collection of Pollution Discharge Fee (1982), Interim Measures on
Compensatory Use of the Special Fund for Source-Pollution Control (1988), and theRegulations on the Administration and Use of Pollution Discharge Fee (200s), PDC became
an important policy for environment protection.
According to Article 15 of the PRC WPPC Law, enterprises and institutions that discharge
pollutants into a water body shall pay a pollutant discharge fee in accordance with the Stateregulations, and the pollutant discharge fee must be used for prevention and control of water48

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanpollution and may not be used for any other purposes. On one hand, the PDC Policy has
contributed greatly to the reduction, treatment and reuse of the industrial pollutants. While on
the other hand, it expanded the financing channel for the pollution prevention and control
work. According to the Environment Statistics Bulletin of China (2006), the pollutant
discharge fee in 2006 reaches 14.4 billion RMB, and all of it will be used to solve the urgent
environment protection problems.
Environment Information Disclosure Policy (EID Policy)
Public participation in the environment protection is encouraged, and the EID Policy isestablished through a set of regulations and measures. Interim Measures for Hearing theAdministrative License in Respect of Environmental Protection (2004) and Interim Measuresfor Public Participation in the EIA (2006) require the EID during each stage of the EIA
process for project constructionǄMeasures for the Disclosure of Environmental Information(for Trial Implementation, 2007) prescribed the subject, scope, procedure and responsibility
about EID, which greatly promoted the EID policy. At present, the information about
environment laws and regulations, standards and methods, statistics and investigation,
protection plans, quality situations, main pollutant discharge, EIA, etc. is open to the publicthrough different media.
Other Policies
Some other helpful policies as Water Pollutant Discharge Permit, Pollutant Discharge
Registration, Joint Minsterial Meeting for Environment Protection, etc. were also setup for thepollution prevention in China, and the implementation of these policies contributes greatly for
the water environment protection.

Conclusions
The enaction and implementation of the water environment concerned laws, regulations,standards and policies played an important role in the control and mitigation of the waterpollution, the protection of ecological and public health, and thus contributed greatly to thesustainable economic and social development of China.
According to the Report on the State of the Environment in China of 2006 (SEPA), the overall
quality of surface water across China is under intermediate pollution. Among the 745
monitoring sections of surface water under national environmental monitoring program, 40
percent meet Grade I̚III standard of EQSSW, 32% meet Grade IV~V standard and 28% failto meet Grade V standard. Among the seven big rivers in the mainland of China, the Pearl
River and Yangtze River enjoy good water quality, the Songhua River, Yellow River andHuaihe River are under intermediate pollution, while the Liaohe River and Haihe River are
under heavy pollution. The water of Taihu Lake and Dianchi Lake fails to meet Grade V
Standard and the water quality of Chaohu Lake is Grade V. The quality of much coastal sea
waters across China is good with heavy pollution in part of sea areas. The quality of distantsea waters is quite good.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Current State of Water Environment in Malaysia

Ahmad Rizal bin Khalit
Principal Assistant Secretary
Conservation and Environment Management Division
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Malaysia

Abstract
Measure has been taken to protect and conserve the environment to meet the needs andaspirations of country population, particularly with regards to the productive capacity ofresources such as land, water and forest. In Malaysia, the quality of the environment withrespect to river, marine and ground water quality remained within normal variations. Effort
was also intensified to promote sustainable natural resources management practices in relation
to land, water and forest.

Introduction
The National Policy on the Environment was adopted in 2002 outlines strategies to propelcountry’s growth trends towards sustainable development which embodies the three pillars;
economic development, social development and environment protection. Realizing theimportance to facilitate a coordinated and comprehensive approach in managing natural
resources and environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) was
formed in 2004.
With regards to the water pollution, generally in Malaysia it is caused by point and non-point
sources. Point sources comprise sewage treatment plants, manufacturing and agro-basedindustries as well as animal farms. Non-point sources are made up of diffused sources such as
agricultural activities and surface runoffs.
According to the study commissioned by ASEAN Secretariat and AusAID presented in theReport on State of Water Resources Management in ASEAN 2005, the total available internal
water resources for Malaysia are 630,000 mcm/year. It is estimated for the year 2025, the total
demand for sector such as industry, agriculture, irrigation and domestic is 14,504 mcm
compared to 1,622 mcm for the current demand.
The government recognized that water is life itself and without it we cease to exist. Moreover,the demand of water increases and pollution depletes more of our water resources. Therefore,
the Ministry has spearheaded initiative to ensure the water environment been properly
manage, among others, by reviewing existing laws, restructuring of water-related agencies,
drafting a new national policy on water, nationwide public awareness campaigns and alsoenhance research and development in the field of water resources management.

State of Water Quality in Malaysia
The Department of Environment Malaysia published the annual environmental quality reportwhich is in compliance with the Section 3(1)(i) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974,
encompassing water, air, noise and pollution inventory. The state of water quality in Malaysia
for the year 2006 is as follows:50

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

(A)
River
The main river pollutants are domestic sewage, waste from livestock, farms, runoffs fromtowns, silt from earthworks, leachate from rubbish dumps, runoffs from farms, litter fromriverside squatters and mining waste. Of the total of 146 river basin monitored, 80 weredeemed clean, 59 slightly polluted and 7 polluted. This is a marked improvement from theyear 2005, when 80 river basins were clean, 51 slightly polluted and 15 polluted. The sevenpolluted rivers were located in the industrial area which is Pinang and Juru River in Penang;
Buloh in Selangor while Danga, Tebrau, Segget and Pasir Gudang in Johor.
Last year, domestic sewerage and discharges from latex-based factory, agro-based industries
and manufacturing industries fouled 22 river basins. Domestic sewage and livestock farming
waste soiled 41 river basins while earthwork and land clearing turned 42 river basins murky.
(B)
Groundwater
National Groundwater Monitoring Programme started in the year 1997 and by 2006, 88
monitoring well had been established at 48 sites in Peninsular Malaysia, 19 wells in Sarawak
and 15 wells in Sabah. The site were selected and categorized according to the surrounding
land use.
Arsenic levels were high in groundwater near a radioactive waste landfill, solid waste
landfills, municipal water supply sources and agricultural areas. Groundwater near waste
dumps was also contaminated with iron, lead, manganese, phenol and faecal bacteria.
(C)
MarineIt was showed a higher of Escherichia coli, mercury and arsenic level last year than a year
before. However, levels of suspended solids, oil and grease, copper, lead, cadmium andchromium dropped.
The faecal bacteria E.coli was the dominant pollutant in waters of 7 islands which included
resort islands, marine parks and protected islands. This is because of the discharge of raw or
poorly treated domestic sewage.
Pollution by silt was the worst in the coast of Kedah, Perak and Negeri Sembilan. Oil andgrease pollution were mostly seen in Terengganu, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. E.coli levels
were highest off the coasts of Perlis, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Penang Island. Leadcontamination was evident in Terengganu, Kelantan and Perak waters.

Issues and Challenges in Managing Water Environment
Major water related problems are identified in relevance to the marine pollution, riverpollution and overexploitation of resources. In term of marine and river pollution, primaryresources are mainly from major population areas where the sewage treatment plant has risen
3.2% to 9,060 in 2006 from the previous year. Domestic sewage discharge in the form oftreated sewage and partially-treated sewage remain a large contributor of organic pollution.
Both people and industries are believed to contribute pollution menace. Many water
environments are polluted as a result of the publics couldn’t care less attitude, which leads tothe indiscriminate disposal of rubbish or industries not treating their discharge.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Lack of enforcement is another major challenge to ensure the water environment keep on
preserve. It plays an important role to ensure publics and industries comply with the law
hence it is possible to monitor this source all the time.

Remedial Action to Preserve Water Environment(A) Administrative(i)

Cooperation with the local authorities in enhancing enforcement within theirjurisdiction;(ii) Increased awareness activities with all stakeholders on the need to protect our rivers as asource of water supply;(iii) Implementation of the river quality improvement and pollution prevention programme.
Under this programme, sources of pollution are identified and action plans formulated to
improve the water quality. The action plans would then be implemented by the various
agencies within their jurisdiction; and(iv) The implementation of the storm water management manual (MASMA) and Sedimentand Erosion Control plan for all earthworks activities.
(B) Legislative
Short-term
Enhance enforcement of the Environment Quality Act 1974 and its regulation which will see
legal action being taken on sources that fail to comply with stipulated standards. The related
regulation are Environmental Quality (Sewage and Industrial Effluents) Regulations 1979 andEnvironmental Quality (Prescribe Activity) (Environmental Impact Assessment) Order 1989.
Long-term
Rivers management in Malaysia is fragmented and placed under different government’s
department and agencies, each responsible for a distinct component with little or nointeraction or coordination amongst them. The arrangement is due to the fact that land, forest
and water including river fall within the jurisdiction of States pursuant to the State List, Ninth
Schedule of the Federal Constitution. Since there are various agencies involved in one way or
another, inevitably, there is overlapping of enforcements between these agencies. A holistic
approach is vital to overcome the issues on state-federal relationship and various sector based
interest.
The legislature must seriously consider moving towards formulating a comprehensive
legislation which will address the concerns.
(C) Fiscal Measure
Apart from the administrative and legislative measure, the government also committed toallocate million hundred of Ringgit in their 5 year development plan for water-related project.
For the 9th Malaysian Plan (2006-2010), several priority are have been identified among
others, are:(i)Study on pollution prevention and water quality improvement for several river in
Malaysia by the Department of Environment;

52

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan(ii)

River Project by the Department of Drainage and Irrigation including rehabilitation,
beautification, cleaning and flood mitigation; and(iii) Upgrading water supply and sewerage service which is spearhead by the Ministry ofEnergy, Water and Communication

Conclusion
As the demand for water increases and pollution fast depletes water resources, Malaysia
choose to educate ourselves and be a part of the solution instead. In this regards, encounter the
problem with solution is the best measure to ensure a sustainable water resources andenvironment.

References
Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127) & Subsidiary Legislation. 2006. International Law
Book Services.
Federal Constitution. 2006. International Law Book Services.
Malaysian Business September. 16th – 30th 2007. Berita Publishing.
Malaysia Environmental Quality Report. 2006.Department of Environment, Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment Malaysia.
National Policy on the Environment. 2002. Ministry of Science, Technology and theEnvironment.
Ninth Malaysian Plan 2006-1020. 2006. The Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s
Department Malaysia.
State of Water Resources Management in ASEAN. 2005. ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Korean Water Quality Standards
for the Protection of Human Health and Aquatic Life
Youn-Joo An1, Jae-Kwan Lee2, Soon Cho3
12

Department of Environmental Science, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Rep. of Korea
Environmental Diagnostics Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Inchon 404708, Rep. of Korea
3
Water Quality Management Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Gwacheon, 427-729, Rep. of Korea

Abstract
The Korean water quality standards (WQS) for the protection of human health have recently
been expanded. The main reason for the expansion was to address the concern of increasing
hazardous pollutants in water environments. A risk-based approach was used to derive the
WQS for eight toxic substances including antimony, benzene, carbon tetrachloride,
chloroform 1,2-dichloroethane, dichlromethane, diethylhexylphtalate, and tetrachloroethylene.
Same methodology has been applied to revise the existing substances, and the WQS for leadand cadmium were reinforced. The method for deriving water quality criteria was revised
from the US EPA’s equation for deriving ambient water quality criteria. The Korean standard
values were used for the input parameters where possible. The water quality monitoring datafrom four major rivers in Korea were used as an exposure data. Priority chemicals for theconsideration of WQS expansion were determined based on the human health risk assessment.
Subsequent to the current WQS, Korean ministry of environment plans to expand WQS up to
thirty substances by the Year 2015. Ecological risk criteria were also derived and they will beincorporated in the WQC in the near future. This work was conducted as a part of the project
entitled 'Development of integrated methodology for evaluation of water environment'.
Introduction
Approximately 40,000 kinds of chemicals have been distributed in Korea, and about 400 new
substances have been added to the Korean market annually (MOE, 2006). The increasing
usage of various chemicals indicates the greater emission of those chemicals to water
environments, and the subsequent deterioration of water quality.
The first Korean water quality standards were issued in 1991. Previously, Korean WQS forthe protection of human health included nine substances (As, Cd, Cr6+, CN, Pb, Hg, ABS,
Organophosphorus compounds, and PCBs), and they were not efficiently reflect a range ofwater contaminants that increase continuously with time. Human being and aquatic life arevulnerable to various chemicals, and they are supposed to expose to those substances via
several exposure routes. Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE) has established a policy
goal of “human and environment-centered chemical substance management.” Therefore, there
is an urgent need to establish additional WQS for new chemical substances to protect thehealth of the Korean people and aquatic life.
As a part of the project entitled 'Development of integrated methodology for evaluation ofwater environment' conducted for the three years (2004-2006), forty-three candidate
chemicals were evaluated in terms of human risk and ecological risk, and priority substnaces
were selected for the consideration of WQS expansion. The purpose of this paper is to54

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

introduce the current status of Korean WQS based on the risk assessment and road map ofprogressive expansion plan for additional WQS in the near future.

Framework of the Derivation of Korean WQS for Human Health Protection
Figure 1 shows the overall procedure to derive the Korean water quality standards for theprotection of human health. Tiered approach was employed. The Korean water quality
standards for the protection of human health were suggested after considering current
analytical technique, best available treatment technology, economic aspects and relations withcurrent drinking water standard.

Dose-response
Dose-response assessment
assessment

Human

Criteria

Exposure
Exposure assessment
assessment

Monitoringdata

HealthRisk characterization

Determination of priority chemicals
Analyses of best available technology, analysis
technique and economic aspects

Establishment of WQS

Figure 1. Framework of deriving Korean water quality standards for the protection of humanhealth.
Toxicity database that was related to WQS derivation were US EPA’s Integrated Risk
Information System (IRIS, US EPA), “National Recommended Water Quality Criteria:
Human Health criteria Calculation Matrix” (US EPA, 2002), “Report on 2001 National
Health and Nutrition Survey” (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002), and“Establishment of Environmental Risk Assessment Methodology and Transfer ofEnvironmental Toxicity Evaluation Technology” (Korean Ministry of Environment, 1999).
The method for deriving water quality criteria was revised from the US EPA’s equation forderiving ambient water quality criteria. Cancer and noncancer effects were estimated by the55International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanequation (1) and (2), respectively (US EPA, 2000).
G
G
ª
º
6
«
»
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGˎˎˎˎˎˎˎˎ
Equation (1)
10
BW
«
»
AWQC
u
4
G
SF
« DI 
( FIi u BAFi ) »
¦
G
«¬
»¼
i 2
G
G
ª
º
«
G»
BW
»
AWQC RfD u RSC u «4Equation (2)G« DI  ( FIi u BAFi )GGGGˎˎˎˎˎˎˎˎ
»
¦
«¬
»
G
i 2
¼

where, AWQC is ambient water quality criterion (mg/L), RfD is reference dose for noncancer
effects (mg/kg-day), RSC is relative source contribution factor, BW is body weight (kg), DI is
drinking water intake (L/day), FI is fish intake (kg/day), and BAF bioaccumulation factor(L/kg). The Korean standard values were used for the input parameters such as fish intake,drinking water intake, and human body weight.
The water quality monitoring data from four major rivers (Han River, Youngsan River, Geum
River, and Nakdong River) in Korea were used as an exposure data. Eight three to 113 sites
were monitored during 2004-2005. Fourty three chemicals were monitored as candidate
substances. Table 1 lists the candidate substances considered for the WQS expansion alongwith nine existing substances for the protection of human health.

Derivation of Ecological Risk Criteria
Ecological criteria was derived based on the “Australian and New Zealand Guidelines forFresh and Marine Water Quality”(ANZECC&ARMCANZ, 2000). Based on the existing
ecotoxicity database such as US EPA ECOTOX, European Union IUCLID, Australian and
New Zealand TOX-2000, acute and chronic ecological criteria were calculated. Depending on
the availability of necessary ecotoxicity data, three levels of ecological risk criteria were
derived. Species sensitivity distribution was employed to derive high reliable criteria andmedium reliable criteria for the protection of aquatic life. When sufficient ecotoxicity data
was unavailable, assessment factor was used to obtain low reliable criteria. Althoughecological criteria were developed as the part of the project, they are not implemented to the
Korean WQS at this moment. The main reason for exclusion is the limitations of using thespecies that are not native to Korea. The toxicity data produced by Korean test species are
significantly needed to reflect the Korean situation. Korean government are developing the
Korean ecotoxicity test species and producing aquatic toxicity data using those species.

Table 1. The 9 existing and 43 candidate substances for Korean WQS expansion.
56

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Existing substances forhuman healthprotection(9)Substance
Arsenic(As), Cadmium(Cd), Chromium( )(Cr6+), Cyanide(CN),
Lead(Pb), Mercury(Hg), ABS, Organophosphorus compound,
Polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs)

Iron(Fe), Zinc(Zn), Manganese(Mn), Fluorine(F),Trichloroethylene(TCE), Tetrachloroethylene(PCE),
Dichloromethane(DCM), 1,1-dichloroethylene(1,1-DCE), Benzene,
Carbon tetrachloride, Phenol, Copper(Cu), Selenium(Se), Totalorganic carbon(TOC), Ammonia nitrogen(NH3-N), Nitrite
nitrogen(NO3-N), Boron(B), Diazinon, parathion, Fenitrothion,
Candidate substances Carbaryl, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes, 1,2(43)dibromo-3-chloropropane(DBCP), 1,2-dichloroethane, Chloroform,
Vinyl chloride, Chloroethane, Styrene, Chlorophenol, 2,4dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, Pentachlorophenol(PCP),
Alachlor, Bis(2-ethylhexyl)adipate(DEHA), Bis(2ethylhexyl)phthalate(DEHP), Benzo(a)pyrene(BaP), 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid(2,4-D), Dichloroacetic acid,
Trichloroacetic acid, Antimony(Sb)Future Plan for WQS Expansion in Korea
New WQS for freshwater are derived for benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, 1,2dichloroethane, dichlromethane, tetrachloroethylene, diethylhexylphtalate and antimony.
Subsequent to the existing WQS, Korean Ministry of Environment issues the additional six
and two WQS by 2007 and 2009, respectively, and plans to finally expand WQS up to thirty
substances by 2015 (Figure 2).
Korean MOE has incorporated risk assessment polity in legal framework of water quality
management. In addition to chemical toxicity assessment, national wide monitoring programfor hazardous pollutants is going on in the major Korean rivers to collect exposure data thatwill be used for risk assessment in the near future. The exposure data for hazardous pollutants
will be related to update the water quality criteria. Furthermore, current efforts include
implementing ecological risk criteria as legal standards.

57International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Present (2007)

Past

Addition of
6 new items

Year 2009

Year 201517 items

30 items

Addition of
2 new items

15 items

9 items
Reinforcement of
2 existing items(Cd, Pb)• Arsenic (50ug/L)• Chromium (ํ) (50ug/L)• ABS (500ug/L)• Cadmium (10ug/L)• Lead (100ug/L)• Cyanide (Not Detected)• Mercury (Not Detected)• Organophosphorus compound(Not Detected)• PCB (Not Detected)• Arsenic (50ug/L)• Chromium (ํ) (50ug/L)• ABS (500ug/L)• Cadmium (5ug/L)• Lead (50ug/L)• Cyanide (Not Detected)• Mercury (Not Detected)• Organophosphorus compound(Not Detected)• PCB (Not Detected)• Benzene (10ug/L)• Chloroform (80ug/L)• Dichloromethane (20ug/L)• Carbon chloride (4ug/L)• 1,2-dichlroethane (30ug/L)• Tetrachloroethylene (40ug/L)• Arsenic (50ug/L)• Chromium (ํ) (50ug/L)• ABS (500ug/L)• Cadmium (5ug/L)• Lead (50ug/L)• Cyanide (Not Detected)• Mercury (Not Detected)• Organophosphorus compound (Not Detected)• PCB (Not Detected)• Benzene (10ug/L)• Chloroform (80ug/L)• Dichloromethane (20ug/L)• Carbon chloride (4ug/L)• 1,2-dichlroethane (30ug/L)• Tetrachloroethylene (40ug/L)• Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phtalate (8ug/L)• Antimony (20ug/L)

Figure 2. Road map for extension of Korean WQS (WQS values are in parenthesis).

References
ANZECC&ARMCANZ. (2000). Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh andMarine Water Quality.
Korean Ministry of Environment. (1999). Establishment of Environmental Risk Assessment
Methodology and Transfer of Environmental Toxicity Evaluation Technology.
European Union. International Uniform Chemcial Information Datases (IUCLID;
http://ecb.jrc.it).
Korean Ministry of Environment. (2006). Development of integrated methodology forevaluation of water environment (ฌ).
Korean Ministry of Environment. (2006). Environmental White Book of 2006, 699-700.
Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. (2002). Report on 2001 National Health andNutrition Survey.
US EPA. (2000). Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for theProtection of Human Health (EPA-822-B-00-004).
US EPA. (2002). National Recommended Water Quality Criteria: 2002 - Human HealthCriteria Calculation Matrix (EPA-822-R-02-012).
US EPA. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS; http://www.epa.gov/iris).
US EPA. ECOTOX database (http://www.epa.gov/ecotox).

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water Environmental Management in Cambodia

Chrin Sokha
Deputy Director General, Ministry of Environment#48, Samdech Preah Sihanouk Bvd., Tonle Bassac, Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: +855 12 545 007 & Fax: +855 23 220 392, Email: sokha_chrin@yahoo.com

Abstract
The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in the Southeast Asia region. The geographic features
and tremendous natural resources of the country provide more opportunities to develop the
Cambodian socio-economy. Besides natural resources, the Royal Government designated theagricultural sector is the backbone of the socio-economic development, meanwhile more than
85% of people are farmers who live depending on farming nutrition. Sectoral development ofindustry, tourism, transportation, hydro-power, trade, etc., are also determined crucial sectors
for the potential national development.
Indeed, above captioned sectoral development have been mentioned in the National Strategic
Development Plan (2006-20010) based on the milestones of Cambodian Millennium
Development Goals and the Government Rectangular Strategy. Water, forestry, fisheries andother cultural resources are recognized and determined as major sources to develop thenations. Significantly, these kinds of developments require necessarily to abide by theenvironmental norms/standards in order to ensuring sustainable conditions of green
environment, including water and its natural resources. It means that the concept of protection
and conservation of water environment should be taken into accounted and applied in parallelwith the development process. Vice versa, water environment and its related resources mightby deteriorated or tended to decline by unsound environmentally development, that means todestroy ourselves, our benefits, including our next generations.
Understanding the invaluable usefulness of water environment and its potential national
development, the Royal Government of Cambodia has taken action aiming to protect andconserve it by other possibly activities. These include: (i) environmental related legislations
and their application; (ii) capacity building and institutional strengthening; (iii) environmental
monitoring and rehabilitation; (iv) public awareness raising; (v) application of international
conventions/agreements; and (vi) international cooperation in the field of environmental
protection and sustainable development.
The Ministry of Environment was provided major mandates by the Royal Government of
Cambodia in 1993 to maintain and protect water environment throughout the country in linewith socio-economic development in a sustainable manner, under a closed collaboration withkey stakeholders.
Within the implementing process, the Ministry of Environment still confronts with many
constraints that firmly require to improve them. The capacity building, institutional
strengthening, technological transfer, key stakeholder participation, the cooperation among
concerned ministries/institutions, international organizations, NGOs, and with other countries
in the region ņ all these are key elements aiming at minimizing and phasing out the above
captioned constraints, as well as to achieve to key concept of Clean air, Clean water andClean land.
59International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Background
Abundant water sources such as the Mekong River, Tonle Sap River, Bassac River, Tonle Sap
Lake, their tributaries, and related resources, are recognized to be presented in Cambodia,
especially, some major endangered/nearly extinct species. The tremendous amount of water
approximately 300 billion cubic meters of the Mekong River are annually discharged into
Cambodian territory and 20,000 million cubic meters of groundwater are exist in this country(MRC, 1998). These water sources provide immense benefits for socio-economic
development, as Cambodian proverb says "Water is life". From very long times ago up to now,water and its tremendous resources, actually, play much important tools for development ofvarious sectors such as: agriculture, fisheries, industry, tourism, navigation, hydropower,transport, etc. Therefore, the Royal Government of Cambodia addressed that water and relatedresources are the crucial catalyzed to poverty alleviation.
Avoiding negative impacts to the environment and public health by any development
programmes and activities, the implementation of environmental norms/standards isabsolutely required by the environmental law and related statutes in order to ensuring
sustainable and/or richness conditions of water and its natural resources. It means that themaintenance and protection water environment and its related resources should be considered
and implemented in parallel with the development concept.

Current Issues toward Water Environmental Degradation
Pollution concerns to water environment were addressed in many documents and reports
remain different issues. There are still gaps in our understanding of the integrated wastewater
management and treatment engineering, our ability to estimate the cost of repairing thedamage we have done to it, and our knowledge of the cost of failing to take appropriate action
to abate its degradation. Up to now, it is still less possible to assess the state of national water
environmental pollution and its management, and the Royal Government of Cambodia, is now
taking much attention to deal with pollution problems we already know exist.

Water Environmental Deterioration from Industrial Sector
Industrial pollution sources are currently recognized as dying and washing factories, factories
are consumed chemicals or chemical compounds, tanning factories, etc. Some of them havepossessed on-site wastewater treatment 1 , and the rests discharge their effluents into receiving
sources (both surface water and sewage system) with less quality 2 . Some treated effluents are
sometimes exceeded the effluent standard may be resulted from irregular follow up thetreatment process or careless in maintenance/follow up the treatment process. With this regard,
few cases of fine have been done to abide by the Law on Environmental Protection andNatural Resources Management, and its related statutes.

Other sources of Water Environmental Deterioration
Besides the industrial sector as mentioned above, many sources are also recognized to cause
water environmental deterioration, these include:

1 It complied with the environmentally sound technology
2 It has a very simple treatment basin without respond to the National Standard and/or It does not has a treatment basin

60International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Wastewater and sewage discharges without treatment from various pollution sources such asenterprises, hospitals, residential areas, ports, vehicle/engine workshops, etc.
The disposal of liquid and solid wastes, especially human excrement into water source fromanarchic/squatter settlement, floating houses, floating restaurants/business areas.
The runoff of agro-chemicals from agricultural areas into receiving waters. On the other hand,
land clearing for agricultural purpose can also lead to large quantities of silt entering stream
channels and contribute to high sediments in river.
Mining activities at the western and northeastern parts of the country, especially, gold mining,which used toxic chemicals as catalysis ņ that is a severe concern of water contamination 3
and loss of aquatic life at local level. However, there is insufficient document or information
to publicly disseminate.
Solid and liquid wastes discharge from slaughterhouses, poultry, piggery farms, and the like.
Soil erosion from watershed at upstream and local watershed.
Fresh and marine aquaculture practices respond to domestic and external market demands,
especially shrimp farming at provinces and cities along the coastal areas.
Fish catching devices by using of tree branches, tires or other poisonous substances, forexample, toxic chemicals, Calcium Carbide (CaC2).
Waterway transportation was recognized a potential source of water quality emergency inCambodia, especially, fuel-oil transportation with inadequate safety facilities and lessattention from concerned institutions too. Another major concerned is a case of floating oil
stations/selling are located in dense-floating communities, including workshops 4 in Tonle Sap
Lake. What will be happened when these stations were either leaked or gotten fire?
Transboundary water pollution resulted from various development activities at upstream
riparian countries.

Water Environmental Policies and Management Activities
Existing Legislation
Historically, within the 1990s the Royal Government of Cambodia has approved the Law on
Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Management and other four related Subdegrees, namely, (1) Sub-Degree on Water Pollution Control; (2) Sub-Degree on Solid Waste
Management; (3) Sub-Decree on EIA Process; and (4) Sub-Decree on Air Pollution and Noise
Disturbance Control. Remarkably, the effluent standard for discharging at specific areas,water quality standard in public water areas for biodiversity conservation and for public healthprotection were also adopted. Recently, the Law on Water Resources Management has
approved by the National Assembly, of which more strongly contribute the maintenance and34Turbidity and chemical pollutants
Workshop has a function to fix boats and other machines

61

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

protection of water environment to abide by sustainable, reasonable and equitable use ofwater and its resources.
Besides above key legal instruments, Cambodia also has some major relevant policies,
strategies, regulations and standard, and all these were enter into forces such as:
Policy Framework  Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (Feb. 27, 2001) focuses on theservices of rural water supply and sanitation without any harmful to the environment andpublic health, based on sustained financially, socially and institutionally, technically, andenvironmentally.
National Policy on Water Supply and Sanitation (Feb. 07, 2003) focuses on selecting theoptions of sanitation technologies that contribute to protect and conserve water and its
resources.
National Water Resource Policy for the Kingdom of Cambodia (16 Jan. 2004) aims to: (i)protect, manage and use water resources with effective, equitable and sustainable manner; (ii)solve the water problem in collaboration with related institutions; (iii) develop and carry out
the national strategy and policy towards water resource management; (iv) direct stakeholders
for developing, managing and utilizing the water resources; and (v) achieve the national
policy on poverty reduction and sustainable national economy development.
Drinking Water Standard (2004) aims at identifying acceptable parameters in drinking water
samples must be met the standard in order to ensure a good quality as living demands.
Policy Framework  Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector (27 February 2001) focuseson the services of rural water supply and sanitation without any harmful to the environment
and public health, based on sustained financially, socially and institutionally, technically, andenvironmentally.
So far Cambodia is taking attention to apply the National Sustainable Development Plan
(NSDP, 2006-2010)  the major roadmap of the Government to develop the nation as well as
to alleviate people poverty. Within the environmental context, the NSDP highlighted the goals
in preservation, conservation and sustainable use of all natural resources including biodiversity of the country, and water resources, are not only to conserve the unique natural
heritages but also to enhance environmental sustainability and to contribute to sustainableeconomic growth, poverty reduction and improvements in the lives of rural communities.
Furthermore, natural areas are and would be actively promoted as attractive low-impact 'ecotourist destinations' bringing in further benefits to the local communities. Therefore, water
environment is the main part for paying attention.
Pending Legislation
Draft Law on Water Supply and Sanitation of the Kingdom of Cambodia has been reviewed
by the Council of Ministers. So far, this pending law is adjusting based on the comment of theCouncil of Ministers and will submit to the National Assembly afterward. It is significantly
focused on the management of water supply at urban/rural areas well as the provision of
applicable sanitation procedures to manage domestic wastewater and sewage with theenvironmental friendly in order to promote the people living as well as to provide usefulness
to society, economy and environment.
62

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe Management Procedures and Activities
Applying the Sub-Decree on EIA Processing, the Ministry of Environment (MoE) has a
crucial function to review EIA report of respective proposed investment projects 5 , which
submitted by investors. In collaboration with concerned ministries, including the Council for
the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the MoE evaluates and reports to the Royal
Government whether the proposed investment project can adopt or not. To evaluate a
proposed investment project, MoE officers commonly conduct field/site survey at proposed
areas and do a desk-study before reporting to decision-makers. Decentralization procedure iscurrently applied at provincial level, e.g. the proposed investment with budget less than two
million dollars is reviewed and evaluated by the Environmental Provincial Department only,
and finally they report to Governor for approval.
The programme of environmental pollution control/monitor is regularly conducted by the
MoE officers, these include:
Programme of surface water quality monitoring ņ to take monthly water samples atdesignated sampling points in the main water bodies for analyzing. Objectives of thisprogramme significantly aim at identifying water quality in these water bodies for humanconsumption and appropriate living condition for aquatic lives.
Routine control/monitoring programme at pollution sources ņ to ensure the richness of water
environment throughout the country without any pollution. Two programmes are being
conducted: (i) 45 days – for special factories 6 ; and (ii) 90 days – for normal factories 7 ,including garment factories. Licensing will be provided to factory owners who treated theireffluents in complying with the National effluent standard.
Educational programme of environmental quality management/protection ņ to develop andpromote technical awareness and knowledge to environmental officers at provincial level
including line institution.

Regional and International Cooperation
The Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (MRB), 5 April
1995 that signed by the four representative governments of riparian countries such as:
Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The crucial concepts of this agreement aim to
maintain, protect and conserve the environment and sustainable natural resources of the
Mekong River and its tributaries from various development activities. Pursuant to the 1995
Agreement, the four riparian countries must to cooperate in all fields of sustainable
development, utilization, management and conservation of the water and related resources ofthe MRB, including, but not limited to irrigation, hydro-power, navigation, flood control,
fisheries, timber floating, recreation and tourism, in a manner to optimize the multiple-use andmultiple benefits of all riparians and to minimize the harmful effects that might result fromnatural occurrences and man-made activities. Towards the maintenance and protection ofhealthy water environment of the Mekong River, the specific stipulations of the Agreement
were addressed as follows:
5
6

7

Ref. to to its classification in the Sub-Decree
Washing-dyeing factories and factories that consume chemicals and chemical substances with their producing processes

Factories that produce their productions without using chemical or chemical substances
63International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Article 3: Protection of the Environment and Ecological Balance "To protect the environment,
natural resources, aquatic life and conditions, and ecological balance of the MRB from
pollution or other harmful effects resulting from any development plans and uses of water andrelated resources in the Basin."
Article 7: Prevention and Cessation of Harmful Effects "To make very effort to avoid,
minimize and mitigate harmful effects that might occur to the environment, especially thewater quantity and quality, the aquatic (ecosystem) conditions, and ecological balance of theriver system, from the development and use of the MRB water resources or discharge of
wastes and return flows. Where one or more states is notified with proper and valid evidence
that it is causing substantial damage to one or more riparians from the use of and/or discharge
to water of the MR, that State or States shall cease immediately the alleged cause of harm
until such cause of harm is determined in accordance with Article 8."

Recommendation
Within the implementing process, the Ministry of Environment still confronts with some main
constraints that require to improve, these comprise such as: capacity building, institutional
strengthening, applicable technological transfer, key stakeholder participation as well as thecooperation among concerned ministries/ institutions and NGOs. For achieving these cases,
Cambodia still needs more technical assistance from international organizations and donors,
especially, the Government of Japan through the Ministry of Environment of Japan to deal
with water environmental management/protection, including the knowledge of wastewater
treatment procedure. Additionally, Cambodia also requires a closed collaboration with othercountries in the region to solve transboundary issues, including their networking as well.

64

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Agricultural Methods of Alleviating Sediment Runoff in the Case of Red-soil Erosion
and Runoff Problem in Okinawa

Keigo Noda* Kazutoshi Osawa** Tadatsugu Tanaka* Shunsuke Ikeda***:The University of Tokyo **:Tokyo Institute of Technology
Room, 616, Bldg.7A, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo, 113-8567 JAPANaa077092@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract
The red-soil erosion and runoff recently observed in Okinawa have led to not only
agricultural but also environmental problems. In spite of its seriousness, few effective
agricultural methods based on field tests have been proposed so far. The purpose of this study
is to examine the difference of the amount of sediment runoff by different conventional
cultivating ways of sugarcane and to verify quantitatively erosion reduction effects and crop
yields of some methods as grass strips and partial tillage planting and intercropping. Several
field tests were set up in the actual sugarcane field. The main findings were followed; 1)
ratooning, one of the conventional cultivating ways was much more effective to prevent the
sediment runoff than the others 2) the sediment runoff reduction ratio of methods were 17%(grass strips) and 69% (partial tillage planting and intercropping).

Introduction
In Okinawa, the problem of red-soil runoff has been frequently observed since 1970s as
farmland improvement and infrastructure construction was in process. Since red-soil ischaracterized by acidity and being easily eroded, agricultural productivity is damaged bylosing fertile soil in the farmland. The runoff soil and nutrient salts flowing into the sea
damage water ecosystems as represented by those in coral reef. Several agricultural methodsof alleviating erosion are proposed and tested. They were, however, on the laboratory or
smaller scale, and only few have been made on the actual farmland scale so far (Osawa et al.,2005, Tamashiro et al., 2006). Here, the purpose of this paper is to examine the difference of
the amount of the sediment runoff by different conventional cultivating ways of sugarcane
which is a basic crop in Okinawa prefecture and to
Furrow Ridge Furrow
verify quantitatively erosion reduction effects andRidge heightcrop yields of some methods through field tests.
Width

Outline of Field Tests
Field tests were implemented in Ishigaki city in
Okinawa prefecture. Some test plots were set up
dividing the sugarcane field actually engaged inagriculture. The test period was from Jun.2004 toFeb.2007. The particle size distribution of the surface
soil was clay 5%, silt 19%, sand 32% and gravel 44%
by ISSS. Figure.1 shows the outline of the test plot.
The width, the ridge height and the condition of theground surface were different from the plots.
However, on all plots the length was about 85m, andthe slope was about 3.5%. The discharge was
65

LengthFlowVinyl film
Water gage
Parshall flume

Water tank

Turbidity meter
OutletFigure 1. Outline of the test plot

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

calculated from the water level by the parshall flume flowmeter. The suspended sedimentconcentration was measured from the surface runoff water by suction filtration. Surface
runoff water was sampled by hand. In this paper, the suspended sediment is defined as the soil
particles in the surface runoff water. The turbidity interpolated the suspended sedimentconcentration. The total amount of sediment runoff is calculated from the product of thedischarge and the suspended sediment concentration.

Conventional Cultivation Ways of Sugarcane
Table 1 shows the management of the plots. Spring planting and ratooning is annual andsummer planting is biennial. On spring planting and summer planting, whole area is tilled
before planting, and re-furrow is made after three or four months from planting. Ratooning is
a no-tillage way and is made after harvest of spring planting or summer planting. In Table 1,
it must be noted that spring planting was made twice (2004 and 2005), but summer planting
was made once for two years (2005 to 2006).
Table 1. Management of the plots
cultivating way
spring planting
ratooning
spring planting
summer planting (1st)summer planting (2nd)2

Sediment runoff (g/m)

year
2004
2005
2006

1800

Mar.-May.
Jun.-Jul.

1200

Aug.-Sep.
Oct.-Feb.

600
0springplanting

ratooning

springplanting

summerplanting(1st)(2004)(2005)
Figure 2. The amount of sediment runoff

summerplanting(2nd)(2006)The total amounts of sediment runoff for one year on each conventional cultivating way are
showed in Figure 2, where the data of March to May in 2004 and in 2005 on summer planting
were missing. In general, the amount of the sediment runoff is affected by weather condition
and it is irrelevant to compare the data of different years. The difference of the spring
planting after June between 2004 (790g/m2) and 2005 (910g/m2), however, was under 10%
and it seems reasonable to compare the data of different years in Figure 2. Ratooning was
120g/m2, and much less than the others. The reason for this was that on ratooning the groundcoverage ratio being kept higher and the ground surface being kept no-tilled at all time of theyear, when the surface water runs off, the suspended sediment concentration did not rise veryhigh. In addition to this, the crop yield of ratooning was as much as that of spring planting
which is said to be highly productive. Judging from the above, ratooning should be

66

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

recommended. Here it must be noted that for the purpose of ratooning, spring planting orsummer planting must be made every two or three years. The total amount of spring planting(2005) was 1630g/m2 and more than 95% of it was in the period from March to July. One of
the reasons for this was that planting on February or March, the surface soil is easily erodedby rainfall splash until August when the sugarcane fully grows up. Another was that much
precipitation is concentrated in the period in a year because of Bai-u and typhoon. On
summer planting, the periods when sediment runoff was remarkable were before August andAugust to May. In the former, the farmland is kept bare and tilled before planting , and in thelatter, sugarcane is growing up. The amount of sediment runoff in each period made up 17%
and 79% to the total (1210g/m2). It may be worth pointing out that in the bare term relatively
smaller rainfall didn’t cause surface runoff due to high permeability. It follows from what has
been said that on spring planting and summer planting, effective runoff reduction methods areneeded from planting to full growth.

Agricultural Methods of Alleviating Sediment Runoff
The agricultural methods of alleviating sediment runoff examined in this test were 1) grass
strips and 2) partial tillage planting and intercropping. 1) The grass strips were a kind of turf
(Zoysia matrella) set in the downstream edge (width 60cm). 2) On partial tillage planting,whole area was not tilled before planting and only dug a ditch for seedling. After making refurrow, Sunn-hemp (Crotalaria Juncea L) was seeded in the rill as intercrop.
1) Grass strips
This test was implemented in 2004. The result is presented in Figure 3., where spring
planting was made in both plot. The total amounts of sediment runoff were Plot-1: 630g/m2
and Plot-2: 690g/m2. The reason why Plot-2 was larger than Plot-1 was that in Plot-2 theamount of June was very large, and that the grass strips was set up in 6th June, 2004 and it
didn’t take root yet and the surface soil was jumbled. For the present, we shall concentrate on
August and after September (Plot-1: 200g/m2, Plot-2: 170g/m2). Due to grass strips, theamount of sediment runoff was reduced by 17%. According to Tamashiro et al (2006), thegrass strips of 50cm width reduced sediment runoff by 24%. Considering some difference oftest condition as slope length, angle, climate and so on, this result seems pretty reasonable.
Grass strips, as mentioned above, is not so effective for sediment runoff reduction from thewhole farmland but should be useful for slope protection. On the other hand, it must be notedthat grass strips affects not on the crop yield very much but on the cultivating management.

67International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Aug.

Jun.

1800
2

Sediment runoff (g/m)

after Sep.

2

Sediment runoff (g/m)

900

600

300

c

1200

600

0

0
Plot-1Plot-2
control
grass
strips(control) (grass strips)
Figure 3. Effect of grass strips

perioda b

Plot-3Plot-4load-1load-2(control)(with the methods)
Figure 4. Effect of partial tillage planting
and intercropping2) Partially tillage planting and intercroppingThis test was implemented in 2005. The result is shown in Figure 4., where spring planting
was made in both plots and in Plot-4 partial tillage planting and intercropping were applied.
Here the test period is divided into three; a) Mar. (planting) to Jun. (before re-furrow), b) Jun.
(after re-furrow) to Aug. and c) Sep. to Feb (harvest). In period-a, partial tillage planting was
effective. In period-b, Sunn-hemp was growing up in the rill but a typhoon killed it in August.
In period-c, both plots were in the same condition. The total amounts of sediment runoff
were Plot-3: 1630g/m2 and Plot-4: 500g/m2. Plot-4 was smaller by 69%. The sediment runoff
reduction ratio of Plot-4 to Plot-3 in each period were 85% (period-a), 45% (period-b) and 15% (period-c). Since period-a and period-b, as mentioned above, are equivalent to the period
when sediment runoff is remarkable, the effect on the total amount of the year was great. The
amount of period-c was much less than the others and the reduction ratio makes no sense.
Judging from the above, the cultivation with partial tillage planting and intercropping is very
effective for reducing sediment runoff. On the other hand, the crop yield of Plot-4 was lessthan Plot-3 by 36% and it’s a serious problem.
Conclusion
In this study, we verified the effective agricultural methods of alleviating the red-soil runoff
problem in Okinawa. The findings of several field tests implemented on a farmland scale arefollowed. First, in the conventional cultivating ways of sugarcane, ratooning is much moredesirable than the others in term of soil conservation. Secondly, in respect of alleviating
sediment runoff, the grass strips of 50cm are not so effective (only 17% reduction). Thirdly,
the cultivating way with partial tillage planting and intercropping on spring planting was very
effective (69% reduction) while it remains a problem that the crop yield was cut 36% off.
References
Osawa K., Yamaguchi S., Ikeda S., Takamuku K. (2005): Field Observation of Sediment
Runoff Reduction Methods on Farmland. Journal of Hydroscience and Hydraulic Engineering,
vol. 49, 1099-1104, 2005.
Tamashiro K., Nakashima K., Shiono T. (2006): Effect of grass Bands on Erosion Control at
Plowed Layer Soil (in Okinawa). Journal of the Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage andReclamation Engineering 74(2), 151-152, 2006.

68

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Sustainability in the Water Polluting Plating Industry

Tang Xiaohuan *; Wang Chengwen; Yao Yuan
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University
Haidian District, 100084, Beijing, P.R.China*Corresponding author/email address: txh17@hotmail.com

Abstract
This paper presents a specific case study for controlling water polluting plating industry byusing industrial parks. According to the results generated from the case study of Ningbo
plating park, the paper argues that industrial parks are effective for controlling plating
wastewater and would be a sustainable way for plating industry in the future. This paper canalso be a reference for other researches in relation to other wastewater-related industries.

Introduction
One of the necessary directions advocated in improving the economy at both the national andregional level for developing countries is a reliance on the industrial sector and, in particular,
the manufacturing industry in order to provide GDP growth rather than solely depending on
the agriculture and service sector (Tamura, 2002). One of the possible by-products of national
industrialisation is environmental degradation. Indeed, manufacturing industry in developing
countries is in a complex system which can be both economically beneficial andenvironmentally unfriendly. A strategy of win-win between environment and economics is
possible via the use of industrial parks (Erkman, 1997).
The concept of industrial parks was introduced to the plating industry by local government in
Ningbo, a coastal city in southeast China, since the wastewater generated from their plating
industry has already become a serious problem hampering Ningbo’s sustainability. This
project gathered 51 local plating companies to be involved in a big centralised wastewater
treatment plant and other necessary facilities on an experimental basis. The park has been in
operation since 2003, but with the passage of time, some differences concerning the efficiencyof the park between stakeholders have arisen. In order to clarify the effect of the park and its
potential problems, an assessment was carried out in 2005, which started with a field survey
involving all 209 plating companies in Ningbo. It was followed by a workshop with local
stakeholders. This was arranged so that governors could learn about how to deal with
Ningbo’s plating pollution and accumulate knowledge which can be shared with other regions
where plating wastewater pollution has become a problem.
Many cities in Asia are facing similar problems to that of Ningbo where further economic
growth is tied to environmental protection (Craswell, 2005). Geographic and labour market
advantages are powerful potential for those cities, especially for their manufacturing industry(Mckendrick, 1997). Therefore, the Ningbo case study provides a helpful guide for other69

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

industrial sectors and zones in Asia so that they too may develop in a more sustainablefashion.
This paper follows up the entire process of the establishment and operation of the plating
industrial park in Ningbo, beginning with an evaluation of the park’s efficiency. The second
section covers the potential problems and solutions which arose during its establishment andoperation. The issues related to the implementation of plating industrial parks are analysed in
the next section in which a set of indicators are designed to evaluate the basic criteria forestablishing a park in one area.
Lessons from the Case study --- Advantages
Data proof:
An abundance of data collected from the 209 plating companies allows us to statistically
prove the importance of the park. The comparison was developed between the 209 companies
by separating them into the regions in Ningbo. Figure 1 shows companies’ average size in the
different regions and Figure 2 shows the average amount of wastewater generated from eachregions’ companies. Integrating the two figures, one important fact can be concluded. The
plating companies in Yin Zhou (YZ, one region in Ningbo) plating park have a generally big,
but produce a low amount of wastewater.

In terms of the wastewater quantity per 100 Yuan* production value (Value A), a generaldecreasing trend can be seen in Figure 3 between 2000 (before the park was established) and2004. In particular, the biggest drop happened in YZ plating park where the wastewater
quantity was reduced. Figure 4 is a value (Value B) calculated by using the ratio of increased
production value divided by the ratio of increased wastewater quantity. The result also
informs the significance of the plating park.
Practical proof:
Some extended advantages divided in three sections are discussed in this sector based on ourfield survey and stakeholders’ interviews.
a. ways in which to gain benefits from mass production for environmental protection;
70

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanb. ways in which to gain benefits from mass production for the whole plating industry; and,c. ways in which to gain benefits from mass production for the plating companies

Benefits for environmental protection are theoriginal reason for establishing the plating
industrial park. A big centralised wastewater
treatment facility can effectively control theeffluent quality and also reduce the source
number of wastewater pollution. These twopoints result in governmental supervision for
plating companies becomes easier and more
effective (see Figure 5). A plating market thatconsisted of professional plating providers andskilled plating labourers was formed and platingskills and new findings were incorporated into
working practice. Plating companies are also
beneficiaries
asthe
reputation
andcompetitivenessof
thosepark-internal
companies were obviously improved.

Lessons from Case study --- Potential problem with solutions
An uncertain investment mode was the first issue that impeded the project’s progress and thisuncertainty did delay the initial timetable of the park. The study concluded that individualcompanies are largely responsible for the investment of industrial parks (production property)
while the centralised treatment facility could be operated under BOT mode. Moreover,
governmental loans should be made available for companies’ as they are needed. There are
obvious limitations involved in operating BOT with industrial wastewater; an unstablewastewater amount is one potential problem (one which discourages potential investors). A
binominal distribution formula was used involving the number of park-internal companies
and their failure probability. The size of the park can be designed based on the probability
calculation. At the end of this section, the feasibility of the park’s investment was evaluated71International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanby using a self-matrix analysis.
Plating equipment selection is the key meansof controlling wastewater pollution from thesource, but it is subject to the financial
capacity of a given company (greater hi-tech
is more expensive). A decision-making tree
was developed in order to specify the optimal
equipments’ categories (see Figure 6). The
discussion of management issues started withthe clarification of who should be the operator
and supervisor of the park. This was followedby consideration of detailed management
methods, such as changing the managementmode from “total amount control ofwastewater” to “slope control” between
production value and wastewater amount. A
high risk, pipe-leakage problem was
discovered in the Ningbo park, whichhighlighted one drawback of a centralised treatment facility. Several management suggestions
regarding the risk, as well as the park’s service updates, were presented. Moreover, staff
training for production safety was also mentioned, in terms of the park’s sustainability.
Implementation of industrial park
The study also considered the establishment of future industrial parks. A self-judgment system
was designed. Five aspects (weight, competitiveness, potential, stability and ratio of small
plating companies in a given area) regarding regional plating industry were picked asindicators to evaluate a given region’s eligibility. A case study – the Ningbo’s plating park was developed by using these five indicators. SWOT analysis involved with regional
strategies was discussed at the end of the study. Further development of industrial parks
should be in accordance with regional sustainable development strategies.
Conclusion
Industrial parks are efficient. Although some problems and potential risks have been detectedin the study, they can be tackled with careful and innovative management. There is no doubt,
with manufacturing industry moving out of developed countries, developing countries have toplay a role bearing its weight in the context of both economic development and theenvironment, and therefore both the study and the mode of industrial park will appear in amore obvious sense.
References
Craswell, E.T., 2005, Water and Poverty in Southeast Asia, Asian Journal of Agriculture andDevelopment, Vol.1, No.2
Erkman, S., 1997, Industrial ecology: an historical review, J. Cleaner Prod. Vol.5, 1-1072International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Mckendrick, D., 1997, Sustaining Competitive Advantage in Global Industries, The
Information Storage Industry Center, University of California, http://isic.uscd.edu/*
Tamura, R., Human capital and the switch from agriculture to industry, Journal of Economic
Dynamics and Control, Vol.27, No.2, 207-242
Notes: * Yuan (Chinese Currency), 1 US Dollars is roughly equal to* The website is accessed in April, 2007.

73

Yuan.

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Emerging Public and Corporate Roles in Addressing Water Pollution in China

Rebecca Nelson
Lawyer, Blake Dawson Lawyers, 101 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Leader, Asialink Leaders Program, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia
rebecca.nelson@bdw.com

Abstract
Despite China's comprehensive system of environmental laws and standards, poor water quality
is widespread. This has significant detrimental effects on Chinese society, and causes serious
economic losses, all of which make water pollution a major government concern. Much
commentary has focussed on increasing the effectiveness of government enforcement of laws
related to water pollution. This paper examines the current roles of the public and multinational
corporations in encouraging compliance with such laws, both as individual sectors and in
partnership. It suggests that although these roles are relatively new, they hold promise forsupplementing government action in addressing water pollution in China.

Introduction: Water pollution in China
China's most recent State water quality figures reveal that, of the water resources monitored at thenational level in 2005, 59% of major rivers and 72% of lakes and reservoirs fall into or below the
worst 2 of China's 5 water quality classes (OECD 2007; SEPA 2006). Rural industry, inparticular, Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs), are a key cause of water pollution. Most
TVEs are small and widely dispersed, lack resources to manage waste streams, are difficult tomonitor, and have close ties to local government (Wang et al. 2008). Another important cause ofwater pollution in rural northern China is overuse of fertilisers and expanding agriculture(Webber et al. 2006). In cities, water quality is threatened by the discharge of untreated industrial
effluent and sewage to waterways (Varis and Vakkilainen 2001). About half of China's 661 cities
lack sewage treatment, and about 300 million people are without access to water that will notcause immediate health impacts (Klaver and Mulkey 2006-07).
Difficulties in ensuring compliance with China's myriad water-related laws—over 800 at theprovincial level alone (Wouters et al. 2004)—constrain the ability of these laws to address waterpollution. Commentary has tended to focus on problems surrounding direct government
enforcement, such as scarce resources; local government protectionism; disregarding small but
cumulatively serious, polluters; and favouring administrative penalties over criminal prosecutions(Moorman and Zhang 2006-07; Wang et al. in press; Chen 2005; Wang C. 2006-07a, 2006-07b;
OECD 2006). This paper focuses on the role of the public and foreign businesses in influencing
compliance with water quality laws. It examines how these sectors are individually encouraging
increased compliance with these laws, and how they work in partnership to do so. It suggeststhat further encouragement of these sectors by the central government would usefully supplement
direct enforcement, as well as benefiting these groups.

74International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water quality – a major concern for the Chinese government, public and businessDespite their different interests, water quality is a major concern for the Chinese government,
multinational business and joint ventures with foreign partners (foreign businesses), and theChinese public. From the Chinese central government's perspective, water pollution threatens
both economic prosperity and harmonious society; it may catalyse internal migration andreinforce social stratification by disproportionately affecting peasants, who may lack alternative,
unpolluted water sources (Li 2007). These concerns are evident through China's main Five-Year
Plans, which include major water quality measures (Chen 2005); a State Council Decision and 5month anti-pollution enforcement campaign emphasising environmental protection in 2005
(Wang C. 2006-07b); and dedicated Five-Year Environment Plans (SEPA 2006). This emphasis
is due in part to the economic significance of water pollution. Pan Yue, vice-minister of the
China's national-level State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), has referred towater problems as "the bottleneck constraining economic growth in China" (Blumenauer 2004).
SEPA estimated in 2006 that water pollution and total environmental pollution caused economic
losses of about 1.7% and 3.05% of GDP, respectively (OECD 2006).
Given these economic effects, it is unsurprising that some businesses share these concerns aboutwater pollution. Some major water resources may fall below the standard for industrial use.
Further, enforcement campaigns may disrupt businesses and their suppliers due to mass closures,
as occurred during the "15 small" campaign in 1996, when the State Council ordered the closureof 57,330 small, highly polluting enterprises in 15 categories (Vermeer 1998). For foreignbusinesses, pollution is a serious risk to reputation—western market scrutiny may result innegative publicity, such as has surrounded water pollution caused by Chinese joint ventures with
global corporations such as Panasonic, Pepsi-Cola and Nestle (Sun 2006). At the same time,
foreign businesses may benefit from industry-wide environmental compliance, as they canthereby avoid a competitive disadvantage in terms of the cost of production.
Likewise, Chinese community concern over water pollution is growing. It is manifested throughincreasing numbers of complaints and protests in relation to pollution, and through the formationof environmental NGOs. According to SEPA, there were 50,000 pollution-related disputes in
2005, and between 2001-2005, environment agencies received 2.53 million letters and 430,000
visits from people requesting redress (Wang A. 2006-07). NGOs aimed at environmental
litigation are rare but growing. Two such NGOs are the Center for the Legal Assistance of
Pollution Victims (CLAPV) and the All-China Environment Federation (Wang A. 2006-07). In
other cases, informal community coalitions have brought actions in relation to water quality, forexample in relation to the 2005 Songhua River benzene spill, and against a polluting silverrefining plant in Hebei Province (Wang A. 2006-07).

Public involvement through seeking legal redress under water quality laws
Difficulties in implementing and enforcing environmental laws have brought about support forstrong public rights in relation to redress for harms caused by pollution as "the key to effective
implementation" of environmental law (Wang C. 2006-07a). In 2006 the State Council called for"perfection of the legal assistance system for pollution victims, and research and establishment ofan environmental civil and administrative public interest litigation system" (Wang A. 2006-07).
SEPA supports environmental NGOs, particularly those that promote their activities as75

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanencouraging "harmonious society" (Li 2006-07; OECD 2006). An individual harmed by waterpollution may bring a legal action for redress either as an individual, through an NGO, and/or in a"collective action", which involves over ten plaintiffs. However, this requires adequate access to
information (Wang, Kim, and Wang 2006-07).
Access to information provisions exist in China's Environment Protection Law of the PRC 1989
(EP Law) and the Water Law of the PRC 2002 (Water Law). Article 16.3 of the Water Law
requires that "basic hydrologic materials" be made known to the public. Article 11 of the EP
Law requires environmental protection agencies to issue information on the status of theenvironment. Accordingly, SEPA and some lower-level environment agencies issue annual Stateof the Environment Reports (OECD 2006). Nonetheless, a 2006 survey of peasants inGuangdong suggested that environmental information is largely inaccessible to them, and thatmost peasants want more access to such information (Li 2007).
Table 1 sets out several national laws that enable persons whose rights have been directly
affected by water pollution to sue for redress. Eliminating pollution hazards and compensation
are key remedies in each case.
Table 1. Laws giving rise to public rights to redress for harms caused by water pollution
Law
GeneralPrinciples
Civil Law

Relevant provisionson

Environment
Protection Law

Water Pollution
Prevention andControl Law

Article 124 states "any person who pollutes the environment and causes damage to others inviolation of state provisions for environmental protection and the prevention of pollution shallbear civil liability in accordance with the law".
Article 134 provides for 10 types of liability, including: cessation of infringement; removal of
obstacles; elimination of dangers; restoration of original condition; and compensation for losses.
Article 6 states units and individuals have the right to complain to the state or to take legal action
against polluters.
Article 41 states "a unit that has caused environmental pollution hazard shall have the obligation
to eliminate it and make compensation to the unit or individual that suffered direct losses". This
provision applies no-fault liability, that is, plaintiffs need not prove a violation of emissions
standards or any other law by the defendant (Wang 2006-07).
Article 5 states "all units and individuals have the duty to protect the water environment, and havethe right to supervise and inform against any pollution or damage to the water environment."
Article 55 states "a unit which has caused a water pollution hazard shall have the responsibility toeliminate it and make compensation to the unit or individual that has suffered direct losses".
Defences apply.

Individual litigants may face significant obstacles to bringing a case, not least the high costs oflitigation. These costs include the "case acceptance fee", discretionary court-imposed "otherlitigation costs", technical appraisal fees, and the costs of assisting professionals such as scientists(Wang A. 2006-07; Li 2007). Collective actions pursuant to the Civil Procedure Law 1991 may
enable individuals to reduce litigation costs (Wang A. 2006-07). Collective actions have beenused successfully in water pollution cases. For example, in 2003, CLAPV assisted 97 fishbreeding families who lived around the Shilianghe River Reservoir successfully to bring anaction against a chemical plant and a paper mill in relation to a large fish-kill caused by waterpollution. They obtained an injunction, ¥5.6 million in compensation and lawyers' fees (Wang A.
2006-07; Wang, Kim, and Wang 2006-07). However, a recent Notice issued by the Supreme76

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Court of China and a Guiding Opinion issued by the All China Lawyers Association's (ACLA)
may deter collective actions by relegating trials to basic courts (where local influence isstrongest), and requiring lawyers to obtain certain approvals to act, and to report any problems to
ACLA (Wang, Kim, and Wang 2006-07; Wang A. 2006-07). Judges may also exercise theirdiscretion to separate collective actions, and thereby increase court revenue and theirperformance statistics (Wang A. 2006-07). Further, local governments may prevent collective
actions that are perceived to threaten social stability. For example, a local government edict
prevented lawyers from taking on cases relating to the alleged pollution by the Sichuan ChemicalWorks Group of the Tuo River, a water supply for over 1 million people (Briggs 2006).
If litigants can overcome the initial obstacles of bringing an action, they may find that theoutcome of a case is influenced by factors outside its legal merits, such as official policy, theviews of local governments, judges' own sense of fairness, and economic considerations (OECD2006; Wang, Kim, and Wang 2006-07). Local governments appoint and house judges, andcontrol courthouses and court budgets; they may use this power over resources to interfere indecisions regarding liability or levels of compensation (Wang A. 2006-07; Wang C. 2006-07b;
Upham 2005). Further, proving causation (where this is required) may be difficult in the absenceof sufficient data or scientific assistance, or where pollution harms health in areas where social
customs require the destruction of everything related to an individual after their death (Li 2007).
Despite these problems, the approximate success rate of pollution victims who take their cases tocourt is between 30-40% (OECD 2006). This seems to contrast favourably with more common
methods of resolving matters such as complaining to a village committee or to a government
institution (Li 2007). For example, popular and low-cost complaints to xinfang ("letters andvisits") offices within Chinese government institutions may succeed in only 0.2% of cases(Minzer 2006). While complaining to SEPA is also common, time lags mean that some disputes
last over 10 years (Wang C. 2006-07a). The Shilianghe River Reservoir case demonstrates therelative success of litigation. Before bringing that successful action, the plaintiffs had
unsuccessfully requested assistance from the local government, SEPA and provincial
governments (Wang C. 2006-07a; Wang, Kim, and Wang 2006-07). Further, even if litigation by
pollution victims is unsuccessful, other benefits may accrue. For example, an unsuccessful action
in Hebei Province in relation to an approval of a polluting silver-refining plant led SEPA todeclare that the relevant EIS was invalid, and the plant was shut down (Wang A. 2006-07).
The role of multinational business in encouraging compliance with environmental laws
Foreign businesses occupy a unique position in the context of water pollution in China. They
have significant capacity to influence other businesses to comply with pollution laws, both
directly, and indirectly, through supporting the public efforts outlined above and acting toincrease public awareness and expectations. As outlined above, foreign businesses also have thereputational and economic incentives to play this role.
Some multinational companies have embraced comprehensive public environmental reporting in
China, although it is relatively new there and remains voluntary. Alcoa, for example, publishes astand-alone bilingual sustainability report for its operations in China, which details its
environmental strategies, performance and projects (Alcoa China 2006). Such reporting mayhelp to create public awareness of environmental standards as well as models for domestic
77International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanbusinesses. Chinese-owned businesses are increasingly producing sustainability reports—34 didso in the first half of 2007, compared to only 2 in 2005 (Anon 2007). Viewing environmental
performance as important to overall performance reflects Chinese government policy. A
performance assessment system that includes environmental performance has been announced inrelation to the managers of 154 State-Owned Enterprises and local government and Party officials(Fu 2007a, 2007b). Some government agencies also use private enterprise recognition systems
such as the Ministry of Chemical Engineering's list of "National Advanced Enterprises forEnvironmental Protection" (OECD 2006).
Foreign businesses also help to influence domestic businesses and joint venture partners tocomply with water quality laws through environment-oriented business groups such as the nonprofit business association Business for Social Responsibility, which promotes corporate social
responsibility in China, and the China Business Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD).
The latter, established in 2003, aims to be the "leading business advocate" for sustainable
development, assist in policy development, and promote exchange and cooperation between
Chinese and foreign enterprises on environmental matters (CBCSD 2007). Its 33 members
include Chinese companies such as China Merchant Bank, Changling Chemical Refinery Ltd andHainan Airlines Group, and multinationals such as Rio Tinto, Alcoa Asia, BHP Billiton andBayer (China) (CBCSD 2007). Foreign businesses also have scope directly to influence theperformance of Chinese businesses regarding water pollution by using their buying power toapply environmental standards to their Chinese suppliers (OECD 2006).
Some multinational companies support more widespread environmental compliance by funding
environmental NGOs in China. Shell, Manganese Metal and Corning are examples (Economy
2004). Shell (China) Ltd, among other things, sponsors indigenous Chinese NGOs Friends of
Nature and Global Village, and supports a 3-year programme to work with small and medium
enterprises on biodiversity and renewable energy (Shell 2007). The Alcoa Foundation partners
with the China Forum of Environmental Journalists to raise the professional skills ofenvironmental journalists and increase public awareness of environmental issues (Alcoa China
2006). These forms of support from foreign businesses are vital to supporting public
involvement in water quality activities – international organisations and corporations compriseabout 80% of donations to Chinese charities (Chen, Pan, and Wu 2006).

Conclusion
In addition to direct government enforcement of environmental laws, the Chinese public andforeign businesses have important roles to play in promoting compliance with water pollution
laws through legal and other means. Although their role is relatively new in China, NGOs suchas CLAPV and Friends of Nature have shown success in environmental litigation. Nonetheless,concerns about obstacles to litigation remain. Foreign businesses may also influence otherbusinesses through creating models for public reporting, business groups aimed at environmental
concerns, and supply chain management of potential pollution impacts. Further, their support forNGOs that address water pollution presents a powerful, if unorthodox alliance to help address
this major economic, social and environmental concern, while achieving benefits for both parties.

78

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

References
Alcoa (China) Investment Company Ltd. 2006. China Sustainability Report.
Anon 2007. "China Sees More CSR Reports", Business Daily Update (Financial Times
Information Limited), 13 August 2007.
Blumenauer E. 2004. Asia's Environmental Challenges, Testimony in Hearing before the HouseInternational Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, 108th Congress, 22
September 2004.
Briggs A. 2006. China's Pollution Victims: Still Seeking a Dependable Remedy. Georgetown
International Environmental Law Review 18:305-333.
CBCSD.
CBCSD
Members
2007,
cited
27/9/2007
Available
http://english.cbcsd.org.cn/cbcsd/chm/index.shtml.
———.
CBCSD
Objectives
2007,
cited
23/9/2007
Available
http://english.cbcsd.org.cn/cbcsd/objectives/index.shtml.
Chen M.Y.-T., Pan L., and Wu H. 2006. Developing China's Non-Profit Sector. McKinsey
Quarterly (August 2006).
Chen Z. 2005. Tacking China's Water Pollution Problem: A Legal and Institutional Perspectivefrom Taihu Lake Water Pollution Control Temple Journal of Science, Technology andEnvironmental Law 24:325-350.
Economy E. 2004. Asia's Environmental Challenges, Testimony in Hearing Before the HouseInternational Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, 108th Congress, 22
September 2004.
Fu J. 2007a. Green Effort Key to Future of Officials. China Daily, 31 July 2007.
———. 2007b. SOE Heads' Careers Linked to Green Targets. China Daily, 30 August 2007.
Klaver I., and Mulkey M. 2006-07. Panel: Regulating China's Water Resources: Perspectives,
Concerns, and Responsibilities of Government, Business and the Community. Vermont Journalof Environmental Law 8(2):456-472.
Li Z. 2006-07. Speech: Environmental Challenges Facing Rural Areas in the Process ofIndustrialization. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 8(2):426-434.
———. 2007. Protection of Peasants' Environmental Rights During Social Transition: Rural
Regions in Guangdong Province. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 8:337-376.
Minzer C.F. 2006. Xinfang: An Alternative to Formal Chinese Legal Institutions. Stanford
Journal of International Law 42:103-179.
Moorman J.L., and Zhang G. 2006-07. Promoting and Strengthening Public Participation in
China's Environmental Impact Assessment Process: Comparing China's EIA Law and U.S.
NEPA. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 8(2):282-335.
OECD. 2006. Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in China: An Assessment of Current
Practices and Ways Forward: Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development———. OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: China. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 2007.
SEPA. 2006. 2005 Report on the State of the Environment in China.
Shell C. Society and Environment
2007, cited 27/9/2007
Available
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Sun X. 2006. Multinationals Blacklisted for Water Pollution. China Daily, 27 October 2006.
Upham F.K. 2005. Who Will Find The Defendant If He Stays With His Sheep? Justice in Rural
China. Yale Law Journal 114:1675-1718.
79International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Varis O., and Vakkilainen P. 2001. China's 8 Challenges to Water Resources Management in theFirst Quarter of the 21st Century. Geomorphology 41:93-104.
Vermeer E.B. 1998. Industrial Pollution in China and Remedial Policies. The China Quarterly
156:952-985.
Wang A. 2006-07. The Role of Law in Environmental Protection in China: Recent Developments.
Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 8(2):195-223.
Wang C. 2006-07a. Chinese Environmental Law Enforcement: Current Deficiencies and
Suggested Reforms. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 8(2):159-193.
———. 2006-07b. Keynote: Special Functions of Promoting Public Participation in
Environmental Protection in Aiding Pollution Victims. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law
8(2):380-392.
Wang C., Kim M., and Wang A. 2006-07. Panel: The International Silk Road: Engaging
Domestic Efforts to Protect China's Environment. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law
8(2):435-455.
Wang M., Webber M., Finlayson B., and Barnett J. 2008, in press. Rural Industries and Water
Pollution in China. Journal of Environmental Management.
Webber M., Barnett J., Finlayson B., and Wang M. 2006. Managing the Yellow River: Questionsof Borders, Boundaries and Access. Transforming Cultures Journal 1(2):114-135.
Wouters P., Hu D., Zhang J., Tarlock A.D., and Andrews-Speed P. 2004. The New Developmentof Water Law in China. University of Denver Water Law Review 7:243-308.
Laws:
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General Principles on Civil Law of the PRC (effective 1 January 1987).
Law of the PRC on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution (effective 11 May 1984).
Water Law of the PRC (effective 1 October 2002).

80International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Contaminant Removal Mechanism in Wastewater Treatment
Concept, Application and Utilities

Shubha Sudheendra
FLAGSHIP EcoSystems Pte Ltd., 4 Shenton Way #06-01 SGX Centre 2 Singapore – 068807,
Telephone: (65) 6536 1110 E-Mail: shubha@ecoflag.com.sg

Abstract
Contaminant removal technologies figure a robust base for any kind of wastewater treatment.
The numerous “known” parameters, “known-unknowns”, and “unknown-unknowns” thathave to be eliminated to meet discharge standards.
The state-of-art Electro Contaminant Removal (ECR) system adopts electrocoagulation
principle and is a process of removing the contaminants in water with the passage ofelectricity. This process destabilizes suspended, emulsified, or dissolved contaminants in an
aqueous medium. The electromotive force provided drives the chemical reactions andcompound will approach the most stable state. Generally, this stable state is a solid that is lesscolloidal, less emulsifiable, or less soluble than the element or compound at equilibrium
values. As this occurs, the contaminants form hydrophobic entities such as precipitates orphase separations that can easily be removed by a number of secondary separation techniques.
ECR is proven to be the best alternative technology for Primary treatment system inwastewater treatment and re-use. This technique also serves for high-end treatment
technologies like Nano Filtration, Membrane Filtration, and Reverse Osmosis.
The advantages of this system are flexibility with any kind of wastewater, smaller footprints it
acquires, operating costs, volume of sludge produced and its nature over the conventional
treatment methodologies. This paper attempts to focus the technology application in thewastewater treatment sector focusing on the Asian region.
Keywords: Wastewater, Contaminant Removal,
Contaminant Removal (ECR), Electrocoagulation.

State-of-art

technologies,

ElectroIntroduction
Wastewater arises from both industrial and domestic activities and their Treatment,
Management and Reuse are one of the key issues of the day that demands high technicalknow-how, energy and infrastructure to achieve a better treatment goal. Industrially discarded
water is specific to the nature of industry and hence type of treatment adopted might beunique but domestic wastewater or sewerage is consistent in nature. As known, there are a lotof known and unknown contaminants in wastewater that has to be effectively removed to getgood quality treated water.
Contaminant removal technologies occupy a central role in the primary treatment mechanismsof any wastewater treatment. With an efficient contaminant removal system, most of theparameters in the wastewater could be cracked.

81International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Electro Contaminant Removal (ECR) and the Technology
Electro Contaminant Removal (ECR) or Electro Coagulation (EC), the passing of electricalcurrent through water, has proven to be effective in the removal of contaminants from water.
EC systems have been in existence for many years (Dietrich, patented 1906), using a varietyof anode and cathode geometries. The flocs produced from EC process is much different fromchemical coagulation from the fact that it is less bound by water and easily filterable (3).
The ECR adopting electro chemical process is based on valid scientific principles involving
responses of water contaminants to strong electric fields and electrically induced oxidation
and reduction reactions. This process is able to take out over 99 percent of some heavy metal
cat-ions (2) and also appears to be able to electrocute microorganisms in the water. It is alsoable to precipitate charged colloids and remove significant amounts of other ions, colloids,and emulsions (1).
In the simplest form, a Trident ECR, Figure 1, reactor is made up of electrolytic cells with ananode and a cathode. When connected to an external power source, the anode material will
electrochemically corrode due to oxidation, while the cathode becomes passive. For aworkable rate of metal dissolution, electrodes with larger surface area are configured. This isachieved by using cells with electrodes either in parallel or double configuration.
The conductive metal plates are commonly known as “sacrificial electrodes”. ECR often
neutralize ion and particle charges, thereby allowing contaminants to precipitate, reducing theconcentration below that possible with chemical precipitation, and can replace and / or reduce
the use of expensive chemical agents (metal salts, polymer). An EC process produces several
distinct electrochemical results independently.

Figure 1. ECR T-5 operating at 5 cubic meters / hour
ECR -- Principal
Electro Contaminant Removal or Electro Coagulation is the process of destabilizing
suspended, emulsified, or dissolved contaminants in an aqueous medium by introducing anelectrical current into the medium. The electrical current provides the electromotive force todrive the chemical reactions (5). When reactions are driven or forced, the elements orcompound will approach the most stable state. Generally, this stable state is a solid that isless colloidal, less emulsifiable, or less soluble than the element or compound at equilibrium
values. As this occurs, the contaminants form hydrophobic entities such as precipitates orphase separations that can easily be removed by a number of secondary separation techniques.

82

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Although the electrocoagulation mechanism resembles chemical coagulation in that the
cationic species are responsible for the neutralization of surface charges, the characteristics ofthe Electrocoagulated flock differ drastically from those generated by chemical coagulation.
An Electrocoagulated flock tends to contain less bound water, is more shear resistant, and ismore readily filterable (4).
Designing ECR
Trident units operate at atmospheric pressure. The chamber can be built to meet any flow rate.
However operational constraints such as the weight and size of steel play a vital role inconfigurations and operations. Hence, Standard flow rates are 5 cubic meters/hour, 10 cubic
meters/hour, 20 cubic meters/hour, and 40 cubic meters/hr., higher flow rates are configured
on a modular basis.
The ECR has the following componentsxx
x

The Reaction Chamber
The Power panel
Plumbing

Reaction Chamber
Reaction chamber has electrodes that are placed in parallel. Depending on the nature of theincoming flow stream Mild Steel, Aluminum or both are used as electrodes. The blades at theterminals act as the power blades. The chamber can be doubled or tripled with additional
power blades. The influent to be treated is introduced at the bottom of the chamber anddispersing it evenly as it moves upward through the blades. Direct Current (DC) is introduced
into the chamber; the liquid then becomes a conductor, allowing the DC current to pass. The
metal blades react to the current by releasing charged metal ions into the influent. The
flooding of electrons in the wastewater neutralizes charged particles, causing them to bepulled out of suspension. The metal ions tend to form metal oxides that electromechanicallyattract to the contaminants that have been destabilized. Figure 2 shows the reaction of emitted
electrons with contaminants. The Reaction Chamber includes an air purge system to keep
debris from accumulating inside the chamber (6). Further, operation is optimized bycontrolling reaction chamber materials, amperage, voltage, flow rate, and the pH of the water.
Variables such as temperature and pressure have little effect on the process, Figure 3 andFigure 4.

Figure 2. Treatment in ECR

83

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Reaction chamberPower Panel

Plumbing/Pumps andaccessories

Skid

Figure 3. Typical ECR system Configuration

Power Panel
The power panel is designed to cater the power required to the chamber, pumps and otherparts. Electricity enters the chamber in anode and cathode pairs. The voltage between theanode and cathode is pre-determined transforming grid power to the voltage required between
the plates. The bipolar design allows line voltage to be converted from AC to DC and thissaves weight and space of electrical transformers. Also allows for energy efficient power
operation of 3 volts per gap between the plates, which saves amperage and eliminates theneed to connect electrical conductor to each plate.
Plumbing
There is an Influent pump that pumps water to the chamber and a CIP (Clean In Place) pumpthat is used for intermittent acid washes of the chamber. The chamber is washed with acid toremove any adhering solids on the plates / blades.
The treated water from the chamber overflows to a weir and gravity discharges to a clarifier toremove solids.
The following table gives treatment efficiencies of ECR / Chemical Coagulation and
Sedimentation.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 2. Comparative analysis ECR / Chemical coagulation / Sedimentation
Percentage of removal
Constituent
ECR
ChemicalSedimentation
TSS
95 to 99%
80 to 90%
50 to 70%BOD
50 to 98%
50 to 80%
25 to 40%
Bacteria
95 to 99%
80 to 90%
25 to 75%2

1

3

Figure 5. ECR Treated water (1: Before ECR, 2: Settlement after ECR, 3: After Filtration).
2.4. Application
ECR has found a very firm position in the following industrial wastewater treatment
x
x
x
x
x
x

Oil and Gas Exploration
Textile Dye house wastewater treatment
Municipal Solid Leachate treatment
Automobile industry
Paper and pulp industry wastewater treatment
Food and Beverage industry

Conclusion
With the increasing threat to availability of fresh water for human needs, technologies
pertaining to Contaminant Removal systems are indispensable to get better end results oftreatment and re-use standards.
Developed countries still are facing water scarcities and Japan is not an exception for this. As
automotive sector is one of the biggest businesses in Japan, this technology will be a definite
boom to treat the wastewater released by factories. Also, this system can have its positive
impacts on treating Municipal Solid Leachates, as handling these materials is becoming oneof the challenges in Japan. Though there are numerous technologies that are contributing
significantly towards wastewater treatments, this new technology, if implemented correctly
would prove to be the best of all available methods.
Most of the engineers may not be able to predict the life of this new technology but this newconcept of wastewater treatment will have its good life for the next few years especially in theregions like Asia.
“All know the Way, but few actually walk it”.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

References
Benefield, L. D., Judkins J. F. and Weand, B. L. 1982. Process chemistry for Water andWastewater Treatment. Prentice – Hall Inc., p. 212
Duffey, J. G. 1983. Electrochemical Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater, ProductFinishing, p. 72, August 1983
EPA, a SITE Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation: EPA/640/S-937504. EPA, a
SITE Superfund
Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering Treatment Disposal Reuse, Third Edition, page301-303
Scot Wade Powell.,Apparatus for electrocoagulation of liquids, United States of America,
Patent No. 6,139,710

86International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Upflow Constructed Wetland for On-site Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Kazuaki Yamagiwa, Soon-An Ong
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University
8050, Ikarashi 2, Nishi-ku, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan

Abstract
Constructed wetlands are cost-effective wastewater treatment technology highly applicable to
Asia region. Combination of anaerobic and aerobic processes can upgrade constructedwetlands to treat industrial wastewater containing less-degradable organic pollutants.
Controllability of anaerobic and aerobic activities in a vertical constructed wetland wasinvestigated with and without supplementary aeration. The ORP profile along the wetland bed
showed clear distinguishes between the anaerobic and aerobic regions in the wetland with
supplementary aeration. Supplementary aeration boosted the carbon removal and nitrification.
The upflow constructed wetland with supplementary aeration was concluded to be highly
promising for on-site industrial wastewater treatment system.

Introduction
A vast number of factories of various industries have been constructed especially in Southeast
Asia and East Asia for the last several decades. These regions have been called “the world’s
factory.” Such economic development and intensive human activities have been discharging
domestic and industrial wastewater to the receiving aquatic environment. Effective
wastewater treatment technology applicable to these regions should be developed andpracticed to prevent water pollution and conservation of aquatic environment. The wastewater
treatment technology should be cost-effective and can degrade so-called less-degradableorganic pollutants such as dyes, aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, halogenatedorganic pollutants and so on.
Constructed wetlands have been widely used in treating various types of wastewater.
According to the flow pattern and media applied, constructed wetlands are classified into two
categories: surface flow (SF) and sub-surface flow (SSF). SF systems, in which water flows
over the surface of the rooting media, have advantage of lower installation cost and simpler
hydraulics. SF systems are frequently used to treat lightly polluted water such as polluted
river or lake water for restoration, stormwater runoff from agricultural lands and secondary or
tertiary treated sewage effluent. On the contrary, wastewater flows underneath and through theplant-rooting media in SSF systems. Hence, there are fewer problems arising from odors,
insect vectors, or public exposure. Such advantages make SSF systems suitable to treat highly
polluted water such as landfill leachate, farm wastewater (Kantawanichkul et al., 2001) andsome industrial wastewater (Davies et al., 2005).
Biodegradation of less-degradable pollutants generally requires combination of anaerobic andaerobic processes. For example, azo dyes, sixty to seventy percent of dyes used in the textile
industry, are mineralized aerobically only after the azo-linkage is broken anaerobically (Onget al., 2005). To treat such pollutants with constructed wetlands, therefore, anaerobic andaerobic processes should properly incorporated to wetland systems. Vertical flow constructedwetland systems in which anaerobic and aerobic processes take place sequentially are themost promising options for this purpose. In other words, design and operating strategy to87International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

control anaerobic and aerobic activities in wetland system are the key technology to upgrade
wetland system to treat industrial wastewater economically and effectively in Southeast Asia
and East Asia.
The objective of the present article is to show the potentiality of upflow constructed wetland
system to treat industrial wastewater. Supplementary aeration was carried out to enhance
aerobic activity in the wetland system. Five wetland systems were investigated in terms of
OPR profile, COD removal rate, COD and nitrogen concentration profiles, and overall
wastewater treatment rate. The overall treatment capacity is then correlated with the DO
profiles along the bed.
Materials and Methods
Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of an
upflow constructed wetland system. The
wetland system consisted of a wetland column(18 cm in diameter and 70 cm in height), a
wastewater reservoir, a roller pump and an
effluent reservoir. The wetland column was
filled with 5 mm glass beads to a depth of about
6 cm at the bottom as wastewater distributor,
and round gravels, 5.7 mm in average diameter,
was filled to a height of 60 cm above the glass
beads bed. The bed height and water level in thereactor were almost the same. Three samplingtaps were equipped along the column. The
average porosity of the total bed was about 0.30.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram ofexperimental setup.

Five wetland systems were operated withdifferent conditions as summarized in Table 1. Reed (Phragmites australis) and Manchurian
wild rice (Zizania latifolia) were used as model emergent plants. In a reactor D and E,
supplementary air was introduce at 30 cm below the bed surface through four porous air
spargers. The systems kept in an indoor area.

ReactorA (control)B
C
D
E

Table 1. Wetland conditions.
Emergent plant
None
Manchurian wild rice
Reed
Reed
None

Aeration
None
None
None
Aerated
AeratedSynthetic wastewater wad fed to each reactor at a flow rate of 1.04 mL/min. The resultant
hydraulic retention time of wastewater was kept at 3 d. The composition of wastewater was asfollows: sodium bennzonate 107.1, sodium acetate 204.9, ammonium nitrate 36.7, sodium
chloride 7.0, MgCl2x6H2O 3.4, and CaCl2x62H2O 4.0, in mg/L. The characteristics of thewastewater were as follows: CODCr 326 mg/L, T-N 62 mg/L, and T-P 5.0 mg/L. The column
was inoculated with small amount of activated sludge prior to the wastewater treatment.
Wastewater samples were analyzed for COD, ammonia nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate, total nitrogen,88International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanand total phosphorus. COD was determined using a HACH DR/890 portable colorimeter.
Ammonia nitrogen, T-N, and T-P were determined by the standard method (JSWA, 1994).
Nitrite and nitrate were measured using an ion chromatography. ORP was measured with an
ORP meter (RM-20P, TOA-DKK, Japan).

Results and Discussion
ORP profile along the bed
Figure 2 shows the ORP profile along the bed at 11th Sep. In reactors A, B and C, without
aeration, the ORP at the top was about 230 mV, and then sharply decreased to about -50 mV
about 15 cm below the surface. Only top layer was aerobic in these reactors. The ORP at thebottom was about -150 mV, indicating anaerobic condition. There was little difference in the
ORP distribution of reactors A, B and C. This suggests little contribution of emergent plantson oxygen supply into the gravel bed in macroscale. On the other hand, the ORP at theaeration point is about 0 mV, and gradually
increased to about 230 mV at the bed surface inthe reactors D and E. The results show that
almost half of the gravel bed was maintained
aerobic with supplementary aeration.
The depth of aeration point and the conditions
will be adjusted according to the characteristics
of wastewater in practical application to give
optimalaerobic
andanaerobic
ratio.
Supplementary aeration will also contribute to
the wetland performance to treat high-strength
wastewater (Nivala et al., 2007).
COD removal
The adsorption of pollutants on gravel was
negligible from the preliminary test. Figure 3
shows the time course change in influent andeffluent COD concentrations. The influent
COD concentration was about 320 mg/L
during the treatment. The effluent COD
concentration of reactor A (control) gradually
decreased to about 30 mg/L. Reactor B and C
showed more rapid decrease in effluent COD
concentration from 14th Aug. but theconcentration was almost the same to that ofreactor A from 3rd Sep. The effluent COD
concentration of reactor D and E was below
50 mg/L from 27th Jul. and was about 20
mg/L from 10th Sep. The results wereconsidered to be due to the supplementary
aeration.

89

Figure. 2 ORP profile along the bed.

Figure 3. Time course change in effluent
COD concentration.

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 4 shows the COD concentration profile
within the gravel bed. The COD concentration of
the reactor without aeration (A, B, C) sharply
decreased above about 50 cm, while that of thereactor with supplementary aeration (D, E) was
below 25 mg/L above 35 cm. These difference in
COD concentration profile roughly correspondedwith the ORP profile.
The supplementary aeration boosted the COD
removal rate of the wetland system by increasing
aerobic region, and shortens the startup period.
These results indicate that supplementary aeration
contributes to high COD removal performanceand operational stability against loading
fluctuation.

Figure 4. COD concentration profile.

Nitrogen removal
Nitrogen is biologically removed by two successive processes: nitrification and denirification.
Figure 5 and 6 show the concentration profiles of NH4-N and NO3-N in the wetland. The
NH4-N concentration profiles of D and E were similar to the COD profile, indicating thatnitrification proceeded in the upper aerobic beds. Gradual decrease in NH4-N was observed in
the anaerobic regions in the reactors A, B, C. The reason is not clear at the present. Further
investigations, including microbial activity and biomass distribution, are needed to understandthe nitrogen removal mechanism in this bed.
Nitrate was hardly detected in the reactors without aeration. Nitrate concentration increased in
the reactors D and E, corresponding to the decreased in NH4-N concentration. The higher
nitrate concentration in D (with reed) may be resulted from the increased nitrifying biomass in

Fig. 6 NO3-N concentration profile.

Fig. 5 NH4-N concentration profile.

the vicinity of the rhizome (Münch et al., 2007). Little denitrification was observed in the
aerobic regions of reactor D and E. The supplementary aeration would inhibit the90International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japandentrification. Aeration conditions should be adjusted to provide suitable anaerobic andaerobic microbial reactions in the vertical wetland. Furthermore, combination of upflow
vertical wetland, anaerobic condition followed by aerobic one, and downflow vertical wetland,
aerobic condition followed by anaerobic one, would one of the most promising wetland
configuration to treat less-degradable organic pollutants.

Conclusion
Upflow wetland systems with supplementary aeration could control the aerobic and anaerobic
regions in the bed and treat high-strength wastewater. The present system will be one of themost promising wastewater treatment technologies to treat less-degradable industrial
wastewater discharged in industrializing Asian regions.

References
Davies L.C., Carias C.C., Novais J.M., Martins-Dias S., (2005). Phytoremediation of textile
effluents containing azo dye by using Phragmites australis in a vertical flow intermittent
feeding constructed wetland. Ecol. Eng., 25, 594-605.
Kantawanichkul S., Neamkam P., Shutes R.B.E. (2001). Nitrogen removal in a combined
system: vertical vegetated bed over horizontal flow sand bed. Wat. Sci. Technol., 44 (11-12),
137-142.
Münch Ch., Neu T., Kuschk P., Röske I. (2007). The root surface as the definitive detail for
microbial transformation processes in constructed wetlands ̄ a biofilm characteristic. Wat. Sci.
Technol., 56 (3), 271-276.
Nivala J., Hoo M.B., Cross C., Wallace S., Parkin G. (2007). Treatment of landfill leachateusing an aerated, horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland. Sci. Total Environ., 380, 1927.
Ong S.-A., Toorisaka E., Hirata M., Hano T. (2005). Treatment of azo dye Orange II in
aerobic and anaerobic-SBR systems. Proc. Biochem., 40, 2907-2914.

91International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Low Cost Community Based Treatment Unit for Floating Food Vendors and Slum
Community in Thailand

Babel, S., Nitisoravut, S., Sharp, A., Dacera, D.
Environmental Technology Program, School of Bio-Chemical Engineering and Technology,
Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University, P.O. Box 22,
Pathumthani 12121, Thailand*Corresponding author email: sandhya@siit.tu.ac.th

Abstract
In recent years, water pollution in the canals (klongs) in Thailand has become a great concern
due to the health and aesthetic problems to the nearby community. Klong Rangsit, one of thecanals in Thailand was found to be highly contaminated resulting from the discharge ofuntreated wastewater from the floating food vendors and slum community residing along thecanal. In this study, a low-cost aerobic wastewater treatment system was designed andfabricated for use by the food vendors and the slum community to improve the canalecosystem. Monitoring of the treatment system installed in eight food vendors seemed tofunction as designed despite constraints in size, irregular incoming wastewater flow pattern,
and high fluctuation in wastewater quality. For some units, as much as 86% BOD reduction,
99.2% oil and grease reduction and 99.9% suspended solids reduction were achieved,
although the effluent quality was not able to consistently meet the local standard for building
effluents. Proper maintenance seemed to play a major role in a more effective performance ofthe system. In the future, similar treatment units can be installed in other floating foodvendors located along the canals throughout Thailand.

Introduction
Klong Rangsit, the first irrigation canal in Thailand, was built during the time of King Rama
V (1868 -1910), for navigation and agricultural purposes (Suntravanit and Prasongsom, 1997).
It is located in Rangsit, an area east of Chao Praya river comprising the following provinces:
Pathumthani, Nakornnayok, Ayuthaya, Saraburi, Chachoengsao and Bangkok.
Industrialization and development of agricultural communities around the canal have createdmany new settlements – villages, hospitals, restaurants and factories. These settlements areaccused of polluting water in the Klong. Food vendors selling noodles on floating boats along
the Klong are a common sight in Thailand, but the discharge of untreated wastewater fromthese vendors and the nearby community has caused the deterioration of the water quality of
the Klong. Since the Klong water is also used by the food vendors and the slum community
for domestic purposes, the highly contaminated klong water can be a source of waterborne
diseases affecting the health of these people. The current situation therefore calls for
improvement in the water quality of the Klong. Moreover, the recent plan of the local
government to use the Klong for recreation and tourism purposes has prompted the need for amore sustainable way of protecting the Klong water from further degradation of its ecosystem.
This study attempted to protect the ecosystem of Klong Rangsit by creating environmental
awareness and introducing a low-cost wastewater treatment system to the floating vendors
and the slum community in the area. Baseline information on the Klong water quality andwastewater quality from the food vendors was used to design the low-cost wastewater
treatment system. In order to determine the effectiveness of the treatment system, monitoring
92

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanwas done after installation in selected participants of the project. Moreover, dissemination of
information was done through publication of a Thai manual outlining the benefits ofwastewater treatment and proper operation of the treatment units.
Methodology
Survey of study area
The area selected for the study consisted of five sub-canals of Klong Rangsit i.e. Klong
Rangsit 1-5 in Pathumthani province, Thailand. Klong Rangsit 1-2 are under the jurisdictionof the Rangsit municipality while Klong Rangsit 3-5 are under the Buengyeetho sub-district
office in Pathumthani. A preliminary survey of the floating food vendors and the slum
community residing around the selected Klongs was done to determine backgroundinformation on their water use, wastewater discharge and other environmental practices, aswell as health condition and sanitation of the community.
Water and wastewater analysis
Water samples were collected from selected areas along
Klong Rangsit 1-5, while
wastewater was randomly collected from 11 floating food vendors in the study area.
Wastewater samples collected come from dishwashing operations without treatment, as wellas those which underwent pre-treatment such as sieving or oil skimming before being
discharged into the Klong. Water and wastewater analyses were done on the following
parameters: pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO), Total kjeldahl
nitrogen (TKN), total solids (TS), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS),
oil and grease, turbidity, color (only for water analysis), total coliform and fecal coliform
bacteria. Analyses were done according to the Standard Methods for Examination of Water
and Wastewater (APHA et al., 1998). The water and wastewater qualities were compared withthe local standards on surface water quality and building effluents.
Design of low-cost wastewater treatment system
Based on the wastewater characteristics of the floating food vendors, a low-cost waste water
treatment system (Figure 1) was designed for both the food vendors and the slum community.

Figure 1. Low-cost wastewater treatment unit placed underneath dishwashing basins forfloating food vendors.
Factors such as size, practical use, operation and maintenance of the system were also
considered in the design. The treatment system employs both physical and biological93International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

processes. The system for the food vendors consists of an oil skimmer (left) with a capacity of
30 liters and the treatment bucket (right) of 60 liter capacity. The oil skimmer is used toreduce oil and grease from the wastewater while the treatment bucket is where both physicaland biological treatments occur. For physical treatment, a sand filter is used to separate theinorganic solids from the wastewater, while biological treatment (aerobic) is accomplished by
the microorganisms cultured in the bioballs. About 4 liters of sand and 300-400 balls are used.
For the slum community, the treatment system consists only of the plastic treatment bucket
since the wastewater from the community does not contain high amount of oil and grease.
Before fabrication, the efficiency of the treatment system was initially tested by monitoring
the COD of the synthetic wastewater, then with wastewater of similar quality as the foodvendor. The treatment system was operated aerobically (with air) and anaerobically (withoutair). Aerobic treatment for synthetic wastewater was done with initial influent concentrationof 500, 1,000 and 3,000 mg/L at 5-12 hours and 17-25 hours hydraulic retention time (HRT)
for 2 months with continuous feeding. Anaerobic treatment was done with the same influent
concentration but with HRT of only 24 hours. The performance of both systems was thencompared for final design and fabrication.
Monitoring
A total of 36 units were installed at 21 floating food vendors and 15 households from the slum
community. Monitoring was done on the system installed at eight floating food vendors in the
Klong. Parameters for monitoring included BOD, oil and grease, TSS and pH, which wereanalyzed according to the Standard Methods for The Examination of Water and Wastewater(APHA et al., 1998). To ensure proper operation of the system and create environmental
awareness among the participants of the project, a booklet in Thai was produced describing
water pollution and its impact to the environment, and the low-cost wastewater treatment unit
and its proper operation.

Results and Discussions
Survey results
The floating food vendors are food restaurants that float along the bank of Klong Rangsit who
sell mainly noodles and operate everyday from late morning till evening. Most floating foodrestaurants are family-owned, and for some, the boats have become their homes. There are atotal of 32 food vendors residing along Klong 1-5. The food vendors use water for a variety of
purposes such as drinking, bathing, clothes washing, dishwashing and sanitation, and comefrom various sources: bottled water (mainly for drinking), tap water and klong water. A small
number of food vendors employs pre-treatment (such as the use of alum) of the Klong water
before use. About 44% of the food vendors use the Klong water for cleaning, especially for
dishwashing and water use per vendor ranged approximately from 60 – 400 liters per day.
About 66% of the wastewater is pre-treated using oil skimmer before discharging into the
Klong. Although only 34% of the food vendors have proper sanitation facilities (toilets withseptic tanks), the health condition of the food vendors is normal as revealed in the survey
results.
The slum community called “Bahn Sum Raan” consists of 30 households with a total
population of 90. The water used by the community for bathing, clothes and dish washingalso come from the tap and the Klong. Bottled water and tap water are used for drinking

94

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanpurposes. Wastewater produced by the community is discharged into the Klong without
treatment. Most of the households have their own sanitation facilities (toilet with cesspool).
Survey revealed that the members of the community suffer frequently from skin diseases, aswell as respiratory and intestinal tract diseases.
Water and wastewater analysis
Analysis of the Klong water revealed the following: BOD (3-8 mg/L), TSS (7-19 mg/L), TS(260 - 400 mg/L), TDS (240 - 400 mg/L), TKN (2.8 - 4.2 mg/L) total coliform (7.0 u 107 1.5 u 109 MPN/100mL), fecal coliform (3.0 x 107 - 7 u 107 MPN/100mL), and DO (0.6 - 2.4mg/L). The results showed that according to the surface water quality standard of Thailand(National Environment Board, 1994) the low DO and high BOD values of the Klong watermake it unsuitable for use as class 3 i.e., medium clean fresh water resources for used inconsumption after ordinary treatment and agricultural purposes. The low oxygen level can
negatively affect aquatic organisms leading to foul smell, while high BOD values indicate
high organic matter in the Klong. The high amount of nitrogen might stimulate rapid growthof aquatic plants, algae and bacteria causing aesthetic problems in the Klong. The large
number of total and fecal coliform in the water indicates possible contamination from humanactivities and other warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliform can cause waterborne diseases
such as cholera and typhoid. Thus, the Klong water was found to be unsafe for domestic
purposes.
Analysis of wastewater from floating food vendors showed the following: BOD (100 - 2,100mg/L), TSS (12 -14,100 mg/L), TDS (300 - 6,100 mg/L), TKN (2.8 - 4.2 mg/L), TS (300 15,400 mg/L), total coliform (4.3 u 106 - 1.1 u 1010 MPN/100 mL), fecal coliform (7.5 u 105 9.3 u 108 MPN/100 mL) and oil and grease (2-12,800 mg/L). The pH of the washingwastewater ranged from 4.2 to 7.2, which seemed to be quite acidic. The results showed thatthe upper values of BOD, TSS and oil and grease of the wastewater exceed the local
building effluent standards for restaurants and food shops or food centers, which are 200
mg/L, 60 mg/L and 100 mg/L, respectively (National Environment Board, 1994). Althoughsome floating food vendors use oil skimmer as pre-treatment for wastewater prior to theirdischarge, results showed that the pre-treatment was not adequate due to the lack ofmaintenance of the equipment. In order to minimize further degradation of the water qualityof Klong Rangsit, there is a need to treat the wastewater from floating food vendors before
discharging into the Klong.
Design of low cost wastewater treatment system
The treatment system designed as shown in Figure 1, was first tested to determine thetreatment process to be used, i.e., whether aerobic or anaerobic. The disadvantage of using
anaerobic system is the unpleasant odor caused by hydrogen sulfide and ammonia produced.
For the aerobic system, oxygen requirement makes the process more expensive compared toanaerobic system. Despite these limitations, aerobic system is still affordable costing only*
5,580 Thai Baht ( US$ 172) with oil skimmer, and Thai Baht 3,560 (US$ 109.50) without oilskimmer.
Results of testing for aerobic process are shown in Figure 2. As shown, an 80% average COD
reduction was achieved for influent concentration of 500 mg/L. At the influent concentrationof 1,000 mg/L and 3,000 mg/ L, average COD reductions achieved were 75% and 60%*

1 US$ = 32.50 Thai Baht
95

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

respectively. It was also found that the range of HRT (5-12, and 17-25 hours) as tested, did
not affect the performance of the system as shown in Figure 2, where the range of COD
reduction remains unchanged regardless of HRT used in the process. Variation in COD
reduction in the system might have been caused by less DO in the system due to excess
microorganism, and clogging of air diffusers.
For the anaerobic system, the average COD reduction achieved at 24 hours HRT was only
40%. Compared to aerobic system, efficiency achieved for anaerobic system was lower asshown in Figure 3, and hence, aerobic system was used in the final design and fabrication of
the low-cost wastewater treatment system.
100
Percent COD Reduction

Percent COD Reduction

100
80
60
40
20
0

80
60
40
20
0

1

6

11
Days

500mg/l

16

21

1000mg/l

26

1

6

11

500mg/l

3000mg/l

16
Days

21

1000mg/l

3000mg/l

26

(a)
(b)
Figure 2. Percent COD reduction over 25 days with (a) HRT of 5-8 hours and (b) HRT of
12 – 18 hours.

Percent COD Reduction

100
80
60
40
20
0
1

8

15

22

29

36

43

50

57

64

Days
anaerobic system

aerobic system

Figure 3. Comparison between aerobic and anaerobic processes for low-cost wastewater
treatment system.
Monitoring of treatment system
Monitoring done on the treatment system of the eight food vendors (F1-F8) showed wide
variation in efficiencies in terms of parameters analyzed as shown in Figure 4. Reduction of
BOD ranged from 47.2% from F1 treatment system to 86.2% from F7 treatment system. Oiland grease reduction ranged from 53.7% from F1 to as high as 99.2 from F3, while suspended
solids reduction ranged from only 8% from F1 to as high as 93.9% from F7. Highest system
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

performance was achieved from units with proper maintenance, adequate aeration, andlongest operation time (such as F7). It was also found that the unit is able to tolerate thepartial aeration and low pH of the dishwashing wastewater. The effect of pH on system
performance may depend on the buffering capacity of the wastewater as well as its prolonged
exposure to the microbial population. The effective removal of suspended solids and oil andgrease is highly dependent on the maintenance of sand bed and the oil skimmer.

Percent reduction

100
80
60
40
20
0
F1

F2

F3
BOD

F4
F5
Food vendor
SS

F6

F7

F8

Oil

Figure 4. Percent reduction of BOD, Oil and grease and TSS of the low cost wastewater
treatment systems from food vendors F1 – F7.
Conclusions
The quality of the wastewater discharged from floating food vendors was found to be highly
contaminated and therefore have to be properly treated before discharge into the fast
deteriorating Klong water. The low-cost wastewater treatment system fabricated for both thefood vendors and the slum community seemed to function as designed despite constraints in
size, irregular incoming wastewater flow pattern, and high fluctuation in wastewater quality(such as BOD, pH), achieving as much as 86% BOD reduction, 99.2% oil and grease
reduction and 99.9% suspended solids reduction for some units. Although, the effluent quality
was not able to consistently meet the local standard for building effluent of 200 mg/L,
fabrication of more units of the treatment system can still be done for use by other floating
food vendors in water canals throughout Thailand. For a more effective performance of thesystem, proper maintenance seemed to play a major role.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to acknowledge the funding assistance of Canadian International agency(CIDA) through the Alumni Demonstration Project of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
References
APHA, AWWA, WEF (1998). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water andWastewater , 20th ed. Washington, D.C., U.S.A ISBN:0-87553-235-7.
National Environment Board (1994). Enhancement and Conservation of National
Environmental Quality Act B.E. 2535, published in the Royal Government Gazette, vol 3,
Parts 9 and 16.
Suntravanit, C., Prasongsom, K. (1997). 100 years of Klong Rangsit. Thai Education Institute
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

97

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Small-Scale Domestic Wastewater Treatment Technology in Japan, and the Possibilityof Technological Transfer

Motoyuki Mizuochi
Asian Environment Research Group
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan

Abstract
In Japan, the coverage rate of domestic wastewater treatment among the population was
82.4% at the end of FY 2006, but the coverage rate of domestic wastewater treatment in areas
with a population of 50,000 or less remains low (about 65%). In addition, because a smallscale treatment system requiring low construction and maintenance costs is sought because ofmunicipalities’ financial difficulties, past technologies are being reexamined. Based on the
background mentioned previously, small-scale domestic wastewater treatment technologies
were organized in search for technologies that can be transferred, and the ideal way for the
future was proposed.

Introduction
There is a trend in domestic wastewater treatment in which large city areas are accommodated
more readily than medium and small city areas, or rural communities. Because the population
density is less compared with large city areas in areas with smaller populations, a small-scaledispersed treatment system is sought. The conventional activated sludge process that is widely
popular for domestic wastewater treatment in large cities is a stable treatment system, but theprocess is sometimes not suitable for a small-scale treatment system, so other systems arebeing selected. The issue of domestic wastewater treatment has been shifting from large-scaleintensive systems for large cities, to small-scale systems necessary for small city areas, andrural communities. In addition, “locally suitable technology” that is adaptable to local socialand economic conditions is sought in developing countries, but it is difficult to transfer thegeneral Japanese technological system without modification. With these things as a
background, this paper gives an overview of Japan’s domestic wastewater treatment andsmall-scale treatment technology, and discusses cases of technological systems that are highly
likely to be transferred. In addition, this paper will introduce cases of the technologicaldevelopment situation in China, where lifestyles have changed drastically due to economic
development, and there is great demand for a small-scale treatment system. Lastly, this paper
will sort out the future of technological transfers with regard to small-scale domestic
wastewater treatment systems.

The Situation and Problems of Domestic Wastewater Treatment in Japan
Figure 1 indicates the flow of domestic wastewater treatment in Japan. Domestic wastewater
are roughly classified into human waste discharged from toilets (night soil), and wastewater
discharged from kitchens and bathrooms (gray water). Domestic wastewater are mainly
treated through wastewater facilities, rural community sewerage, and the in site treatment
system (Johkaso).
When vault toilets are used instead of flush toilets, human waste is stored there. In this case,stored night soil is transported to night soil treatment facilities several times a year, and98

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

treated there, but gray water is discharged without treatment. For Johkaso, Gappei-shori
Johkaso for treating night soil and gray water is used as a rule. However, Tandoku-shori
Johkaso, used only for treating night soil, was supposed to be allowed to be used until 2001,
but many of them are still being used now. Even when Tandoku-shori Johkaso is used, graywater is discharged without treatment.
The coverage rate of domestic wastewater treatment among the population was 82.4% at theend of FY 2006 in Japan. Its breakdown is 70.5% for sewage facilities, 2.8% for ruralcommunity sewerage, and 9.1% for Gappei-shori Johkaso. Tandoku-shori Johkaso and vault
toilets are not included as treatment facilities. The coverage rate of domestic wastewater
treatment among the population indicates the status of respective treatment facilities provided,and it does not necessarily indicate theGray water
actual rate of treatment. It is thought that Domestic wastewaterNight soil
the actual rate of treatment is about several Gray water Night soil
SludgeTreated water
percent to 10% lower than the rate, but noaccurate statistics are available. The rate ofTreatment system
flush toilets provided was 92.4% at the end
Municipal sewage
Treatment plantof FY 2003. No statistics for the end of FY
2006 are available, however, assuming
Johkasothat the rate of flush toilets provided was
Sludge treatment
Night soil
93%, the coverage rate of Tandoku-shori
Incineration
treatment plant
Johkaso among the population would be
Reuse
10.6%. In any event, gray water of more
Vault toilet
than 17.6% per capita is discharged
without treatment.
Public water bodyLand fill
Figure 1. the flow of domestic wastewater
In addition, the coverage rate is low
treatment in Japan(65.5%) in areas with a population of
50,000 or less, like regional municipal areas. The reason for this lies in a severe fiscal
situation in those regions, and a provision method advantageous to cost is called for.

Small-Scale Domestic Wastewater Treatment Technology in Japan
With respect to sewage facilities, 1,049 small-scale treatment facilities capable of treating
5,000 m3 or less of water per day were in operation at the end of FY 2004, and 70% of sewage
facilities adopted the oxidation ditch process. Though the oxidation ditch process isadvantageous in terms of maintenance because primary sedimentation tanks are unnecessary,
the treatment and disposal of the large volume of sludge generated becomes a major issue,
like the conventional activated sludge process.
Agricultural community wastewater treatment programs are intended to provide domestic
wastewater treatment facilities for a single or multiple rural communities where domestic
wastewater treatment facilities have not been sufficiently provided. In principle, domestic
wastewater treatment facilities are provided for each large area as a unit in order to facilitate
the time-consuming provision of wastewater facilities. In the beginning, there were cases
where budgetary waste was pointed out due to inconsistency with wastewater facility plans,
but about 3,900 facilities are now in operation. A treatment process is being indicated instages for the treated population of from 51 to 10,000 (JARUS type). The contact aeration
process, the sequencing batch reactor process, and the oxidation ditch are adopted according99

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanto the size of the population, from a small population to a larger population.
Johkaso is an on-site treatment facility that has been technologically developed uniquely inJapan. In Japan, human waste was treated as manure for a long period of time, however,
because chemical fertilizers were popularized after World War II to the high economic growth
period, and there was an increasing demand for flush toilets, on-site treatment facilities
without the need for pipes became widespread. At first, Tandoku-shori Johkaso were used,
and a simple treatment process like the trickling filter process and the horizontal oxidation
process were adopted. However, in order to achieve stable treatment performance, the contact
aeration process came into widespread use. In the 1980s, development concerning thedownsizing of Gappei-shori Johkaso that had been treated only by relatively large treatment
facilities were conducted in order to prevent water pollution. Gappei-shori Johkaso started to
be provided in individual houses. The settling separation contact aeration process is common
as a treatment process, and Gappei-shori Johkaso made of reinforced concrete was originallyoften field-installed at the site, but Gappei-shori Johkaso that is made of fiber-reinforced
plastics (FRP) and is factory-produced is mainly used now. An advanced treatment-type
Johkaso that can remove nitrogen and phosphor has recently been developed.
In Japan, domestic wastewater treatment has been carried out with sewage facilities as a basewith the help of Johkaso and rural community sewerage. However, because an enormous
amount of money is needed to provide these, a low-cost treatment system that requires
minimum maintenance has recently become a necessity. So, the soil covered gravel contact
aeration process has been drawing attention.
Figure 2 outlines the soil covered gravel contact aeration process. The process is relatively
simple structurally, so it can be designed in response to the varied size of the treatedFigure 2. The outline of the soil covered gravel contact aeration process.
population, and according to the site conditions. The process is characterized by producing
almost no odor from the treatment facilities because the tops of the treatment facilities arecovered with soil. Conglomerates are used as a contacting material. In general, the contact
aeration process generates little sludge, so the process is characterized by lower maintenancecosts. The process was installed in 32 places across the country for sewage treatment facilities.
The size of the treated population varies from 50 to 4,500. Compared with the oxidation ditch
process, which was commonly used for the same population size, it is said that, though alarger site area is required for wastewater treatment facilities, this process lowers construction
and maintenance costs. At present, the process has been increasingly adopted as a treatment
process by local governments overseeing sewerage services and facing more difficult
financial conditions. The process was installed in 30 places for rural community seweragefacilities. This process was originally developed for Gappei-shori Johkaso 25 years ago, and it
has recently been adopted for sewage treatment facilities.
In addition, the soil trench process was developed in Japan as a process that requires low
100International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

construction and maintenance costs. But the process is not used so much now because a largesite area is necessary for treatment, and clogged facilities were found here and there due toincomplete construction work, and the lack of knowledge concerning inflow loads.
In Europe and the U.S., the constructed wetlands have recently been utilized as small-scaledomestic wastewater treatment facilities, and technological developments are actively being
progressed. Each country has established design guidelines, and Japan has just started
conducting studies including verification tests concerning livestock wastewater treatment andthe treatment of disused mine effluents as treatment technology.
Cases of the Technological Transfers of Small-Scale Wastewater Treatment from Japan
Johkaso
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided the technological transfer ofmainly Johkaso technology for China from 2001 to 2006. Japanese Johkaso made of FRP was
installed at the site, and technological guidance concerning its structure and maintenance wasprovided. However, the comprehension of China’s social conditions concerning domestic
wastewater treatment, and the sorting of problems concerning future dissemination, including
the comprehension of these conditions, were not sufficient enough to conduct a study on the
ripple effects of the technological transfer.
The Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services provided the technological transfer
of Johkaso technology for Indonesia with the use of field-constructed Johkaso from 1995 to
1997. Even in Japan, Johkaso used to be mainly field-constructed, but they have been
replaced dominantly by factory-produced Johkaso made of FRP due to soaring labor costs,
and in order to secure the performance of Johkaso. However, because labor costs are not sohigh in many developing countries, a method with a higher percentage for labor costs for theprovision of Johkaso becomes advantageous to lower construction costs. Therefore, it isthought that the technological transfer of field construction technology for Johkaso should becontinuously stressed in the future.
This field-constructed Johkaso is one of the locally suitable technologies to be considered,though it depends on local construction and maintenance costs. However, because the project
period was short (about two years), it was thought to be necessary to provide support a little
longer than that in order to stabilize the technology.
Land treatment system
The Ministry of the Environment of Japan provided a model treatment facility using the soil
trench process with nutrient removal in Guiyang City, China in 2000. The soil trench process,which is an advanced treatment process requiring extremely low power consumption, wasdeveloped by the National Institute for Environmental Studies for the purpose of applying it
to developing countries. Figure 3 indicates its treatment flow.
%+PHNWGPV'HHNWGPV㧔4GWUG㧕

5QKN VTGPEJ
5QKN VTGPEJ
5GRVKE VCPM

1st Unit

5GRVKE VCPM

Figure 3. The treatment flow of advanced
soil trench process.
2nd Unit101International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

With a combination of a septic tank (anaerobic) and a soil trench (aerobic) as a unit, the twounits are combined in tandem. In the soil trench process, a trench pipe with numerous fineholes opened almost evenly is buried in soil, and wastewater seeps in through the holes. That
wastewater is then treated through the process of seeping through the soil layers, and iscollected at the bottom. Incoming wastewater is divided 60/40 into each unit, and nitrogen
nitrified in the soil trench of the first unit will be denitrified on the anaerobic filter bed of thesecond unit. Organic substances in wastewater distributed to the second unit will be used as ahydrogen donor for denitrification.
In Datong City, a NPO that provides support for a forestation reuses domestic wastewaters as
irrigation water, so treatment facilities with the multi-layer soil (MLS) process were provided
under the JICA grass-roots project. The MLS process was developed as a countermeasure forclogging caused by the soil trench process and it is designed to treat wastewater by filtering
the water through highly permeable pumice stone between soil layers, and by having
wastewater permeate from the top surface of a rectangular soil treatment layer. The MLS
process is characterized by its large amount of treated water per soil volume in comparison
with the soil trench process. Therefore, although there was a trend that treated water quality
was somewhat inferior to water treated through the soil trench process according to treatment
conditions, satisfactory water quality was obtained for irrigation water in the case of Datong
City. Figure 4 outlines treatment equipment.

Influent

Multi soil
layered tank

Filtration tankReuse for irrigation㪧

Flow
Sedimentation tankequivalent
tank
Aeration㪧㪧Effluent tank

Figure 4. The treatment flow of MLS process introduced in Datong City, China.
Cases of Technological Development in China
In China, research and model projects are promoted as a part of the measures to reduce areasource loads for human waste from rural communities under the national program, which waslaunched in 2001 to control the contamination of Taihu Lake, and restore the body of water,
and technological development based on the following preconditions is underway:(1) Communities mostly consist of 20 to 200 households, small-scale treatment is required.
(2) There is a strict restriction on the construction cost and operation management cost oftreatment facilities (1,000 to 1,300 RMB per one cubic meter of domestic wastewater forconstruction costs, and 0.1 to 0.3 RMB per one cubic meter of domestic wastewater for
maintenance costs).
(3) The goals for removing nitrogen and phosphor are 70% and 80% respectively.
Under these strict conditions, treatment technology combined with the secondary treatment
process requiring inexpensive construction and maintenance costs, like the trickling filter
process and the rotary disc process, and the natural treatment process, like the constructedwetland process, is actively being developed.

102

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Ideal Way of Technological Transfer
Wastewater treatment technology changes according to social conditions, and takes the mostsuitable form for a society that uses the technology, apart from its basic elements. Therefore,
when the technology is transferred to another society, it is necessary to examine its
adaptability from various aspects. The difficulty in transferring Japanese technology todeveloping countries without modification is widely known. In Japan, highly systemized
compact technological development has been demanded because of soaring land prices, andthe fact that treatment facilities have been provided in densely-populated areas. However, in
recent years, there has been an urgent need to provide treatment facilities in regional areas
without so much population, and processes requiring low construction and maintenance costs
as the gravel contact aeration process are sought because of municipalities’ financial
difficulties. The process was used 25 to 30 years ago, but it can be considered leading-edge
technology that takes into account the current social conditions. Therefore, in order toconsider future technological transfer, it is necessary to not only consider current technology
but also to look into previously developed or adopted technology, and to evaluate it fromcurrent technological or economic standpoints.
In addition, because technology is not stationary, but constantly transforms according to thesituation at the site where the technology is needed, it is possible to select technology moresuited to the site, and develop new technology, as required, through additional examination oftechnological development cases as in the Chinese case outlined above.
Moreover, “locally suitable technology” is selected according to the current situation of aregion where the technology is adopted, but a plan adaptable to changes afterwards must be
considered. In order to also gain a panoramic view of a future recycling-based society, it isnecessary to comprehend and rearrange the trend again. In any event, previous measures for
wastewater treatment were taken to solve actual problems; however, future “locally suitable
technology” must ensure future sustainability.

103International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Membrane Bioreactors (MBR) for Wastewater Reuse

Takao Murakami
Senior Researcher, R&D Dept., Japan Sewage Works Agency, 5141 Shimo-sasame, Toda, 335-0037 Japane-mail: murakamit@jswa.go.jp

Abstract
MBR is a wastewater treatment technology that offers many advantages including excellent
effluent quality, stable operation performance, a small footprint, reduction of excess sludge
production, reuse of effluent, reduction of risk substances and so on. When one takes into
consideration that fresh water serves as a precious resource for human beings, the ability toreuse treated water is one of the biggest advantages of using MBR technology.
Judging from the water quality target in the reuse of treated wastewater in Japan, the effluentof MBR using an MF membrane module can be safely utilized for landscape purposes such as
streams or in parks in urban areas without the need for any additional treatment. In order toreuse the treated wastewater for recreational purposes it is often the case that colour removal
is required.
It was found that MBR shows excellent removal efficiency of viruses, such as Coliphage or
Norovirus, which is the main cause of food poisoning. It was confirmed that periodicalchemical membrane cleaning exerted no negative influence on Norovirus removal. Since
MBR offers excellent effluent quality as well as stable operation performance even in smallscale plants, the introduction of MBR will contribute to the overall promotion of water
recycling in urban areas.

Introduction
The membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a wastewater treatment technology that offers many
advantages. In Japan, although MBR have long been used for industrial wastewater treatment
or for reuse of wastewater in large buildings and so on, the introduction of MBR in seweragesystems has lagged behind compared with other water related fields. However, the first MBR
for municipal wastewater treatment in Japan started operation in March 2005, and thisaccelerated the introduction of MBR in Japanese sewerage systems. Seven MBR plants formunicipal wastewater treatment are in operation at present. In addition, there are some 10
MBR plants currently in the design or planning stage. The number of MBR for municipal
wastewater is expected to increase in the years ahead.
The basic flow of the MBR applied for municipal wastewater treatment in Japan is shown in
Figure 1. As shown in the figure, immersed type MBR is applied so far. MF membrane
module with 0.1-0.4ȝm of pore size is usually used.

104

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan㪠㫅㪽㫃㫆㫎

㪈㫄㫄㩷㫊㪺㫉㪼㪼㫅㪚㪿㪼㫄㫀㪺㪸㫃㩷㪽㫆㫉㪙㪸㪺㫂㫎㪸㫊㪿

㪚㫆㪸㪾㫌㫃㪸㫅㫋㪜㫈㫌㪸㫃㫀㫑㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㪫㪸㫅㫂㪘㫅㫆㫏㫀㪺㪫㪸㫅㫂㪤㫀㫏㪼㫉㪚㪿㪼㫄㫀㪺㪸㫃㩷㫎㪸㫊㪿㫋㪸㫅㫂㪜㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋
㪤㪼㫄㪹㫉㪸㫅㪼
㪛㫀㪽㪽㫌㫊㪼㫉

㪙㫃㫆㫎㪼㫉

㪜㫏㪺㪼㫊㫊㩷㫊㫃㫌㪻㪾㪼

Figure 1. The basic flow of MBR for municipal wastewater.
MBR has the following advantages:
1) Small footprint requirement
2) Stable and excellent effluent quality
3) Nutrient removal
4) Disinfection of effluent is not necessary5) High removal efficiency of viruses
6) Reduction of excess sludge production
The reuse of MBR effluent is a method of making the best use of these advantages of MBR.
But any risks inherent in its reuse need to be clearly identified. In the paper, our research
results on effluent reuse and removal of viruses by MBR are introduced.

Evaluation of MBR Effluent Characteristics for Reuse Purpose
Characteristics of MBR effluent in view of reuse
In Japan, 190 million m3 of treated wastewater, which corresponds to 1.4% of total effluent
amount, is reused annually for various purposes including flash toilet, sprinkling, coolingwater, landscape or recreational use and so on. Recently the expectation of citizens to reuse
the treated wastewater as a water resource in cities for landscape or recreational purposes is
growing. The authors evaluated the characteristics of MBR effluent for reuse purposes.
Materials and methods
For the study, a pilot-scale plant in the Japan Sewage Works Agency experiment centre wasused. Figure 1 shows the flow scheme of the plant. The pilot plant treated 25 m3/d of actual
municipal wastewater with an HRT of 6 hours. The reactor consists of an anoxic tank and an
aerobic tank, with mixed liquor circulated from the aerobic tank to the anoxic tank. A flat
105

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanplate-type MF membrane unit with a pore size of 0.4 µm was immersed in the aerobic tankand operated at a permeate flux of 0.63 m3/m2/d. Raw wastewater from an actual mediumsized WWTP employing the CAS process was supplied to the MBR after removing coarse
materials with a 1-mm metal sieve.
㪥㪸㪦㪚㫃㪝㫀㫅㪼㩷㫊㪺㫉㪼㪼㫅㪜㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋

㪧㪠㫅㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋
㪦㫏㫀㪺㩷㫋㪸㫅㫂㪘㫅㫆㫏㫀㪺
㫋㪸㫅㫂㪜㫏㪺㪼㫊㫊㩷㫊㫃㫌㪻㪾㪼㪧㪪㫃㫌㪻㪾㪼㩷㪺㫀㫉㪺㫌㫃㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㪙

Figure 2. Flow scheme of the pilot plant.

Results and discussions
Table 1 shows the Japanese guidelines on recycle of treated wastewater for landscape andrecreational use respectively. The pilot plant MBR effluent was measured twice concerning
the requirements shown in the table. The results are shown in Table 2. As shown, the MBR
effluent satisfied the required values of the guideline except the value of chromaticity forrecreational use. This means that MBR effluent can be used for landscape use purpose, suchas for streams or parks in urban area, without any additional treatment. The chromaticity of
MBR effluent, which was measured twice, was 14 and 20, which were somewhat higher than
the required value of 10 for recreational use.

Table 1. The Japanese guidelines on reuse of treated wastewater.
㪣㪸㫅㪻㫊㪺㪸㫇㪼㩷㫌㫊㪼㪚㫆㫃㫀㪽㫆㫉㫄㩷㪾㫉㫆㫌㫇 㻡㪈㪃㪇㪇㪇㪚㪝㪬㪆㪈㪇㪇㫄㫃㪙㪦㪛㪌㻡㪈㪇㫄㪾㪆㫃
㫇㪟㪌㪅㪏㪄㪏㪅㪍
㪫㫌㫉㪹㫀㪻㫀㫋㫐㻡㪈㪇㪦㪻㫆㫉㪥㫆㫋㩷㫆㪽㪽㪼㫅㫊㫀㫍㪼㪚㪿㫉㫆㫄㪸㫋㫀㪺㫀㫋㫐 㻡㪋㪇㪩㪼㪺㫉㪼㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㪸㫃㩷㫌㫊㪼㻡㪌㪇㪚㪝㪬㪆㪈㪇㪇㫄㫃㻡㪊㫄㪾㪆㫃
㪌㪅㪏㪄㪏㪅㪍
㻡㪌㪥㫆㫋㩷㫆㪽㪽㪼㫅㫊㫀㫍㪼㻡㪈㪇

Regarding the remaining colour of the MBR effluent, a yellowish-brown colour was
noticeable. The colour originated mainly in urobilin and stercobilin, which are contained inhuman excreta and are not easily biologically degraded. Ozone or activated carbon treatment
would be required for further removal of the colour from the MBR effluent.

106International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 2. The results of the measurement.
㪥㫆㪈㪉㪚㪘㪪㩷㪼㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋㩷㩿㪸㪽㫋㪼㫉㪤㪙㪩㩷㪼㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋㪺㪿㫃㫆㫉㫀㫅㪸㫋㫀㫆㫅㪀㪙㪦㪛㪌㩷㩿㫄㪾㪆㫃㪀
㪐㪐㪅㪎
㪈㪅㪌
䋼㪇㪅㪌
㪫㪦㪚㩷㩿㫄㪾㪆㫃㪀
㪐㪏㪅㪎
㪋㪅㪌
㪊㪅㪏
㪚㪿㫉㫆㫄㪸㫋㫀㪺㫀㫋㫐㩷㩿㪻㪼㪾㫉㪼㪼㪀
㪈㪌㪇
㪉㪇
㪉㪇
㪦㪻㫆㫉㩷㩿㪄㪀
㫊㪼㫇㫋㫀㪺㩷㫆㪻㫆㫉㫆㪻㫆㫉㫃㪼㫊㫊
㫊㫆㫀㫃㩷㫃㫀㫂㪼㩷㫆㪻㫆㫉
㪉㪇㪎
㪈㪅㪌
㪇㪅㪌
㪙㪦㪛㪌㩷㩿㫄㪾㪆㫃㪀㪫㪦㪚㩷㩿㫄㪾㪆㫃㪀
㪎㪊
㪊㪅㪋
㪉㪅㪍
㪚㪿㫉㫆㫄㪸㫋㫀㪺㫀㫋㫐㩷㩿㪻㪼㪾㫉㪼㪼㪀
㪉㪇㪇
㪉㪇
㪈㪋
㪦㪻㫆㫉㩷㩿㪄㪀
㫊㪼㫇㫋㫀㪺㩷㫆㪻㫆㫉㪸㫉㫆㫄㪸㫋㫀㪺㩷㫆㪻㫆㫉㫆㪻㫆㫉㫃㪼㫊㫊
㪠㫋㪼㫄㫊㪧㫉㫀㫄㪸㫉㫐㩷㫀㫅㪽㫃㫆㫎

Removal of viruses
In order to promote the reuse of MBR effluent, any risks inherent in its reuse such as virusesin case of amenity use of treated wastewater need to be clearly identified. It is reported that ahigh degree of virus removal can be expected using MBR. (Chiemchaisri et al.,1992,
Churchhouse et al., 1999) The authors investigated the removal efficiency of Coliphage andNorovirus by MBR.
Norovirus is one of the main causes
of infectious food poisoning
accompanied by fever and diarrhea.
In the winter of 2006-2007, Japan
experienced a large-scale outbreak ofinfectious food poisoning caused by
Norovirus. Since Norovirus is verysmall in the size (ca.30nm) and istolerant to chlorine disinfection,
efficient removal can not be expectedby the conventional wastewater
treatment technologies.

Figure 3. Electron microscopic image of Norovirus.
(from the web site of Yokohama-city Public Hygiene Research Center)

Materials and methods
For the study of Coliphage removal, the above-mentioned pilot plant was used. On the other
hand, another pilot scale MBR plant with the same flow scheme as Figure 2 was used for the
study of Norovirus removal. The pilot plant for Norovirus study treated the same actual
municipal wastewater as the before mentioned plant, but a PVDF hollow fibre MF membranewith 0.4ȝm pore size was used instead of flat plate-type membrane. The plant treated 48
m3/d of actual municipal wastewater. The permeate flux was 0.8 m3/m2/d. The pilot plant had
been operating continuously for 15 months before the virus removal research was undertaken.
MLSS concentration was maintained between 8,000 and 10,000 mg/L.
E. coli K-12F+ was used as the Coliphage host train. Coliphage was measured by the plaqueforming method. The detection of Norovirus was based on the Real-time PCR method whichis the official method of Norovirus detection in foods in Japan. This method detects thenumber of the copies of Norovirus RNA, regardless being active or inert. The taken samples

107International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

were first condensed in order to facilitate virus detection.
For the condensation, the sedimentation method using PEG (polyethylene glycol) was applied
to influent and activated sludge samples. On the other hand, DEAE cellulose was used for theadsorption and condensation of effluent samples. After the extraction of RNA from thecondensed samples and RT reaction, the Real-time PCR procedure was carried out. The limit
of detection was 102 copies/L.
Results and discussions㪋㪅㪌㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌

㪈㪏㪇㪋㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌

㪈㪍㪇㪚㫆㫃㫀㫇㪿㪸㪾㪼㩷㩿㪧㪝㪬㪆㪈㪇㪇㫄㫃㪀㪚㫆㫃㫀㫇㪿㪸㪾㪼㩷㩿㪧㪝㪬㪆㪈㪇㪇㫄㫃㪀

Removal of Coliphage.
Figure 4 shows the change of Coliphage count in inflow and those in MBR and CAS plant
effluents in 24 hours. The CAS plant treated the same actual wastewater as the MBR pilot
plant. MBR showed steady and high removal of Coliphage, which was not detected during themeasurement period, whereas Coliphage were present in the CAS effluent with a maximum
value of 160 PFU/100ml.

㪊㪅㪌㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌
㪊㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌
㪉㪅㪌㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌
㪉㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌
㪈㪅㪌㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌
㪈㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪌

䌃䌁䌓
䌍䌂䌒

㪈㪋㪇
㪈㪉㪇
㪈㪇㪇
㪏㪇
㪍㪇
㪋㪇
㪉㪇

㪌㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪋

㪇㪇㪅㪇㪇㪜㪂㪇㪇
㪈㪇㪑㪇㪇

㪈㪋㪑㪇㪇

㪈㪏㪑㪇㪇

㪉㪉㪑㪇㪇

㪉㪑㪇㪇

㪍㪑㪇㪇

㪈㪇㪑㪇㪇

㪫㫀㫄㪼

㪈㪇㪑㪇㪇 㪈㪋㪑㪇㪇 㪈㪏㪑㪇㪇 㪉㪉㪑㪇㪇 㪉㪑㪇㪇
㪫㫀㫄㪼

㪍㪑㪇㪇

㪈㪇㪑㪇㪇

Figure 4. The change of Coliphage in inflow (left) and in effluent (right).
Removal of Norovirus
The pilot plant was operated with a total HRT of 6 hrs, 3hrs for anoxic tank and 3hrs for oxictank, which is standard for MBR in Japan. Chemical membrane cleaning was carried out oncea week using NaOCl solution (100mg/L as Cl) injected from the effluent suction line into themembrane module and then held for 1 hr.
The results of Norovirus measurements in influent, oxic tank activated sludge and effluent inare shown in Table 3. Here, G Σand G Τmean the different genome types of the Norovirus
and usually G Τ is mostly responsible for food poisoning. Neither type of G Σor G Τwasdetected in MBR effluent.
Table 3. Norovirus measurement results.

㪥㫆㫉㫆㫍㫀㫉㫌㫊 㫋㫐㫇㪼㪠㫅㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋
㪦㫏㫀㪺㩷㫋㪸㫅㫂㩷㫊㫃㫌㪻㪾㪼㪜㪽㪽㫃㫌㪼㫅㫋

㪞㸇㪞㸈㪋㪅㪉㪇㪜㪂㪇㪎 㪊㪅㪌㪇㪜㪂㪇㪏㪈㪅㪈㪇㪜㪂㪇㪏 㪍㪅㪉㪇㪜㪂㪇㪎
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㩿㪚㫆㫇㫀㪼㫊㪆㪣㪀108

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe reason why Colipharges and Norovirus of approximately one-tenth of the membrane poresize are almost completely removed by MBR with MF membrane module is considered thatsince most of the viruses exist in the activated sludge attaching themselves to the activatedsludge, they are rejected by membrane (Oota et al., 2005).
In order to evaluate the effect of chemical cleaning of membrane, the number of Norovirus
was measured at 30, 60, and 120 minutes after the chemical membrane cleaning procedureusing NaOCl solution. The results are shown in Table 4. If the gel layer on the membranesurface plays an important role on Norovirus removal, detection of Norovirus must be
expected after chemical cleaning, since the gel layer is removed or reduced by chemicalcleaning. As shown in the table, Norovirus was not detected in the MBR effluent even shortly
after the chemical cleaning procedure. This suggests that the role of gel layer of themembrane surface is less important than the adsorption effect of the activated sludge in
Norovirus removal mechanism.
Table 4. Norovirus measurement results after chemical cleaning.
㪜㫃㪸㫇㫊㪼㪻㩷㫋㫀㫄㪼㩷䌡䌦䌴䌥䌲㪺㪿㪼㫄㫀㪺㪸㫃㩷㪺㫃㪼㪸㫅㫀㫅㪾
㪊㪇㫄㫀㫅
㪍㪇㫄㫀㫅
㪈㪉㪇㫄㫀㫅

㪥㫆㫉㫆㫍㫀㫉㫌㫊 㫋㫐㫇㪼
㪞㸇
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㪥㪅㪛㪅

㪞㸈
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㪥㪅㪛㪅
㩿㪚㫆㫇㫀㪼㫊㪆㪣㪀Conclusion
MBR effluent has characteristics that make it suitable for treated wastewater reuse, and can beapplied to landscape use without any additional treatment. MBR is also able to remove
viruses in wastewater effectively, which contributes to epidemic risk reduction in treatedwastewater reuse.
Since MBR offers excellent effluent quality as well as stable operation performance even insmall-scale plants, the introduction of MBR will greatly contribute to the overall promotion ofwater recycling in urban areas.
References
Chiemchaisiri,C.and Yamamoto,K.,Vigneswarons,S. “Biological nitoprgen removal under low
temperature in a membrane bioreactor for domestic wastewater treatment.”
Water Science & Technology Vol. 25 No.10 pp231-240, 1992
Churchhouse,S.and Wildgoose,D.”Membrane Bioreactor hit the big time-from lab to fullscale application.” MBR1-Proc.2nd Intl.Mtg.on Membrane Bioreactors for Wastewater
Treatment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, U.K.14pp, 1999
Oota,S., Murakami, T.,Takemura, K. and Noto, K. “Evaluation of MBR Effluent
Characteristics for Reuse Purposes” Water Science & Technology Vol. 51 No6-7 pp441-446,
2005.

109

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Status of Improvement of Water and Sanitation Facilities in Metro Manila
Maria Rebecca A. Campos
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)
Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines
cmaribec@yahoo.com

Abstract
The Manila Third Sewerage Project (MTSP) was conceived with the following aims: toincrease the coverage and effectiveness of sewerage service delivery in participating areas ofMetro Manila through an integrated approach involving septage management, sewage
management, and heightened consumer awareness of water pollution problems and theirsolutions; and to establish the financial and technical viability of new approaches for sewage
management in Metro Manila. The components of the project are: sewage management
septage management, and institutional strengthening. This wastewater project is expected toserve about 3.3 million people within its concession area in eastern Metro Manila by the year
2010 through a loan. MTSP is the biggest wastewater project in the country.

Introduction
Water pollution in the Philippines is a growing problem due to rapid urbanization andindustrialization. One major cause of water pollution is untreated domestic wastewater,which accounts for 48% of total BOD pollution. The annual economic losses from waterpollution are estimated at PhP 67 billion (US$1.3 billion), and include losses in health,fisheries production, and tourism. To mitigate the environmental impacts of water pollution,
the Government of the Philippines has enacted many water-related laws, but enforcement isweak due to inadequate resources, poor statistics, institutional fragmentation, and weak
cooperation between the central and local government units. The latest, government action isthe enactment of the Clean Water Act of 2004, which is an integrated, holistic, decentralized
and participatory approach to abating, preventing and controlling water pollution. This Act
attempts to consolidate the different laws and unify efforts to fight water pollution.
Metro Manila, home to some 12 million people, is an important economic zone, producing
35.7% of GDP in 2003. It comprises 17 cities and municipalities subdivided into 1,700
barangays. All Manila waterways are heavily polluted. About 65-75% of pollution is causedby residential sewage, with the rest originating from industry such as tanneries, textile mills,
food processing plants, distilleries, chemical and metal plants, as well as from solid waste
dumped into the rivers. The key water courses, Marikina River and Pasig River are
biologically dead. Pasig River is hydraulically important as it provides a two-way connection
between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay, and due to ocean tide variations, transfer ofpollutants between the Manila Bay and the Laguna de Bay occur. The Laguna de Bay, southof Metro Manila, is a large lake and a crucial water source for the southern region. The
Manila Bay, forming Manila’s western seaboard, is a large shallow of coastal water withsignificant marine transport to Manila port, supporting thousands of fishing families, however,with little use for tourism due to pollution of water and beaches. While water is supplied toabout 90% of Metro Manila population only about 15% is connected to a sewerage system,with only one half of it provided with sewage treatment. About 85% have septic tanks, which

110International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanare often poorly constructed; regular servicing of tanks started gradually only with
implementation of Manila Second Sewerage Project (MSSP). For liquid wastes mostresidents rely on open drains to receive effluent from their septic tanks. Only a few living in
high-quality developments have constructed separate sewers and small sewage treatment
plants. Lack of sanitation facilities, coupled with potential human contact with raw sewage
by the population, pose an increased health risk. In 2003, the Metro Manila’s easternconcession area recorded about 9,700 cases of diarrhea indicating either the absence of watersupply or sanitation, or both.

Objectives
With this in mind, the Manila Third Sewerage Project (MTSP) was conceived with thefollowing aims: to increase the coverage and effectiveness of sewerage service delivery inparticipating areas of Metro Manila through an integrated approach involving septage
management, sewage management, and heightened consumer awareness of water pollution
problems and their solutions; and to establish the financial and technical viability of new
approaches for sewage management in Metro Manila. The components of the project are:Sewage Management which includes construction of 10 sewage treatment plants, upgradingof two communal septic tanks to secondary treatment, rehabilitation and construction ofcollection networks; septage Management which covers vehicles for pumping-out septage
from septic tanks (fecal tankers), two septage treatment plants (SPTPs), and safe disposal oftreated septage; and institutional strengthening component for (a) the carrying out of a public
information campaign on the benefits of sewerage and sanitation services, and on the bestpractices of proper disposal of sewage, and (b) assistance in preparation of follow-up
programs for wastewater and sanitation improvements.
This wastewater project is expected to serve about 3.3 million people within its concession
area in eastern Metro Manila by the year 2010 through a loan. MTSP is the biggest
wastewater project in the country. This project is intended to increase sewerage coverage andsanitation services in the eastern portion of Metro Manila to 30 per cent from the current 10
per cent over the next five years. Manila Water, a unit of Ayala Corporation, supplies potablewater to about 5 million residents under a 25-year concession agreement with the government.
Since the sewerage system is partly combined some of the connected population also have
septic tanks.
The viability of the project has been evaluated using environmental impact assessment.
Economic valuation of the impacts of the project was conducted. This study shows thebenefits that will be derived from the project as well as learning lessons.
The project will increase sewerage coverage from about 8% to 30%, and sanitation services
from around 1.5% to 100% in the East concession area. Additional benefits of the project
include: (a) reduction in total domestic BOD load in Manila Water concession area by about
15,400 to 37,700 tones/year; (b) improvements in public health and well-being The risks ofthe community coming into contact with raw wastewater are lessened, and the resultant
benefit has been estimated at about PhP 300,000 per 1,000 persons/year. The reduced risk
benefit of people coming in contact with raw wastewater from overflowing septic tanks has
been estimated at PhP 150,000 per 1,000 persons/year avoided health costs due to loss
indirect income and medical costs; (c) improvement in soil condition and crop yields in laharaffected areas, where treated septage will be applied; and (d) information on the viability of
new approaches for sewage management in Metro Manila. Institutional benefits through111

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

improved approaches on sewage management is also expected. The project is the first of two
pilots on the use of combined sewers for sewerage systems in the country. Lessons learned
from the project will help improve the design of subsequent investments on sewerage andsanitation that are more socially, economically and politically acceptable.
Experience with privatization has been mixed-the Manila Water Company Incorporated(MWCI) concession in the east has been successful, while Maynilad Water Services Inc(MWSI) in the west has run into difficulties. MWCI has in large part met (and in some cases
exceeded) its concession targets, is in good financial health, and the standards and coverage ofwater, sewerage and sanitation services have increased significantly since privatization. On
the other hand, the west concession has encountered significant problems. MWSI's heavy debt
burden, exacerbated by the Asian Financial Crisis and multiple devaluations of the Philippine
peso, and its less successful strategies for service expansion, caused MWSI to suspend
payment of its concession fee in 2002 and to enter into arbitration with Metropolitan
Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). Restructuring of the company is on-going, but inthe meantime, MWSI's fiscal problems have had a profound negative impact on its ability tosuccessfully fulfill its service obligations.
World Bank's support for the sewerage and sanitation sectors in Metro Manila has spanned
more than 20 years, commencing with the Manila Sewerage and Sanitation Project in 1980.
The Manila Second Sewerage Project (MSSP) was approved in 1996. MSSP was prepared asa public sector project with MWSS as the implementing agency, and included components torehabilitate several sewerage networks and a sewage treatment plant, to expand septage
management in the city, and to conduct pilots of ocean disposal of septage. After privatization,
MWCI and MWSI took over implementation of the components in their respective concession
areas. Implementation of the project has been satisfactory and is almost completed.
Under MSSP septage was dumped into the ocean on a pilot basis during a nine-month period
from October 2001 to July 2002. After completion of the trial, and during the evaluation
period of the pilot, a complaint was lodged by a Philippine-based NGO to the Inspection
Panel (IP). After investigation by the IP, it was concluded that improved septage management
should been expanded in Metro Manila through this project, and that ocean disposal should
not be continued in Metro Manila. Instead, it was recommended that the lahar-affected area
north of the city be investigated for suitability as a treated septage disposal site. This analysis
was completed during preparation and is now an integral part of MWCI's sludge management
plan.
The proposed project includes a significant septage management component that would
achieve the goals set out by the Bank management and GOP in response to the IP.

Opportunities and Limitations of Metro Manila's Concession Agreements
Concessions bring opportunities and challenges: while creating strong incentives for theConcessionaire to act efficiently to meet contractual obligations, a concession arrangement
also constrains the responsiveness of a sector because the incentives are focused on the
obligations as strictly defined by the contract. Even when conditions change rapidly, theconcession system locks implementation into pre-defined plan, which can only be amended
during agreed formal renegotiation periods. In contrast, a public service provider i s often
provided greater flexibility, and can take a broader view to refine and revise theimplementation plan to meet changing circumstances.
112

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe Metro Manila concession agreements, originally signed in 1997, include a provision forrenegotiation of both rates and service targets during rate rebasing, which i s carried out once
every five years. The first rate rebasing occurred in 2003, with the second due in 2008. This
project has been developed based on the 2003 rate rebasing targets which are the legally
enforceable concession conditions.
Implementation experience from MSSP shows that there are four key problems which limit
the efficient implementation of environmentally optimum sewerage and sanitation projects in
Metro Manila: (a) The concession agreementsand2003 rate rebasing were based on outdated
plans, which do not maximize environmental benefits, (b) The public has a very low
awareness of the societal benefits of sewerage and sanitation, and is therefore not very
sympathetic to the disruption caused when retrofitting sewerage; (c) The public's willingness
to pay for sewerage and sanitation is low and the current tariff structure does not provide
sufficient incentive to make dedicated connections to separate sewerage systems; and (d) The
capacity and experience of the concessionaires in sewerage provision is limited.
The proposed project will bring significant benefits because the activities undertaken during
preparation (and planned for implementation) specifically address the above key constraints.
With the experience and information gained through the implantation of this project andassociated activities, the 2008 rate rebasing is expected to greatly contribute to reducing manyof these barriers. Each of the four constraints is discussed in more detail below.
Planning. The sewerage targets of the 1997 Concession Agreements were based on a masterplan which envisaged a highly centralized sewerage system and the phasing out of septic
tanks and sanitation services throughout Metro Manila.6 However, after privatization, it
became clear that the public was not willing to pay for such a large and expensive separate
sewerage This master plan was completed in 1996 using JICA grant financing system. Other
impediments to implementation of that plan included a lack of available land for the proposed
treatment facilities, and little tolerance (from the public and local governments) of theimmense disruption during implementation. While these barriers were identified in the late
1990s, the Government has not, to date, undertaken a master plan update to address theseconcerns.
Despite this lack of a formal master plan update, the concessionaires had to create businessplans for their own investments. As a result, during the 2003 rate rebasing exercise, MCWI
proposed, and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System/ Regulatory Office(MWSS RO) agreed, to downscale the sewerage targets and to allow for a decentralized
approach using combined sewerage, where appropriate. This was compensated, at least in part,by an increase in targets for the provision of sanitation services. Significantly, theconcessionaires, not the Government, drove the changes made during the 2003 rate rebasing.
Therefore, the targets focused on increasing service levels evenly around the consumer base,to minimize the tariff impact in any particular municipality. They did not, however, consider
maximizing the environmental benefit that could be achieved from the limited available
investment. While not ideal from the environmental perspective, there i s merit, at least in theinitial stages, of implementing projects throughout the city, to raise awareness and build aconstituency for the sector. Moreover, the existing tariff structure would make it very difficult
to concentrate on the "hot spots" as households in many of these areas may not have either
piped water or the capacity to pay the additional sewerage charge. Spreading service evenly
around the city is not justifiable in the long-term because it does not maximize the113International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanenvironmental benefits of investments. The Government has recognized this and wishes toalign the concession targets more closely with environmental goals during the 2008 rate
rebasing. To achieve this, considerable work needs to be done to strengthen the informationbase and planning for sewerage and sanitation in Metro Manila.
During project preparation, MWCI updated its own sewerage and sanitation master plan,
which has led to improvements in the selection of components and design of the project, as
well as prospects for improved demonstration effect and environmental benefits from the
project investments. MCWI has also undertaken extensive information gathering on existingdrainage systems and outfalls within its concession area. The planning work that has been
done by MCWI during preparation has increased the awareness of the concessionaire's staff ofthe importance of prioritizing environmental benefit and seeking the most cost effective
solutions for the provision of sewerage and sanitation. This has increased capacity with thecompany leading to the 2008 rate rebasing. However, MWCI's planning is not a satisfactory
replacement for Government strategy, as it does not address sewerage and sanitation issues inthe entire Metro Manila region.
First, during this planning exercise MCWI has been required to respect its current contractual
obligations, the 2003 rate rebasing targets, and therefore the problems described above arestill inherent in this master plan update. Second, MCWI can consider, at most, a planning time
horizon stretching to the end of the concession period (2022), at which point, according to theconcession agreement, the cost of all investments must be recovered. This limits MWCI's
capacity to plan implementation of any major projects in the latter half of the concession
because recovery of the investment over the remaining short period of the concession would
require tariffs to be elevated to unaffordable levels. Third, MWCI's planning does notconsider the transfer of sewage across the boundaries of the two concession areas in order toutilize the most overall cost effective solutions. Finally, no environmental analysis has yet
been carried out on MwCI's master plan update, and therefore, the extent to which it would
achieve maximum environmental benefits for Metro Manila's waterways is unknown.
MWSS and MWSS RO are currently carrying out studies on: possible subsidies required forthe sector; review of tariff arrangements under the current 2003 rate rebasing; review
proposals to reduce barriers to connect to sewerage systems; and, are view and first-stage
revision of the sewerage master plan in both concessions. In addition, DENR, as the leadagency on behalf of the Government, and as the agency responsible for the implementation
regulations of the Clean Water Act 2004, plans to request support from the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) under the World Bank GEF Pollution Reduction Investment
Fund for Large Marine Ecosystems of East Asia to initiate institutional coordination for the
Pasig River –Laguna de Bay- Manila Bay watershed; identify environmental hotpots in thecapital region; and to prepare Standard sand allowable discharge regulations for the key
watercourses in Metro Manila. The outputs of this study would establish priorities for theenvironmental cleanup in Metro Manila. These ongoing and planned activities would enable
Government to provide strong guidance to the 2008 rate rebasing exercise.
Low public awareness and limited experience of sewerage in Philippines: Experience during
MSSP has shown that low public awareness of the health and environmental benefits ofsewerage and sanitation, weak political support for sewerage services, and the limited
experience of the concessionaires in this sector, constrain implementation of sewerage andsanitation projects. The establishment of seventeen independent municipalities and cities

114International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

within Metro Manila has fragmented and reduced the fiscal and regulatory capacity of
local governments to plan, support and enforce coordinated sewerage and sanitation
strategies. LGUs are not aware of the importance of sewerage and sanitation. The
concessionaires do not have sufficient leverage to convince unwilling local governments to
support sewerage and sanitation investments.
Investments under the project will enable MCWI to gain technical experience in construction
and management of both combined and separate sewerage systems in areas with septic tanks.
Moreover, the project will demonstrate to the public and to local government the viability ofdifferent types of sewerage systems. This i s expected to show that a "one size fits all"strategy i s not the most beneficial in Metro Manila, and that the 2008 rate rebasing should
consider a variety of possible technical solutions for the sector. The demonstration effects ofthe project would be transferable to the west concession area.
The Institutional Strengthening component of the project would support increasing publicawareness of the importance of sewerage and sanitation through a public awareness campaign
using the mass media.
Limited willingness to pay: The public's limited willingness to pay for sewerage service has
been exacerbated by the design of the tariff within the concession agreements. Sanitation
services are currently supported by a mandatory environmental charge, equal to 10% of thewater charge, paid by all water consumers. A sewerage charge of 50% i s levied when ahousehold connects to a separate sewerage system. As households are unwilling to pay theadditional 50% charge, concessionaires have failed to meet the connection targets. For
example, under MSSP, MWSI only completed 86 of a planned 10,000 sewer connections.
MWCI completing 12,000 sewer connections, thanks to its strategy of strong public
consultation; nevertheless, some of the communities dropped out during implementation.

Conclusions and Policy Implications
The 2003 rate rebasing confirmed that combined sewerage systems could be piloted in Metro
Manila. Combined sewerage schemes in Metro Manila do not require individual household
connections, because households are, in general, already connected to the drainage system. In
addition, MWSS RO plans to consider an amendment to the tariff structure in 2008, and has
expressed support for the abolition of the 50% sewerage charge, with a corresponding
increase in the mandatory environmental charge levied on all customers.

115

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Local Trade of Water Rights in Pre-modern Japanese Irrigation System

Mikiko Sugiura
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo
Room,616, Bldg.7A, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8567 JAPANasugiura@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract
This paper analyzes the factors underpinning the local trade of water rights through an
examination of the case in Kami-yokoyama village in Sado Island. Although out of six factors
the difference in water demands  caused by the hydrological conditions cannot be
underestimated, the case study highlights the importance of the water rotation system that serves
as a background of water rights trade. Water rotation system is characterized by its communitybased resources management. Since “rights” means not only rights of “quantity” but also“order”, the trade of water rights did functioned in two ways: (1) water dividing and (2) a kind of
conflict-resolution mechanisms. The trade itself was abolished by the Land Improvement Project.
Yet the water rotation system and water dividing mechanism essentially remain in place. The
pipelined project that will be completed by 2009 might bring the big change to an idea of sharing
water. This may lead to another phase, which will have relatively relevant implications andlessons for an arid or semi-arid area.

Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that contribute to the local trade of water rights
in the pre-modern Japanese irrigation system. In the case of Japan, water rights are usuallyattached to land ownership after the modern legal system was introduced since the 1900s.
However, evidence shows that the de facto trade of water rights occurred in some areas of Japan,
and continued until the readjustment of arable land or land improvement projects. This study
focuses on one of such areas, Kami-yokoyama village in Sado Island (see Figure 1), andexamined the case of local trade of water rights. First, the paper gives a brief overview of thecase. Second, it analyzes the key factors which made the trade possible, and highlights specificaspects of the water-use system as community-based resources management. The study relies ona variety of sources to analyze the factors including field research. However, since the waterrights trade was operationalized more than 30 years ago, some information has come frominterview with elders of the village and documents owned by them. Finally, the paper describes
the present water use, and discusses the implication of local trade of water rights as pre-modern
economic system.

116

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Nagae River
Division A
work
Division B
work
㧭Not paddy field㧮
D

Other water rotation system(Nakae-canal)㧭C㧮

Unit of water
rotation㧯㧰

Figure 1. Map of Kam-yokoyama village in Sado Island, and each unit of water rota ion. Source:
map with a scale of 1 to 25,000 published by Geographical Survey InstituteCase Overview
Water rights were traded in Shimo-yokoyama (downstream) and Kami-yokoyama (upstream) until
1931 and 1969 respectively along the Nagae River in Sado. The number of permits (or water
appropriations) was 25 in Shimo-yokoyama (Kitamura, 1973) and 50 in Kami-yokoyama (Sugiura,
2005), whose irrigation area was twice as large irrigation areas. Water rights were first introduced
to the areas by the construction of an irrigation canal from Nagae River around 1600. The
policymakers of the time established the concept of water rights in the dry season, distributing the
newly available water equally to each household. The unique feature of this system is that itallowed one farmer to hold more than two water right permits acquired by trade and it also
allowed trades between outsiders (merchants) and farmers. It resulted in the distribution of waterrights proportionally to income gaps and water scarcity in the end.
Photo 1. Costume of getting a twig from Satoyama, and setting it at adiversion work as a signal of water rotation
It is interesting that water “right” means not only the right of “quantity”(i.e.how much they could take) but also the right of “order” (i.e.when
they could take water into their own paddy field). This is due to the
distinctive water-use system common in Monsoon Asia known as water
rotation. In this case, the paddy field was divided into four units
according to water rotation (See Figure 1). The contract of water-rights
trade mostly showed which unit, what number in the unit, who theformer owner, and how much the quantity was. The Kami-yokoyama’s
117

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanwater rotation begins from the first of June including Shimo- Yokoyama locateddisadvantageously downstream. The first 12 hours is for Shimo- Yokoyama, and the second six
hours for unit A, the third six hours for unit B, the forth six hours for unit C, and the final six
hours for unit D. It takes 36 hours for one rotation, and continues during rice farming. There
were 50 water rights allotted into four units, such as seven in unit A. Water rotation systemstrongly needs community-based resource management such as monitoring and maintenance.
For example, it is a custom in Shimo-Yokoyama that farmers take a twig from common-used
forest (Satoyama in Japanese), and put it at the point of water diversion as a sign of their order(see Photo 1). This shows us that local trade of water rights was a form of pre-modern economic
system, which was supported by community-based resource management.

Key factors of trade
What made these trades possible? There are six important factors: 1) the difference in water
demands due to the hydrological conditions of the areas, 2) “moderate scarcity”, 3) the
homogeneous status of farmers at the beginning, 4) the coexistence of freedom and obligation
within the system, 5) the moderate community-ship of the villages in terms of water use, and 6)
the lack of large landowners and the spirit of self-dependence.
Above all, the difference in water demands (above factor 1) caused by the hydrologicalconditions cannot be underestimated. Since Kami-yokoyama is located in an alluvial fan, theupland (dry area) and the lowland (intake area) differ in water requirements for agriculture. This
geographical condition not only brought about the concentration of water rights in the uplandaround 1900 but also promoted the trade of water rights. By contrast, Shimo-yokoyama (the lower
canal region) is located in a flatland, resulting in less difference in water requirement. The area,
however, had a tighter water rotation system because it relied highly upon the surplus water ofKami-yokoyama. In this sense, Kami-yokoyama had a different water scarcity problem and adifferent hydrological condition.
Water rights trade as a conflict-resolution mechanism
Water rotation systems are generally managed by the community or water users associations.
They are dealt as long-enduring CPR institutions (Ostrom, 1990). Her eight design principles
show essential elements and conditions that help to account for the success of these (See Table 1).
Kami-yokyama’s case clearly contains No. one, two, four, seven of eight. The point No. six
requires attention. The local trade of water rights did function as a coordination system bytransferring water rights from less use to more use. More than 400 years many water conflicts
occurred not only between upstream and downstream, but also between farmers in Kamiyokoyama. While they had many opportunities for consensus building for “quantity” and “order”
such as meetings of representatives at village level, water rights trade did work complementarily
to settle the controversy at farmer level. Both of them were based on farmers’ “voluntary”
decision. One explanation for the pre-modern economic system may be that the water rotation
system as CPRs can co-exist or include the pre-modern economic principle. Another explanation
may be that water rotation system is not compatible with the pre-modern economic principle, andcommunity as a safety net must have offer to help for vulnerability.

118International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 1. Design principles illustrated by long-enduring CPR institutions
1 Clearly defined boundaries
2 Congruence between appropriation and provision rules and local conditions
3 Collective-choice arrangements
4 Monitoring
5 Graduated sanctions
6 Conflict-resolution mechanisms
7 Minimal recognition of rights to organize
8 Nested enterprises
Present water use and implications
There are three phases for irrigation-water use in Kami-yokoyama; the first is when the local tradeof water rights was in process, the second is after the trade was abolished by the readjustment ofland improvement projects implemented by the state authorities, and the third is after the
pipelined irrigation project that will be completed by 2009. Even in the second phase, water
rotation systems themselves remain in place to work efficiently as a water distributing
mechanism. In the current system, Shimo-yokoyama (downstream) is allotted 12 hours while
Kami-yokoyama (upstream) 24 hours. The important point to note is that they have sharedcommon irrigation canals, and have divided the irrigation water by the hour since around 1600.
However, as the pipelined project will be completed by 2009, they can intake water whenever inneed of water with the ratio of Kami-yokoyama to Shimo-yokoyama of 0.5. The big change
resulting from pipelined water will mean that their water use is moving to the next phase. Itshows that there is the possibility for the present rotation system as community-base resourcesmanagement to be affected by this change.
In general, there are two principles for how to distribute irrigation water in the Japanese irrigation
system; one is a principle of acquired rights (Koden-yusen), and the other is a principle of
upstream advantage (Jyoryu-senshu). In this case, additional
three additional measures (division works; time control overwater rotation; local trade of water rights) do or did work to
distribute irrigation water. First, the division works (A: Photo 2
built around 1600, and B: Photo3 built in 2007 and locateddownstream of A) divide the water according to the result ofconsensus building. A canal map (See Figure 2) shows that
acquired rights exist and the rigid ratio control by each division
work is important. Second, the time control by people’s
Photo 2. Diversion work A
monitoring also plays a significant role in dividing water as aform of community-based resources management. As referred toabove, using a twig of common used woods Satoyama as a time
signal serves as an example. Third, it is interesting to note that
local trade of water rights in accordance to the water available,
and functioned as a water-dividing mechanism. It admits of two
interpretations as mentioned, one as a part of CPRs and the otheras no more than dividing mechanism without safety net. Water
rotation system did serve as an important background of the local
Photo 3. Diversion work B
119

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

trade, and thus seems reasonable to suppose that the local trade of water rights is compatible with
Commons. In addition, it shows the possible relationship between an economic system andcommunity-based resources management.
Nagae River
6:4

Diversion work A 169:44:87
Ooe-canal
Nakae-canalTatenoe-canalDiversion work B 44:96.5:46:6.5
Nakae-canal

Sansegawae-canal
canal
Komane-canalalKami-yokoyama
Shimo-yokoyama
Jyoe-canalBanzoe-canall
Sukeemonee-canal
Nishidae-canal
canalSinbee-canal
canal
Terae-canal
canal

Figure 2. Canal map

Conclusion
In Kami-yokoyama, located upstream of Nagae-River, the trade of water rights occurred undersome conditions. Although the difference in water demands due to the hydrological conditions of
the areas was important over all, this case study suggests the difference of water use between arid
or semi-arid areas and non-arid areas can hardly be ignored. Since water “rights” means not only
“quantity” but also “order”, water rotation system as community-managed resources management
serves as an important background. One of examples is that the trade of water rights did function
as both dividing water and as kind of conflict-resolution mechanisms. This suggests that the premodern economic principle was compatible with CPRs. The trade itself was abolished by Land
Improvement Project. Nevertheless, the water rotation system and water dividing mechanism
essentially remain in place. However, since the pipelined project will be completed by 2009, thebig change in the concept of sharing water may lead them to another phase that will have
implications for arid or semi-arid areas.

References
Kitamura T. (1973). 11 chapter In: Historical analysis of Japanese irrigation water practice (caseedition), Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, pp.359-431.
Sugiura M. (2005). An examination of the factors concerning water right trading in Japanese
History: A case study of the former Kamiyokoyama Village, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture.
Journal of Water and Environmental Issues, vo.18, 1-14/
Ostrom E. (1990). Governing the Commons, Cambridge University Press, NY, pp.58-142

120

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Development of Klongs (Canals) and History of Sewage Works in Bangkok

Chanchai Vitoonpanyakij
Department of Drainage and Sewerage, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)
Mitmaitree Road, Din Daeng, Bangkok 10400 ; email : chan_v@bma.go.th

Abstract
The city of Bangkok has been the capital of Thailand for more than 220 years. For centuries,
canals or klongs as called by Thais, have been served as sources of portable water as well astransportation means and leisure activities. When Bangkok is urbanized, water pollution
becomes one of the most severe problems which need to be solved. Following the cabinet
resolution which approved the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) investment plan,
seven wastewater treatment projects have been completed and recently are under operation
both by BMA staff and private sectors. Future treatment scheme is going to be implemented
using the experience gained from the previous success.

Keywords: klong, wastewater, treatment, collection, interceptor, combined sewer, dry
weather flow, nutrient removal

Water pollution
Bangkok is located on lower flat plain of the Chao Phraya River extended to the Gulf ofThailand. Fresh water used by more than two million households as well as industries aredischarged to 6,000 km public drains via 2,284 km canals network, eventually to the riverwith or without properly treated. The large scale properties such as office buildings, hotels,
condominium etc. are required to have wastewater treatment plants to be conformed to theeffluent standards set by the National Environment Board. Normal households are required tohave septic tanks to accept toilet wastes.
In 1981, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) with the assistance from Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted the “Master Plan Report on Bangkok
Sewerage System Project”. The Master Plan reported that without the sewerage system, thewater quality of the river would be deteriorated resulting in low level of dissolved oxygen(D.O.) approaching zero D.O. in the lower segments between 40 and 20 km from the mouth.
In addition, it is recommended that control and regulation of wastewater discharge originatedfrom domestics and industries is needed. It also concluded that the wastewater must be
intercepted to relief nuisance condition in the recipients. The Master Plan recommended thatthe regional sewerage system should be basically a separate system, but for immediate needs
the existing public wastewater collected by the proposed sewerage system should be treated
before discharged to prevent rising drains be adopted as combined sewer in central area until
such time when financial of complete separate system is possible.

121International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe Master Plan has divided the entire plan area into 10 sewerage zones, each with anindependent collection and treatment system. Stabilization pond and aerated lagoon had been
considered to be the preferred technologies for treatment plant alternatives. The JICA Master
Plan had been revised at least two times by pollution Control Department, Ministry of Scienceand Technology in 1992 and by JICA which proposed 20 sewerage zones together withsludge and effluent reuse in 1999. Probably, the latest Master Plan is the basis of the existing
implementation which has enabled BMA to implement the various systems to a more
affordable phased investment program.

122

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water
Area
Population
Environment(km2)
Control Plant
Bangkok Wastewater Treatment Project1. Si Phraya
2.7120,000
2. Rattanakosin
3. Din Daeng
4. Chong Non Si

4.1
37
28.5

70,0001,080,000
580,000

5. Nong Khaem

44

520,000

6. Thung Khru

42

177,000

7. Cha Tu Chak

33.4

432,000

SystemContact
Stabilization A.S.
Two Stage A.S.
Activated Sludge
Cyclic ActivatedSludge System
Vertical Loop
Reactor A.S.
Vertical Loop
Reactor A.S.
Cyclic ActivatedSludge System

8. Community
Plant 12 Plants
191.7
2,979,000
SUM
Future BMA. Wastewater Treatment Project
1. Bang Sue EECP
21
250,000
Step Feed A.S.
2. Klong Toei
56
485,000 Activated Sludge
3. Thon Buri
59
704,000 Activated Sludge
136
1,439,000
SUM

123

Capacity(m3/day)

Sourceof Fund

Cost(Million Baht)

30,000

BMA. : GOV.
BMA 100 %464

40,000350,000
200,000

GOV. 100%
25 : 75
40 : 60

883
6,382
4,552

157,000

40 : 60

2,348

65,00040 : 60

1,760

150,000

60 : 40

3,482

25,7001,017,700
120,000
360,000
305,000
785,000

19,871
BMA 100 %60 : 40

4,732
9,896
11,561
26,189International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Following the Environmental Conservation Laws enacted in 1992, the Thai Government had
announced the Cabinet Resolution in 1998 to allow BMA to implement sewerage projects
within the populated city core area of 100 km2. To ensure the project finance, the government
had agreed to subsidize BMA at the proportion of 75:25. Since then, five wastewater
treatment plants and more than 220 km of interceptor sewers have been constructed based on
design-build basis. Recently, seven sewerage zones have been completed and put into operati
Following the Environmental Conservation Laws enacted in 1992, the Thai Government had
announced the Cabinet Resolution in 1998 to allow BMA to implement sewerage projects
within the populated city core area of 100 km2. To ensure the project finance, the government
had agreed to subsidize BMA at the proportion of 75:25. Since then, five wastewater
treatment plants and more than 220 km of interceptor sewers have been constructed based on
which can accommodate 992,000 cubic meters per day of wastewater. The water qualities incanals as well as in the river have been monitored and the results indicated that they have beenvery much improved. The river water quality meets the class 4 surface water standard set by the
National Environmental Board that means D.O. level is equal or greater than 2 mg/l.

Collection System and Treatment Plants.
Like several large and old cities, the drains in Bangkok convey both domestic wastewater andstorm water into the canals or receiving water. The drains are cleaned up annually bymanpower as well as cleaning machine. When the interceptors had to be designed, there wasa lot of discussion how many dry weather flows should be selected. Finally the size of theinterceptor sewer system has been set at 5 DWF. During raining season, the flow may be 25
times greater than the average dry weather flow. Then the overflow water to the recipients
will be clean enough and has not so much effect to the water quality of the canals. Owing to
the traffic congestion, the trenchless technology is being used to avoid the problems of open
cut excavation. Jacking pipe can be either HDPE for small size or reinforced concrete pipes
with internal polyethylene liner.

124International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) or the Interceptor Point Chambers (IPCs) are theexonerate structure which control the designed dry weather wastewater to the interceptors
while the excess storm water is discharged to the canals. The CSO are equipped with flap
gates to prevent the canal water flowing back to the interceptor while water levels are high.
The 5DWF of wastewater flows to Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) which provide preliminary
treatment. Only 1.5 DWF will be passed to secondary treatment while flows in excess of 1.5
DWF will be discharged to the canals or the river. Because of land scarcity, most of thetreatment plants are designed at least two stories building or multi stories. Odor control
facilities are needed to ensure that when put into operation the plants will not nuisance theneighborhood. Basically the STPs are activated sludge process with nutrient removal. The
discharge effluent should conform to the set standard as follows:
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Total Suspended solid (SS)
Total Kjedahl Nitrogen (TKN)
Total Ammonia Nitrogen (NH3-N)
Total Phosphorus (TP)Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.)

<
<
<
<
<
<

20 mg/l
30 mg/l
10 mg/l
5 mg/l2 mg/l5 mg/lThe biological excess sludge is dewatered by belt filter press with the minimum requirementof 20% dry solids. The dewatered sludge will be transported to Anaerobic Digester site forfurther treatment. Digested sludge is dried out and mixed with selected material to becompost and can be used in public parks as soil conditioner or fertilizer. Operation andmaintenance of STPs is managed into 2 types. For small capacity plants, less than 40,000
cubic meters per day, BMA trained staff will take all responsibility while larger capacity
plants will be outsourced to private companies on 5 years contract basis.
Source of fund for Bangkok STPs construction and supervision is from BMA and subsidy bycentral government. Furthermore operation and maintenance cost is totally from BMA. Since
tariff structure of BMA is under preparation, charging the wastewater fee in service area will
be implemented in the near future.

Lessons Learned
There are several conclusions and lessons learned from the Bangkok wastewater management.
Firstly, the development of planning and implementation schemes, need a strong supports
from National and Local Governments. The action plan especially the construction ofinterceptors and STPs requires subsidy from the Central Government. Secondly, people
participation in each step of project management can not be neglected during this day. Public
consultation should be conducted before and after project being implemented. Thirdly the
ambitious programs to solve the sanitary problems require close consultation among BMA’s
experience consultants, academic professors, contractor representatives and BMA policy
makers. Last but not least required land for STPs can be minimized by constructing multistories building or underground structures.

125International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

References
Camp Dresser & McKee Consulting Engineers, 1968. Sewerage, Drainage and Flood
Protection Systems, Bangkok and Thonburi, Thailand. BMA master plan.
Department of Drainage and Sewerage, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, 2007. 30th of
Department of Drainage and Sewerage Report.
Office of Water Quality Management, DDS, 2006. Annual Report.
JICA study, 1981. The Master Plan Report on Bangkok Sewerage System Project, BMA
master plan.
Macro Consultant Co., Ltd. in Association with Thailand Institute of Scientific andTechnological Research Environmental Technology Consultants Limited, 1993. The
Bangkok Metropolitan region wastewater Management Master Plan. PCD master plan.
Thailand Development Research Institutes (TDRI), 1988. The Development of a Framework
for Water Quality Management of Chao Phraya and Tachin Rivers. TDRI report.
The study for the Master Plan on Sewage Sludge Treatment/Disposal and Reclaimed
Wastewater Reuse in Bangkok, Final Report, October 1999.

126International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water Environmental Governance in Asia-Pacific:
Understanding the Policy Implications and Lessons of the
Global Environmental Governance Process

Jacob Park
Assistant Professor of Business Strategy and Sustainability
Green Mountain College, Vermont (USA)E-mail: parkj@greenmtn.edu

Abstract
Despite the many new forms of institutions and global declarations on environmental issues
over the past 35 years, there has been growing disillusionment over the progress made on
improving the governance of water and other environmental issues. This raises two importantquestions that will be addressed in this paper. First, why has there been such limited progresson water environmental governance in the Asia-Pacific region? Second, what if any can bedone to improve the scope and outlook for Asian water environmental governance? In
exploring these two questions, the paper will ask what important policy implications andlessons the Asia-Pacific region can draw from the existing global environmental governanceprocess.

Introduction
The year 2007 marks the anniversary of many institutional milestones in global environmental
governance. This year marks the 10th anniversary of negotiations that produced the Kyoto
Protocol on climate change, the 15th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), as well as the 35th anniversary of the 1972 United
Nations Conference on Human Development. While there have been many new forms of
institutions and global declarations on environmental issues, there has also been a growing
disillusionment over the progress made on improving the state of global environmental
governance.
Similarly, in the context of water governance, there has been no shortage of global andregional initiatives in the past two decades on a wide range of water quality, scarcity, andmanagement issues. Chapter 18 of UNCED Agenda 21 initiative focused on various water
governance issues, while the 1992 Dublin principles highlighted the importance of integrated
water resource management. 2002 Johannesburg Summit Action Plan requested countries todevelop water resource management plan by 2005, while the 2003 Third World Water Forumprovided important regional focus on Asian water quality, scarcity, and management issues.
Like the halting progress made on the level of global environmental governance, there has
been at best limited gains made on improving the state of water environmental governance in
the Asia-Pacific region. This raises two important questions that will be addressed in thispaper: first, why has there been limited progress on improving water environmental
governance in the Asia-Pacific region and second, what if any can be done to improve thescope and outlook for Asian water environmental governance. In exploring these twoquestions, the paper will ask what important lessons the Asia-Pacific region derive from theexperiences of global environmental governance process.

127International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Accounting for the limited progress on Asian water environmental governanceThe clarion call for the can-do optimism of enlightened global environmental self-interest canbe best seen in Our Common Future, the 1987 report of the World Commission on
Sustainable Development (WCED). Chaired by former Prime Minister and now a special
U.N. representative for climate change, Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, the WCED
sketched a vision of sustainability as economic development; a world in which Southerngovernments implemented policy reforms with the help of Northern funding and technology
transfer; and international cooperation around a shared global vision of the future which
would break the logjam of perceived conflicts among national interests.
Unfortunately, these premises can only be described today as wildly optimistic, particularly
when it comes to the role of the state in promoting sustainable development of water andother natural resources. To better understand the limited progress made on improving water
environmental governance in the Asia-Pacific region, it is critically important to understandthe mistaken assumptions of the post-1987 WCED global environmental governance process.
The first flawed premise of the global environmental governance process can be traced to thefailure to understand the underlying dynamics of industrial development, technologicalchange, and economic globalization. The current global environmental governance process(e.g. Earth/Rio Summit, Johannesburg Summit, etc.) vastly underestimated the dynamics andsignificance of economic globalization. An important reason why the contemporary
institutions of environmental governance are not working well in terms of sustainability liesin the practice of environmental politics being subjected to market disciplines and marketbased solutions. This visible global trend of ‘marketizing’ environmental policy and dilemmas
explains in part the near hegemonic acceptance of market-based solutions before assessing theimplications for environmental policy effectiveness (Newell 2008).
The second flawed premise stems from the failure to adequately conceptualize the scope andscale of water-related environmental policy dilemmas. UNCED and its follow up global
environmental forums (e.g. Johannesburg Summit) organized around a very limited
conception of the transnational character of environmental problems, neatly parsing
international environmental challenges into two categories. Those with physically apparent
border-crossing dimensions (e.g. transboundary pollutant flows and shared internationalcommons) are understood as appropriate subjects of interstate treaty making. In contrast, thephysically localized problems that dominate, for instance, the 1992 Agenda 21 - involving
soils, watersheds, coastlines, wetlands, forests, agro-ecological systems, and urban
settlements - are understood to be the primary responsibility of national governments.
We may think of water and other ecological resources as physically localized and thus, in the
global environmental governance framework, as “domestic” or “national” matters. However,rarely are water and many other natural resource concerns are “local” matters in a world
marked by massive, rapid, and growing flows of people, goods, money, ideas, images, andtechnology across increasingly porous borders. These flows produce a dense, sociallyconstructed web that can transmit the causes and effects of seemingly localized environmental
problems from one place to another just as surely as a river or a gust of wind might carrythem (Conca 2006).
The third important problem with the existing global environmental governance approach has
been its excessively state-centered vision of environmental policy change and128

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

implementation. Instead of asking which stakeholder or a partnership (public-private, nonprofit-business, or some other version) is likely to address the critical issue of improving thescope and pace of environmental governance in an era of globalizing political economy, thecurrent approach has taken an overly state-centric approach.
For instance, the 1987 Brundtland report includes an appendix setting out 23 core principles
for environmental protection and sustainable development. After an initial principle defining
the individual's right to a sound environment, the remaining twenty-two principles each begin
with the words "states shall...." The problem with the notion that “states shall...” is that states
typically can’t, even if they would, which they often won’t. Frequently, the state lacks theuncontested authority to control local access to and uses of water and other ecologicalresources.

Improving Asian water environmental governance in an era of global marketization
If the path from Stockholm to Johannesburg defined by the U.N. and other virtuous global
governance actors do not offer a roadmap for water environmental governance in the AsiaPacific region, what can? In particular, what institutional mechanisms and governing
arrangements are consistent with the challenges of sustainability in a rapidly changing
regional (particularly in the case of the Asia-Pacific region) and global political economy? In
terms of water environmental governance in the Asia-Pacific region, three important lessons
can be derived from the experiences of the global environmental governance process.
The first important lesson is that the role of civil society in environmental governance is still
underdeveloped and more importantly, underappreciated. Instead of presuming that the stateis the authoritative unit of distributive justice and political voice, much more serious forms ofcivil society engagement, political participation, and articulation of what people really want
and need are urgently required.
Rather than marginalizing civil society’s voice via perfunctory “stakeholder consultations”,
the idea of far more active, indeed activist, forms of participation will have to be taken
seriously. This raises questions about the entire policy cycle (from formulation to
implementation and evaluation), about the multiple levels at which participation must takeplace (local, regional, national, supra-national, global), and about the constituted groups ofactors beyond conventional entities such as political parties or “NGOs.”
The second important lesson has to do with what one American scholar refers to as “watermarketization”. Broader than just water privatization or public-private partnership, watermarketization refers to a broader set of linked transformations related to prices, property
rights, and the boundary between the public and private spheres. Norms and practices of watermarketization have profound implications for the way rivers, watersheds, freshwater
ecosystems, and municipal water systems is likely to be governed in the Asia-Pacific region(Conca 2006).
In the case of water governance, the scope and involvement of the private sector isparticularly problematic in the Asia-Pacific region due to the huge investments that have to bemade in many countries in this region. If the private sector is expected to finance all or part of
the roughly US$80 billion that have to made in annual water infrastructure investments(Mehta and Canal 2004), will the expected return on investment (the only way a business

129

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

would even make the investment in the first place) consistent with ensuring that water will be“fairly” priced for all Asian residents, poor and rich alike? How can Asian governments andcivil society groups ensure that water equity considerations are properly balanced with thebusiness goals of economic efficiency, financial viability, and return on investment?
The third important lesson has to do with designing and developing the appropriate
institutional architecture to address water environmental issues. The current global
environmental governance approach proved to be particularly weak on this, as it was believed(falsely) that one could shift local environmental problems to a higher regional/global level,
while applying a traditional nation-state approach. Instead of limiting ourselves to sovereigninterstate diplomacy and ad-hoc institutional arrangements, effective multi-level and crosscutting institutional arrangements for environmental sustainability must be designed,
developed, and maintained.
In the case of water quality, scarcity, and management issues, this means asking somefundamental questions about the core functions of water environmental governance. Who are
the agents (public, civil society, private, public-private partnership, and so on) best suited toaddress or implement water environmental governance solutions? At what levels ofgeographical/scale aggregation - ranging from the local to national /regional and to the global- are these functions of water environmental governance most effectively performed?
There have been some interesting examples of multi-level governance models in the form of
the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global Compact, and the World Commission on Dams
and we need to better reflect on the types of regional institutional arrangements can best
implement long-term water environmental governance solutions in the Asia-Pacific region.
Acknowledgement
This paper draws heavily on the introductory chapter in the new forthcoming book, Crisis of
Global Environmental Governance: Toward a New Political Economy of Sustainability,
which I served as co-editor along with Ken Conca and Matthias Finger. I gratefully thank andacknowledge my intellectual debt to my two co-editors.
References
Asian Development Bank (2005) Making Profits, Protecting Our Planet: Corporate
Responsibility for Environmental Performance in Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines:
ADB.
Conca, Ken (2006) Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global
Institution Building, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (2005) Sustainable Asia and Beyond: In Pursuitof Innovative Policies, Kanagawa, Japan: IGES.
Mehta, Lyla and O. Canal (2004) “Financing Water for All: Behind the Border Policy
Convergence in Water Management” IDS Working Paper 233, Brighton, UK: IDS/Universityof Sussex.
Newell, Peter (2008) “Environmental Governance and Marketization” in Jacob Park, Ken
Conca, and Matthias Finger, Crisis of Global Environmental Governance: Toward a New
Political Economy of Sustainability, London: UK: Routledge
Ott, Herman (2005) “The European Union: A Strategic Actor for Sustainable Global
Governance” in Andreas Rechkemmer, ed., UNEO: Towards an International Environment
Organization, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

130International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanA Fundamental Study on Reinterpretation of Wisdom throughProject Risk Management for Water Environment Partnership in Asia

Tsunemi Watanabe
Kochi University of Technology, Frontier Engineering Course
Tosayamada, Kami-city, Kochi, 782-8502, Japanwatanabe.tsunemi@kochi-tech.ac.jp

Abstract
Asia has much wisdom for human beings to coexist with the environment. Therefore, its
active utilization is useful for water environment management in the world, which faces aformidable challenge. In this paper, thus, an attempt is made to reinterpret some of thewisdom through project risk management. Wisdom and project risk management are different
types of knowledge: tacit and formal knowledge, respectively. Project risk management is
rapidly becoming popular in the world including Asia. Thus, such a reinterpretation would beeasy for the western society to understand and accept the wisdom. It would be also easy for
the Asian society to apply the wisdom with more confidence and transparency.

Introduction
Asia has much wisdom for human beings to coexist with the environment; therefore, its active
utilization is useful for water environment management in the world, which faces aformidable challenge. In this paper, thus, an attempt is made to reinterpret some of thewisdom through project risk management. Wisdom and project risk management are different
types of knowledge: tacit and formal knowledge, respectively. Project risk management is
rapidly becoming popular in the world including Asia. Thus, such a reinterpretation would beeasy for the western society to understand and accept the wisdom. It would be also easy for
the Asian society to apply the wisdom with more confidence and transparency.

Overview of project risk management
Main elements of project risk management are to identify, structure and analyze, and respondto major risk factors. Risk management process is a tool for assisting a project manager to
conduct the above whole series of sub-processes. Application results are often represented
with the trade-off between return and risk. Here, return is usually defined as the expectedvalue of what the manager will achieve as her/his objective, and risk is defined as the varianceof what she/he will achieve as her/his objective. Measures bringing a situation with lower risk
and higher return are desirable. If either is improved without sacrificing the other, thatsituation is said to be in “risk efficient”

A case study of an accident in a daycare center
Since results of case studies and views from different viewpoints are encouraged to discuss inthis conference, the author would like to introduce a case study of an accident in a daycare
center. This case study actually brings useful perspectives into water environment
management.
There was an accident that a child died of heat disorder while playing in a daycare center in131International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Ageo-city in 2005. After the accident, there was a discussion that assuring safety is of course
important but free nursing is also important. Nishikawa distinguishes between caring andnurturing and defines caring as “making a child stay away from any danger” and “nurturing as
encouraging a child to live vividly at each moment by making a small failure and learningfrom it (Nishikawa, 2006) .”Nishikawa further states that “discussions swings between caring and nursing. This swing is a
proof of sound daycare center.” and that “nurturing becomes only possible by officially andunofficially embedding the opportunities in administration of the daycare center for sharing
the above-mentioned swing, bringing up worries and problems associated with nurturing fromthe both staffs and parents, and discussing among parents how the nurturing should be. It is
important for parents and staffs to stay close so that they can share a fear of incident.”
Significance of the swing from project risk management viewpoints is explained in Figure 1.
Here return and risk are defined as the expected value and variance of what each childachieves as her/his objective, respectively. Then the caring is considered a low risk and low
return task, and the nurturing may be perceived as a high risk and high return task. In
principle the swing seems nothing more than consensus building steps towards ideal goals
with lower risk and higher risk. The swing is an indispensable step towards a risk efficientsolution.

Figure 1. Significance of the swing from project risk management viewpoints

Multi-party risk efficiency
Yoshida points out that recent Japanese public works tend to be implemented on theadversarial axis between the public administration and residential people or citizens and that
this axis should be redirected into dialogical axis to achieve consensus building. Major steps
towards the consensus building include listening to each other, swinging, accepting eachother, and creating responsibilities each other (Yoshida, 2006).
Yoshida’s views seem valid to projects other than recent Japanese public works. In practice,
however, this mutual listening process is often “skipped.” As a result, some transaction does
not necessarily put the all transacting parties in risk efficient conditions. Pippatanapiwon and
Watanabe define multi-party risk efficiency as the situation in which all parties in thetransaction are in risk efficient conditions. For successful project risk management, it isimportant to take risk management measures that are able to achieve the multi-party risk
efficiency. In future water environmental management, its significance is considered the same.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanFor example, human beings take a significant amount of water for hydraulic power generationfrom many rivers. As a result, little water is left for underwater creatures. This water
allocation enables only the human beings to enjoy “convenient” lives but often puts lives ofunderwater creatures in danger. This allocation apparently does not achieve the multi-party
risk efficiency and is undesirable in developing water environment partnership.
Two components are important to achieve the multi-party risk efficiency: recalling a sense of
shame through straightforward presentation for honest listening and reconsidering meaning of
convenience. Each is discussed in the following sections.

Recalling a sense of shame through straightforward presentation
The first component is to recall a sense of shame of indifferent people through straightforward
presentation. People belonging to an organization with a hierarchical structure often have adifficulty in listening to others honestly. They often act as components of their organizational
system, that is, replaceable and invisible even though they do not want to do so. They can
only speak “language prescribed by the system.” They have a difficulty in talking about not
only other peoples’ feeling but also their own feeling. Especially many Japanese public
administrators have this fate (Kato, 1997). For example, it is often said an administrative
officer responsible for compensation negotiation associated with dam construction is
discouraged to have a chat with residential people who are required to move out the dam site.
Thus, it is often extremely difficult for such a replaceable and invisible component to dohonest listening.
However, the honest listening may be possible by recalling a sense of shame throughstraightforward presentation. Monobe river flowing in Kochi in Japan is a good example ofthis. The river used to be known for a very clean stream but is now facing a critical situationof a sharp decrease in catches of sweetfish. Its annual catches were beyond 70 tons in the
beginning of 1980s but became less than one ton in 2006. Though existence of sweetfish isconsidered a symbol of a clean stream, many farmers who have been enjoying a sufficientamount of water intake are indifferent to this sweetfish crisis.
When young staffs in the agricultural sector participated in a cleanup event of the river andfound plastic bags and bottles farmers left, the staffs were shocked and shamed with theircolleagues’ behaviour. This incident becomes one of turning points in attitudes of some people
in the agricultural sector towards the river. Some cooperative activities are started by the
agricultural sector and the inland water fishery sector in solving drought problem andagricultural muddy water problem to improve the river environment and to restore thesweetfish.
This story of Monobe river shows that recalling a sense of shame through straightforward
presentation is a worth-while attempt for the honest listening.

Reconsidering meaning of convenience
The second component is reconsideration of meaning of convenience. Ohnishi (Ohnishi,
2006) successfully demonstrates this necessity through his interviewing people for years who
have been living in old Tokuyama village, which went under water due to dam construction.
An old man says, “We have to move with our legs to do our works, but we can do them in the133International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

range where we can walk. Cars and trains were not really necessary before. We could manage
without them. Living in the heart of the mountain is not as inconvenient as you imagine. We
actually think it is convenient.”
Ohnishi then says, “Meanings of “convenience” are totally different in between the current
generation and old generation. The old people never feels convenient in the world where
everything can be operated with one switch. Jo-san, the name of an old lady, always says thatliving in a city is inconvenient. }The terra may have provided human beings with everythingwhich are needed for them to be alive.” (Description with the underline was inserted by theauthor.)Ohnishi also describes Jo-san as follows: “She is enjoying this earth very very much. She
works very hard to eat, but she is never unhappy to do so. She seems to be telling me that her
outlook on value of work is fundamentally different from our objective of work, that is, toeat.”
The author interprets the two meanings of convenience as follows. For people of the current
generation, it is a possibility that they pursue return, that is, whatever they want to do withoutrisk, that is, being worried about any life-threatening event. For the people in the oldgeneration, it is enjoyment to be united with the nature, that is return, and assurance, that is
opposite to risk, of living in the nature where they can well manage their lives for themselves
most of the time.
It is never easy for them to survive in the heart of the mountain. They can only do so by
carefully and more importantly enjoyably observing any change in the nature as well as
acquiring and practicing wisdom which have been taking over from their ancestors over thegenerations. In this sense they always conduct risk management independently throughavoiding and responding to factors to threaten their lives. Furthermore their pursuit of returnand risk management are united and can not be separated. Independence and unification are
the pillars of their convenience.
However, they are never overconfident. Ohnishi observes them and says, “They very often
clasp their hands in prayer towards the gods of fire, water, ground, and light. The god lies inanything.” The author observes that this pray is practice of one of “the golden rules” in projectrisk management: minimize risks that you do not control (Kashiwagi, 2004). No matter how
hard each party tries to manage risks, certain risks may be out of her/his control. In project
management such risks may be transferred to other party through contract. The behaviour ofthe old peoples of appreciating for today’s happiness and peace, today’s return, and praying
for tomorrow’s happiness and peace, reciprocal concept of tomorrow’s risk, is considered
equivalent to behaviour of an excellent project manager of pursuing return while minimizing
risks she/he does not control.
This independent and unified management by the old people is totally opposite to the peopleof the current generation. The current people pursue their return but hand most of “rights” ofmanaging life-threatening events to other people such as government. Thus, the fulldependency of risk management of one’s own life on others and separation between the return
pursuit and the risk management are the pillars of their convenience.
Now sustainability of water environment is in critical conditions. Physical and mental health134International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanof not a few Japanese is also seriously questioned. Under this situation, the full dependency
and separation of the return pursuit and the risk management is not a wise idea. The current
people should change their concept of convenience to more independency and unification of
the return pursuit and the risk management.

References
Kashiwagi, D. (2004), Best Value Procurement, 2nd edition, Performance Based Studies
Research Group, Arizona
Kato, T. (2002), Japanese for citizens, Hitsuji Shobo, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese)
Nishikawa, T. (2006) My important place, Hands on Saitama, Saitama, Japan (in Japanese)
Ohinishi, N. (2006) Treasures in my village, Information Center Pub. Tokyo, Japan (inJapanese)
Yoshida, R. (2006) Consensus building with listening to each other, presented at constr. mgt.
committee of the JSCE, Tokyo, July 27, 2006 (in Japanese)135International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Approaches Toward Better Lake Water Environment in Japan with Reference to theConcept of Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM)

Motomu Uchimura
Assistant Director of Water Environment Division, Ministry of the Environment
1-2-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8975 Japan
E-mail: motomu_uchimura@env.go.jp

Abstract
Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) is recently introduced concept for the sustainable
management of lakes and their basins. Various measures and policies implemented on thelakes in Japan was not entirely composed according to this sort of concept, however, inpractice those measures correspond with the concept of ILBM. This paper aims to review thecorrespondence by taking up Lake Biwa as an example because of the comprehensiveness andthe diversity of the measures and activities on it.

Introduction
Lakes and reservoirs are very important property for people's life, industrial activities and soon. They provide various benefits to us, such as securing water resources for drinking,agriculture and industrial use, fishery resource, flood control functions and ecosystem
integrities. However, because of the closed nature of lakes’ water system, pollution tends toaccumulate therein, and once water is polluted, it is difficult to improve the water quality. In
addition, the situation is that a remarkable improving tendency of the water quality of lakes is
not seen due to the increase of the pollutant load by the economic change and the increase of
the population as well as the change in the lake environment, etc.
This paper takes up Lake Biwa because it is the biggest lake in Japan and holds metropolis,
therefore, it has the flood control function as well as the role of the water reservoir for the 14
million people. This importance of Lake Biwa has concentrated various measures and policies
around it ranging laws to citizens’ participation, and those measures in the watershed havebeen implemented in a sort of integrated and systematic manner, which Integrated Lake BasinManagement (ILBM) is going to promote. This paper tries to review those measures andpolicies with reference to the concept of ILBM.
The concept of ILBM approach
ILBM is a concept which has been discussed in recent meetings of World Lake Conference
held in Kenya (2005) and India (2007). “ILBM is a conceptual framework for assisting lakebasin managers and stakeholders in achieving sustainable management of lakes and theirbasins.” (How Can We Stop Degradation of the World’s Lake Environments?: ILEC, 2007)
The concept of ILBM consists of several pillars, that is, institutions, participation, policies,
technology, information and finance. The measures and policies being implemented on Lake
Biwa seem to be corresponding to those ILBM elements. The following parts are the reviewof the measures and policies according to these pillars of ILBM.
Institutions
In the governance aspect, many governmental bodies are involved, i.e. some prefectural
governments, municipal governments and ministries of the central government, that is, the136International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Environment, Land and Infrastructure, Agriculture and Forestry, and Health and Welfare. To
facilitate the coordination among these many organizations, a coordination council wasestablished with the aim of strengthening partnerships among members and facilitating
implementation of Lake Biwa preservation programs.
Policies
Both of the central and the prefectural government make policies for the lake environment
preservation, mainly by establishing laws/ordinances, standards and zoning etc. The central
government enacts the Water Pollution Control Law and the Law on Measures for Lake Water
Quality Conservation and establishes standards on water quality of the effluent from factories
and other commercial facilities, while prefectural government enacts ordinances for the
specific aspect such as reed area conservation and prevention of the eutrophication in Lake
Biwa.
The Law concerning Special Measures for Preservation of Lake Water Quality(reference)
The main points of the law are as follows:a. The government establishes and publishes the basic policy to preserve the water quality oflakes and reservoirs throughout the nation.
b. The Minister of the environment, at the request of the prefectural Governors, designates
lakes in which the need of comprehensive measures to meet the Environmental Quality
Standardsc. Prefectural Governors establish plans for the preservation of lake water quality (the Water
Quality Preservation Plan for Lakes), in keeping with both the natural and social conditionsin the watershed areas.
d. Measures are carried out to preserve the water quality of designated lakes in accordancewith the Water Quality Preservation Plan for Lakes and Reservoirs. These measures include
treatment of household wastewater and measures to purify lakes, such as dredging bottom
sludge and aeration. And pollution quantity regulation of effluent is applied to the factory
and the business place in addition to the pollution concentration regulation based on the
Water Pollution Control Law. However, not only the effluent from the factory andhousehold wastewater, the pollutant load from non-pointed sources such as the farmland andthe urban areas are the major cause of the water pollution of lakes. Therefore, the clause ofcomprehensive plan for addressing non-pointed sources was added to the law.
Lake Water Quality Preservation Plan (reference)
The main contents of the Lake Water Quality Preservation Plan are as follows:a. The basic policy concerning the preservation of the water quality, the plan period and thetarget water quality value at the last year of the plan period are shown in the Plan.
b. The building and maintaining of drainage system, the other household wastewater
treatment facilities, the animal manure waste treatment facility, the waste disposal facility,
and the purification measures of lakes and reservoirs, and the purification measures of riverwater, etc. are shown as projects contributing to the preservation of the water quality in thePlan.
c. The restriction to the pollutant load from the factory drainage, the household wastewater,
and a livestock industry, fish culture, and the measures to control the non-pointed-source ofpollution, and the conservation of green area and the other natural environment in thevicinity of the lake, etc. are shown as restriction measures for the preservation of the water
quality in the Plan.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japand. The measurement of water quality in public waters, promotion of the research study, andsecuring the cooperation with local residents, the adjustment with the related regional plans,
and the promotions to the business sector, etc. are shown as concerning necessary measuresin the Plan.
Ordinance for Promotion of Environmentally Friendly Agriculture in Shiga Prefecture(reference) (note: Lake Biwa is located in Shiga Prefecture)
The Shiga prefectural ordinance for Promotion of Environmentally Friendly Agriculture wasenacted in March 2003 for the purpose of fostering sound development for agriculture in
Shiga and conservation of Lake Biwa and other natural resources in order to provide
consumers with better, safer agricultural products and to ensure harmony between theenvironment and agricultural production.
Participation
In promoting a wide variety of activities and creating extensive networks for Lake Biwa
environmental preservation, it is necessary to involve citizens and enterprises as well as
governmental agencies.
There was a cue or a trigger. In 1977, the first occurrence of red tide was confirmed, which
had a significant impact on the citizens. This motivated them to take action to prevent further
eutrophication. Increasing numbers of people participated in this environmental movement,
resulting in a prefecture-wide campaign to stop using synthetic household detergents
containing phosphorus. Driven by this campaign, Shiga prefectural government enacted an
ordinance to control nitrogen and phosphorus in the waste water by imposing some measures
including banning the marketing, use, and gifting of phosphorus-containing synthetic
detergent.
Another incident is the diffusion of the introduced non-native fish species such as large-mouthbass and bluegill sunfish. Because of this, endemic fish species are rapidly declining. Thisissue raised public awareness on the environment in Lake Biwa and some measures have been
introduced to eradicate introduced species, or at least control their reproduction, e.g. theprefecture enacted a fishing regulation which prohibits catch-and-release of large-mouth bass
and bluegill sunfish.
One more case of involvement of citizens is promoting eco-friendly agriculture. In the Water
Quality Conservation Plan for Lake Biwa, the measure for agricultural areas is stipulated tofurther promote the environmentally friendly agriculture in which the amount of chemical
pesticides and fertilizers is well below conventional practice and consideration is made formaintaining harmony with the environment such as appropriate management of agricultural
wastewater.
Technology
In the Water Quality Conservation Plan for Lake Biwa, various measures were stipulated to
improve the water quality of Lake Biwa. Some of them are listed below.
- Reducing environmental impact of domestic wastewater, by sewage systems, domestic
wastewater treatment systems (known as Johkasou in Japanese)- Purification of rainwater in urban districts, reducing influent load from non-point sources
by rainfall filtration and holding capacity in urban area with permeable pavements androadside trees- dredging of the sediment contamination on the lake bottom and water purification by138

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan--means of vegetation
agricultural water management systems featuring irrigation water circulation and water
recycling systems
restoration of the lake’s original landscape to regain the lakeshore’s functions of flood
prevention, ecosystem preservation and providing access to the waterpromoting the creation and conservation of reed colonies by designating several areas asreed colony conservation areas which provide ideal nesting and resting places for some
100 wild bird species and spawning habitats for fish
Restoration of attached lakes directly connected to Lake Biwa by waterways (Manyattached lakes have been reclaimed to create paddy fields for increasing food supply, butthey had potential to retain and purify pollutants and excessive nutrients.)

Information
There are a couple of facilities around Lake Biwa for promoting information and indigenous
knowledge. The Lake Biwa Research Institute is established recently to study various
environmental challenges in Lake Biwa and its catchment as well as continuous
environmental monitoring. And the Lake Biwa Museum was opened in 1996 to provide
opportunities of exchanging and sharing information.
Conclusion
Various approaches toward the better lake water quality have been taken for Lake Biwa. Someof them were systematically organized and some were not, but as a whole, they comprise asort of integrated approach for the lake management. And with the laws and somecoordinating bodies, the cooperation amongst the local residents, the municipalities and therelated ministries has been deepened.
These days, peoples’ interests in protecting biodiversity, ecosystems, scenery, and historicaland cultural heritage have become stronger. Therefore the conservation of a healthy water
environment has come to involve the conservation of aquatic life, waterfront areas, etc. aswell as the conservation of the water quality/quantity and an environmentally healthy water
cycle. The conservation of a healthy water environment remains a critical issue, and hence themeasures to addressing water environment problems should be integrated and promoted
further.

References
International Lake Environment Committee Foundation (ILEC), “How Can We Stop
Degradation of the World’s Lake Environments? -- Integrated Lake Basin Management”,
ILEC, Shiga, Japan (2007).

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Water Management Pollution Policy in Indonesia

Aksa Tejalaksana
Data Section
Assistance Deputy for Environmental Information and Data
Deputy For Capacity Building & Technical Infrastructure Development
The State Ministry of Environment

Abstract
The main problem that environmental developers is currently facing are the increasing waterpollution, decreasing water quality especially in major cities, increasing marine and coastal
ecosystem damage, threat to biodiversity, lack of clean water resources in some urban cities, thelack of laws concerning the preservation of the ecosystem, and the low public awareness inpreserving the ecosystem. The uncontrolled changes made on the land have caused an almost
irreversible damage in water containment areas on river basins. These damages are indicated by
the increasing amount of floods and landslides happening around Indonesia, also the opening offorested areas around the water basins cause the sediment to easily erode during rainfall thus
causing the water in the rivers to be dirty and the quality to decrease. From the development
sector, the decrease of quality in the river waters are mostly caused by pollution from industrial
and domestic waste, the damage has gotten severe enough that the Government has commenced anation wide effort to save water sources around Indonesia. In the effort to realize the repairs on
the ecosystems quality, The State Ministry of Environment has decided on a Water Pollution
Management Policy as stated in its Strategic Planning for the year 2005-2009. Some of the
programs that is being done by The State Ministry of Environment are Clean River Program(PROKASIH) and Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER) program
which urges the industry to obey so they do not discard their waste into the river, and Clean City
(ADIPURA) for processing solid domestic waste. These programs are hoped to decrease or if
possible outright stop the pollution in the rivers of Indonesia.

Introduction
Water is resource that is undeniably needed and necessary for humanity in their everyday
activities. Humanities need upon water grows higher as time goes on. This is caused by humankind always constantly finds ways to improve their livelihood, the higher the livelihoods of ahuman so will the usage of water increases. Water also happens to be the one of the maineconomical backbone for many countries around the globe. Water as a resource is the basis forthe farming sectors, energy, and the important part in a cities infrastructure, health and othervarious functions in the society.
The drastic increase or decrease of water, floods and droughts for example, are the main
problems in water resource management. These conditions are caused by a variety of hydrology
cycles that is influenced by the changing weather pattern and the way land is used especially nearriver basins that act as water reservoirs. Floods are considered as a natural disaster that causes
great destruction for the countries living and economical sections. Droughts severely limit the140International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanusage of water, especially for the use of irrigation which causes widespread damage for thefarming sectors, energy production, tourism, and other sectors.
Meanwhile the decrease in water quality is caused by pollution from industrial waste, household,and farming. The uneven urbanization also adds the problem of the continued deterioration of thecities water quality. .
Realizing that water is very vital resource for an individual, the people and even the country ,therefore water resource management envelopes the aspects of water protection that includes
within it technical, institutional, laws, the participation of the people, also the upholding of thelaws.
This paper expounds the problems concerning the quantity and quality of water in Indonesia, andalso the policy on the preservation and pollution control on water resources.

The Degradation on the River
According to the data from Metrology and Geophysics Office in the year 2006, shows that thepotential of the rainfalls is estimated to reach 4.6 x 1012. From that amount only 308 million m3
have the potential to infiltrate the ground and reach the underground water reservoirs, the rest
which is the larger amount will flow into the river. The total volume of river waters in Indonesia
in the year 2004 is estimated to be more then 1 billion m3.
Forest, lakes, marshes, and minor water containment areas are locations that possess the functionof holding and absorbing rain water so that the natural water reservoirs will stay stable from time
to time.
The data from the Indonesia’s 2001 environmental statistics shows that during 1994-1999 thedecrease of forest level has reached 6 million km2. The largest decrease in forest level happenedin Sumatra stated around 3 million km2, followed by Sulawesi estimated at 1.2 million km2,
Kalimantan estimated 886 thousand km2, and Maluku-Papua estimated at 679 thousand km2.
On the other hand, the increase in land usage for non-agricultural (housing, industry, etc.) haverisen, notably on the island of Java as large as 270 thousand km2, and 222 thousand km2 on theisland of Sumatra. Besides the forest, the changing function of the minor water containment areas
and marshes, from containing water, into housing areas and industry have also risen, this isespecially true around metropolitan cities, some of the most noted ones are Jakarta and Surabaya.
Inside the Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang dan Bekasi (JABOTABEK) area. The amount of minor
water containment areas, which in the year 1990 still existed 218, only stands around 50-100 at
the year 2002.
The damage caused to the water containment areas, created because by the changed use in theland around it, causes the steady flow of water that can be used for a variety of needs. During therain season the flow of water goes directly into the river then the ocean without having the chanceto penetrate the soil thus creating flood because the river can not contain it, and also as a result of
the rain water not being absorb by the soil will cause drought during the dry season. By
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monitoring the water flow levels of the Citarum river that was done during the dry season, shows
an extreme decrease in water flow level, from 6.35 m3/s at the year 1995, becoming 5.70 m3/s on
the year 2000, on the other hand during the rain season the water flow levels increase
dramatically, from 217.6 m3/s during 1995 menjadi 285.8 m3/s at the year 2000.
Besides that, the damage done on water containment areas will cause the lakes and basins tobecome shallow, lessening its containment capability, Sentani Lake at the Papua province forexample, since 1999 have become shallower at an approximate rate of 5 meters a year. The samething happened to Tondano Lake at the North Sulawesi province, whereas the year 1970 the
maximum depth of the lake reached 50 meter, during the year 2002 it was recorded at 10 meter.
The damage done to the water containment areas added with the excess excavation ofunderground water have caused a severe decrease in the levels of underground water reservoirs
causing earth depressions on several of Indonesia’s provinces, even ocean water intrusion have ishappening because of the excess excavating of underground water reservoirs, the area near the
shorelines of Jakarta, Semarang, Denpasar dan Batam. The widening of the decreasing cone ofunderground water reservoirs in the Bandung basin, and the case of earth depressions in Jakarta,
just happens to be the worse cases from the usage of underground water reservoirs without
paying attention to the conservation aspect. The data from the Environmental Geologic Plan forthe year 2000 have showed that the decrease of the underground water aquifers in the middle of
the Bandung basin reaches 50 m between the years 1985 unto 1997; meanwhile in shallow area
aquifers the decrease is estimated to have reach 1 m/year especially in industrial areas. The caseof earth depressions caused by the combination of the geological impact, damage in watercontainment areas, aided by the uncontrolled pumping of the underground water reservoirs is also
happening in Bandung. In Jakarta the decrease of water levels from the underground water
reservoirs have reached 17 meter and the depressions having a depth of, or even more then 80 cm
in West Jakarta area.

Water Pollution
The pollution of surface water and underground water reservoirs are commonly caused byindustrial, agriculture, and household activity. In the year 2004 there are around 9600 middle-toheavy industries that potentially can pollute surface water and underground water reservoirs. The
amount decreases around 3% compared to the number of middle-to-heavy industries in 2001.
Meanwhile the amount of small-scale industries with the potential to pollute surface water andunderground water reservoirs is numbered at 134, the amount increases by 14% compared to
2001. in East Java for example, to be exact, in the rivers of Surabaya, the parameters of BOD and
COD tends to increase, this matter is connected with the existence of 28 middle to heavy
industries that have become a priority for pollution control. Another example of the growing
industrial waste levels that enters the Siak River in the Riau province, which one of the cause is
the operation of 25 middle-to-heavy industries. Besides middle-to-heavy industries, small-scaleindustries also contribute to the pollution inside the rivers water, putting in mind the weakness in
its capital and spread, it’s a small chance for them to be equipped with a waste water recycler
Water Treatment Plant, so it can be assured that the decrease in the rivers water quality is also
caused by small-scale industries, tofu, tempe, tapioca, and fish processing industries to name afew. The river quality in Jakarta usually does not fulfils the accepted quality level whether it is B,
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C and D class which mainly is caused by waste that came from industrial processing activities,
who churns out 3,2 million m3 of waste a year , the liquid waste from agro-industry is numberedat 216 thousand m3 a year.
In metropolitan cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, the decrease in the river water quality isalso affected by the liquid waste from households. According to the 2004 census data from BPS,
nationally there are still 22% of households that does not poses proper toileting, which in turn canpotentially pollute public waters, 59% is located on Java Island alone. Besides that, nationally inthe year 1999 the amount of buildings that is constructed on the river bed has increased
approximately 38% compared to the situation in the year 1996. The increasing numbers is anindication of the raising level of pollution from household wastes into the river. The amount ofliquid domestic waste that entered the rivers inside the Jakarta area is estimated around 67,3
million m3 a year. 
Besides the industry and households, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the
agricultural sector are also potential pollutants, especially on surface. In the year 2004, the use of
non-organic fertilizers and pesticide for the agricultural sector reaches an amount of 1,5 million
kg and 109 thousand kg respectively. Residue from the fertilizers and pesticide will mostly end
up in the river water.
The monitoring of the underground water quality in a few locations at Jakarta, Tangerang dan
Serang have shown that a large amount of them can not be used as a source of drinking water.
The pollution of Jakarta’s underground water reservoirs are mainly caused by the Coliform andFecal Coli bacteria. This is caused because around 55% of the household in Jakarta possesses anunderground water reservoir whose distance to the nearest waste disposal unit have a distance ofless then 10 m.
Policy on Managing Water Resources.
The strategy on managing water resources should be aimed for conservation, or if possible, theincrease of an areas support ability from the availability of water resources. This effort must be
done by paying attention to waters multifunction ability, which is the ecological, economical, andsocial function. For that water management must be integrated, cross sectored, while considering
the projection on the growth of people for every sector, and the sectors development plan. In theyear 1999, the government have started to reform a number of laws that are connected with water
resources management.
In accordance with the proposed laws connected with the water resource management, The State
Ministry of Environment have given a few matters that are severely stressed upon, some of themare:
1. The principal of a continuous, efficient, area supported, cautious usage, and acommitment to increasing access to clean water sources for the mass.
2. The Clarity between the level of authority among the central government and the area
governance.
3. The guarantee upon the right of a citizen of the country for an availability of clean water
sources, to receive information, to partake in making a decision, and also paying attention toneeds of the people from a local area and local initiative.
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe State Ministry of Environmental Strategic Program
Besides the policies already stated before, at 2002 The State Ministry of Environment havepositioned several strategically placed programs that are connected with continuous water
management, some of them are the Company Environmental Performance Rating Assessment
Program (PROPER) and Clean River Program (PROKASIH).
Between 2003 until 2006, 249 licensed companies that are distributed on 7 provinces have signed
an enclosed contract to participate in PROKASIH. Up until the year 2005, 25 companies havebeen acknowledge to have completely followed the rules that are enclosed in the contract
Besides the manufacturing industry, up until the year 2006, 56 agro-industries that are distributedon four provinces have also participated in PROKASIH. The results that are monitored on theyear 2006 have showed that from 49 industries, 65% from the amount mentioned have showedthat they have a good performance, whereas the water quality for the BOD parameter is under thelimit.
The Government, starting from the year 2002, through The State Ministry of Environment
executed another program that is called PROPER, with the main goal to maximised PROKASIH.
One of PROPERS activities are spreading information to the masses about the level of organizedperformance of a company.
That basic principle of PROPER is to push a company’s organization in managing the ecosystem,
through a reputation based incentive, for companies that possesses a good performance on
ecosystem management will also get a good reputation, for companies with a less thensatisfactory performance on ecosystem management will also gain reputation, though it will not
be a good reputation. The performance level is categorized in 5 levels of colour, from the lowest:
black, red, blue, green and finally gold. Those five colours will describe the performance of acompany on ecosystem management.
In the year 2006, the companies that participated in PROPER are numbered at 520 companies, iscomposed of 254 manufacturing industries, 15 service industries, 101 agro-industries, and 149
mining, gas, oil and energy industry. Specifically for the water pollution control, in the year 2006
as much as 199 companies have been categorized on fulfilling the requirements, they are 86%
from the manufacturing industry, 6,5% from the service industry, and lastly 7,5 % from the agroindustry.
Although, because the participation of PROPER is voluntary in nature, the amount of companies
which follows the program is relatively not significant enough compared to the amount ofcompanies with the potential to ruin the ecosystem, the amount of companies who adhere to thelaws are also very little, besides that, the reputation based incentive, without any economical
incentive, tax reduction for example, will not be enough to give some companies to participate in
the PROPER program. Further more without any sort of serious reprimand and enforcements of
the law, the continuous destruction and pollution on the water will be severely, or even
impossible to stop
The reuse of water is done with the expectation on shortening the hydrology cycle and the144International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater, by making use of the available technology,
must be made a chosen method in the continuous water management in Indonesia. Besides that,the adaptation of the strategic whether change program, must be implemented immediately. All
programs and can be effectively implemented especially if the entire layer of people in the
country understands the necessity and participated actively.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Water Environmental Governance in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam
Le Anh Tuan1,2, Guido Wyseure2
1

Department of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, College of Technology
Can Tho University, Campus II, Street 3/2, Can Tho City, Vietnam
E-mail: latuan@ctu.edu.vn
2
Division for Land and Water Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
E-mail: guido.wyseure@biw.kuleuven.be

Abstract
The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam is the largest agriculture and aquaculture production
region of the nation. The total natural area of the Delta amounts to 3.9 million ha, of which
2.4 million ha of land is currently used for agriculture and aquaculture and 0.4 million ha forforestry. As the most downstream part of the Mekong River to both the South China Sea andthe Gulf of Thailand, the Delta is a large tropical wetland. Also, the Delta is very densely
populated with intense associated water pollution. The combination of the hydrologicalregime, sea, soil-type and pollution poses water quality management problems for irrigation.
This paper identifies five water environmental problems in the Delta that are the principal
limiting factors of agricultural production and human health, i.e. (i) the salinity intrusion in
the coastal areas, (ii) the effect of acid sulfate soils, (iii) the polluted water from humanactivities, (iv) the fresh water shortage in the dry season and (v) the flood in the rainy season.
The discussion and conclusion present the people’s adaption strategies and water gorvernanceissues in pursing sustainable management in the region.
Keywords: Mekong River Delta, water environment, governance, sustainable management.

Introduction
The Mekong River is the world’s second richest river basin after the Amazon River region interms of biodiversity (WWF, 2004). The Mekong River is a large international river withspecial characteristics and important roles in the Mekong countries. Every year, the Mekong
floodwaters from deposit fertile sediments from the upper basin of China, Myanmar,
Thailands and Laos to fields and wetlands in Cambodia and Vietnam. At Phnom Penh, theriver meets the Tonle Sap River, then splits into Tien River and Hau River before flowing
across the border of Vietnam and continues to branch into six tributaries in Tien River andthree tributaries in Hau River, to the the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand (Figure 1).
The Mekong River Delta (MD) is located in the Southeast Asian tropical monsoon zone. The
Delta in Vietnam is bordered to the North by Cambodia, to the west by the Vam Co River, tothe south by the Eastern Sea and to the west by the Gulf of Thailand. The whole MD is flatand low laying except for some low mountains and hills in Chau Doc and Ha Tien. The MD
has great potentials for agricultural production with a population of 18 million inhabitants(2006) living in 4 million hectares of land. In the past 20 years, the area of cultivable land has
grown rapidly, aided by the expansion and increased density of the irrigation and drainage
canals system. There is an extensive network of canals that have been constructed in the last
300 years: over 7,000 km main canals, 4,000 km canals of on-farm systems and more than
20,000 km of protection dykes to prevent early floods (MARD, 2003). Since 1976 to 1990,

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanagricultural areas in the Delta have increased by approximately 20%, however, total
production has doubled (Hoanh et al., 2003). Rice cultivation areas have increased yearly bymore than 100,000 ha during the period 1995 -1999 (Tuan et al., 2004a). The Delta
contributes more than 50 percent of staple food and 60 percent of fish-shrimp production ofVietnam (Minh, 2000). Historically for practical reasons the population has settled down
densely along the stream banks, resulting in a high concentration of human pollutants along
the water bodies in the Delta.

Figure 1. The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam
The goal of this research paper is to identify the current knowledge on water environmental
problems in the MD, to review the local people’s adaptation and the government policy, andto suggest future strategies for the implementation of water environmental governance for asustainable development of the Delta.

Water environmental problems
There are only two seasons in the MD: rainy and dry seasons. The long-term average annual
rainfall in the MD varies from 1,400 - 2,200 mm. About 90% of total rain water falls from
May to October. At the end of the rainy season, due to the combination of floodwater draining
from the upstream areas, the overland flood water from Cambodia enters the Vietnam border.
Uptream high water flow combined with the inland high rainfall and the effects of high tidefrom the sea result in thousands hectares of land are inundated, mainly the Northern parts of
the MD known as the Long Xuyen Quadrangle and the Plain of Reeds. Along the 600 kmcoast, the sea tide strongly influences the water quality due to the sea water intrusion. In thedry season, all the coastal lands are affected by salinity intrusion. In addition, in low levelareas, soil is covered by acid sulphate content. These natural conditions combined with thetraditional ways of human life based on intensive river water resource use result in the water
environmental problems of the Delta. Generally, there are three main water quality problemsof which, two of them are the principal limiting factors of agricultural production and humanhealth in the Delta (Tuan et al., 2004b):(i) Salinity intrusion: About 2.1 million hectares of the MD coastal areas (50%) are
affected by salinity during the dry season from December to May. Saline intrusion is one ofthe principal limiting factors in crop production, especially for rice, as crops are intolerant ofsalinity in the soil and water beyond 4 gram per liter. As an impact, more saline intrusion has
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led to more salinity in groundwater layers. Salt water infiltration into ground water is very
common in the coastal areas of the MD, especially the popular exploitation layer of 80 - 120
meters for household wells.
(ii) Acid sulfate soils (ASS): Acid sulfate soils occupy 1.6 millions hectares (47%) of the
MD mainly in the large areas of Long Xuyen Quadrangle and Plain of Reeds, the West Hau
river, a part of Ca Mau peninsula. ASS has high iron sulfide content. This soil is very
sensitive to the fluctuations in the river discharge and groundwater table. From March andApril, the subsurface water level lowers by approximately 1.0 meter and therefore the deep
cracks in the soils result in oxidization of the pyrite horizon into acid sulfate. Floods cantransport toxic water from ASS areas to other non-ASS areas.
(iii) Polluted water: The Mekong River is becoming more polluted as a result of the
agricultural and industrial chemicals and domestic untreated wastewater, which aredischarged directly into open water bodies. In some places, the polluted water is seriously
threatening public health and socio-economic development.
(iv) Fresh water shortages: In the dry season, normally lasting 7 months, the average
discharge of the Mekong River is under 2,500 m3/s, and sometime even to 1,700 m3/s, withthe groundwater table lowering by 2 - 3 m in some places. Scarcity of water for irrigation
affects nearly 1.5 million hectares of cultivable lands in the dry season. The Mekong riverwater level decreases and leads to more intense seawater intrusion. As a consequence many
coastal areas suffer serious shortages of fresh water supply.
(v) Floods: Discharge of the Mekong River during the wet season averages of 39,000
m3/sec. About 1.2 - 1.9 million of hectares of the southwestern part of the Delta is underannual flood. High floods caused losses of human life, millions of dollars worth of damage,including houses, infrastructures and crops. Records of flood losses show that children wereat high risk.

People’s adaptation and government’s policies
Salinity intrusion
Salinity intrusion has a positive effect for reducing acidity in potential ASS land; as the pH inwater is higher. When there is a lack of saline water in fields, as with saline protection dikes
as in some districts of Bac Lieu and Kien Giang, soil acidification occurs in the dry season
making soil much less productive, lowering the agricultural yields. The presence of brackish
and saline water is considered by some coastal shrimp farmers and fishermen to be a positive
occurrence as a source for their livelihoods (Miller, 2003). Choosing to adapt their activities
to correspond with salinity intrusion, farmers are able to implement a more varied production
scheme to raise shrimp during the dry season. The marine and coastal region contributes morethan half of exported aquatic value for Vietnam. However, further expanding the shrimp
industry will have a negative impact on salinization affecting local livelihoods. In salinity
management, mangrove forest replanting is perhaps the most controllable method to mitigate
the harmful effects caused by shrimp farming.
To limit saltwater intrusion into agricultural areas, saline water intrusion floodgates were
installed or are planned for much of the lower Mekong River. Since the last two decades,

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many saline control projects have been built. In the freshwater - brackish water environment
zones, many farming models have evolved, such as rice-shrimp rotation systems to maximize
returns through both rice and high-value, extensive or semi-intensive shrimp production.
Acid sulfate soils
There were many researches on ASS in the Mekong Delta last 30 years. Disturbance by
excavation or drainage of ASS for flood mitigation, urban development and agricultural
production can result in large areas acidified with significant environmental, social andeconomic problems. In the MD, ferrous iron (Fe2+) is commonly found from underground. It
causes metallic taste and bad smell for domestic and industrial uses. Rice and other crops instrong ASS do not grow well.
The solution is a smart combination of the ways for controlling irrigated water, tidal flushingeffects, adjusting suitable crop calendar and applying chemical methods. The inland
Melaleuca tree or some kinds of reed, that have pretty good tolerance to such a strong
acidification condition, should be replanted and restored as forest wetlands in the ASS land.
Their main functions are the provision of forest commodities, the regulation of the waterbalance and biodiversity conservation. For drinking water source, groundwater in ASS area ispumped out and can be treated by aeration and filtration. Aeration is used to change ironcontent ferrous to ferric form (Fe3+) and to reduce tastes and odors.
Polluted water
Parallel with the fast increasing agricultural yields and production, the MD is facing more andmore water pollution problems by human and animals waste, agro-chemicals such as
pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Moreover, processes of the urbanization andindustrialization together with the rapid population growth that leads to greater water demand
for upholding and developing the regional economy. This results in lack of clean water in thepoor communities. This issue in the MD is also common for Vietnam as a whole. Addressing
the water needs of people may be linked to the effort of poverty reduction and living
conditions improvement as well as environmental protection, especially in water bodies as awhole.
The Law on Water Resources (approved on 1998, effected in 1999) and the Law on
Environmental Protection (1993, revised on 2001) cover a number of policy measures
regarding suitable and effective water sources utilities and water environmental protection in
Vietnam. Applying constructed subsurface flow wetland is a promising solution as a small
scale approach for domestic wastewater treatment solutions. Constructed wetlands and thereuse of waste/wastewater for agriculture may be available alternatives that adapt the different
sustainability considerations including designed low cost installation as well as simply
operation and maintain. It also has a significant contribution to food production.
Fresh water shortage
There is a very big difference in discharge between the wet season and the dry season. In 7
months of the dry season, the river discharges one-third of the total annual flow. The lowdischarge of river water also leads to the salinity. Freshwater from river and canal is only usedin the upper parts of the delta, where the water quality is not affected by high concentration ofsalinity and/or acidity and/or pollution. This has an environmental impact, which not only
affects the rice-cultivation by local farmers but also results in limitations of living habits andhealth by local farmers. The agricultural production currently consumes 85 - 90% of the total
water supply. At present, about 75% of the inhabitants in the urban and 35% in the suburban

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanand rural have access to clean drinking water, this figure drops to 20% in far and deep areas(Tuan, 2003). Environmental authorities became aware of the looming fresh water crisis.
As a result, the “National Strategy for Clean Water Supply and Rural Environmental
Sanitation up to 2020” of the Government of Vietnam (2000) was elaborated as part of thenational “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper” to take responsibility for the Millennium
Development Goals. In An Giang and Kien Giang, building reservoirs in high lands forkeeping stream water is one of the water collection ways. Many water resources projects havebeen established and implemented during the last three decades in order to keep track of thedemand and to ensure food security and improvement of the living standards for people of theVietnam Government. Depending on the water sources capacity and land use pattern in thedry season, the major rice and other vegetables cropping calendars in the MD are proposed
and implemented.
FloodsIn the Mekong Delta, annual floods are always a part of the life of natural and people. Under
the views of many farmers and scientists, floods are not only seen as a “disaster”. There are
multiple replenishing and revitalizing benefits from the rising of floodwater to the Delta. The
Delta people are better prepared in current years for flood control thanks to the dyke building
and irrigation development, as well as public awareness campaigns aimed at cutting childcasualties. Closing dyke or August dyke may be act as crop protection. Crop damage has beenminimal, given that the summer-autumn rice crop is almost complete when the floods hit.
An action plan for reducing the flood risks and keeping the flood benefits for sustainable
development with the flexible spirits of “Avoiding the Floods, Living with floods andControlling the Floods” was proposed as people’s strategy and government’s policy.
Depending on the natural and social-economic conditions, floods can be controlled by both
structural and non-structural measures.

Discussion and conclusions
Water in the MD is necessary to
be considered in all of its aspects.
Water resources should bemonitored and controlled for both
theirquantity
andqualitycorresponding to the economicaland environmental development
requirements. The changes inspace and time of theircharacteristics need to be recorded
to allow for a necessary balanced
analysis. The water quality
monitoring routines for decision
making are suggested in figure 2.

Figure 2. Suggested water quality monitoring routines

In principle, the water distribution according to the human demands can be solved by waterbalance problems and building the water control systems. However, in fact, the water
distribution solution is not as good as expected due to the insufficient data of the changeable150

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanwater sources and the constraint of financial and human sources. In some cases, it is required
to shift to from one kind of cultivated crop to another or to resettle the rural living andproduction for a less water consumption. Many human domestic activities, agricultural andindustrial production have caused pollution of freshwater, intrusion of salinity, water logging
of agricultural land, destruction of wetlands and loss of biodiversity in mangrove forest andcoastal areas. These negative impacts are among of reasons holding back the social-economic
development in the MD in the present and future. It is necessary to analyze the economic
development purposes and health and environmental needs in water balance budget inplanning stages. Each result should be presented fully in the public media to seek
consideration and feedback
Although the amount of water on the delta is large, the capacity of clean water is finite ingeneral and the demand is increasing. Therefore a sustainable water management should beincorporated in the targets of the country development as meaning water resources system has
used to be efficient.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to express sincerely thanks the Belgium - Can Tho University VLIRE2 project and project staff members for their full supports to our research.

References
MARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Government of Vietnam). (2003).
Atlas of Some Selected Hydraulic Works of Vietnam. Hanoi, Vietnam.
Government of Vietnam. (2000). Quy͇t ÿ͓nh s͙ 104/2000-QD-TTg ngày 25/8/2000 v͉ vi͏c
phê chu̱n Chi͇n l˱ͫc Qu͙c gia v͉ C̭p n˱ͣc s̩ch và V͏ sinh môi tr˱ͥng Nông thôn ÿ͇n năm
2020. Decision No 104/2000-QD-TTg dated August 25, 2000 on approving the National
Strategy for Clean Water Supply and Rural Environmental Sanitation up to 2020 (inVietnamese).
Hoanh, C.T., T.P. Tuong, K.M. Gallop, J.W. Gowing, S.P. Kam, N.T. Khiem and N.D. Phong(2003). Livelihood impacts of water policy changes: evidence from a coastal area of the
Mekong River Delta. J. of Wat. Pol., 5, 475-488.
Miller, F. (2003). Society-Water Relations in the Mekong Delta: A Political Ecology of Risk.
PhD thesis. University of Sydney, Australia.
Minh, L.Q. (2000). Environmental Governance: A Mekong Delta case study with downstream
perspectives. CanTho University, CanTho, Vietnam.
Tuan, L.A., G. Wyseure, L.H. Viet and P.J. Haest. (2004a). Water Quality Management for
Irrigation in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. International Conference on AgriculturalEngineering, AgEng2004, Leuven, Belgium.
Tuan, L.A., G. Wyseure and L.H. Viet. (2004b). Sustainable Water Management for Rural
Development in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. The second International Symposium on
Southeast Asian Water Environment, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
Tuan, L.A. (2003). An Overview of the Drinking Water Supply Situation in the Mekong River
Delta, Vietnam. Oral Presentation on the Workshop: Water Supply in the Mekong River Delta.
CanTho University, CanTho, Vietnam.

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Relevance of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) for Watershed Managementin Northern Laos
Claire Mousquès1, Phonexay Sengsoulychanh3#, Oloth Sengtaheuanghoung2, Keoudone
Latchackack3, Olivier Ribolzi4, Alain Pierret4*
1

Engineer in Sustainable Land Management, claire.mousques@hotmail.fr
NAFRI, SSLCC Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, PO Box 811, Vientiane, Lao PDR
3IRD, MSEC house, Lak Sip village, c/o IRD, BP 5992, Vientiane, Lao PDR
4IRD-IWMI-NAFRI, UR Solutions, c/o Ambassade de France, BP 06, Vientiane, Lao PDR#
presenting author; *corresponding author: alain.pierret@ird.fr
2

Abstract
In this paper we discuss the main results of a feasibility study for the implementation ofPayments for Environmental Services (PES) in a small watershed of northern Laos. The aimof the work was to assess the relevance of such a scheme as a way to control both the quality
and flow of a small mountain stream. We found that the PES concept, with some adaptations,
may offer interesting avenues as a means to maintain water quality through an improved
control of soil erosion in the upper catchment: Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) within the sampled
population was approx. USD 0.3/month/household which would be sufficient to abate thenegative impact of soil erosion. At the whole catchment scale, major impediments to theimmediate implementation of a PES scheme were i) the lack an unequivocal relationshipbetween environmental services, users and providers, ii) insufficient WTP to maintain water
quality along the stream through waste management and iii) absence of a critical mass ofbuyers. A precondition of successful implementation of PES in the area is to increase theawareness of environmental issues in the concerned communities.

Introduction
Environmental Services (ES) are benefits that humans obtain from natural and cultivatedenvironments (Wertz-Kanounninoff, 2006). For example, hydrological services can beobtained through river flow regulation, flood control or protection against soil erosion(Wunder, 2002; Wertz-Kanounninoff, 2006). ES are threatened worldwide, in a variety ofways, by human activities. In response to such threats, the concept of Payments forEnvironmental Services (PES) has been proposed as a simple scheme to reward land users
who adopt practices that generate ES, hence promoting sustainable land use (Mayrand et al.,2004). The aim of this study was to assess whether this concept could offer new perspectives
for managing the hydrology of a small river basin of northern Laos. The major steps in our
approach were designed to follow the guidelines of the FAO electronic forum on payment
schemes for environmental services in watersheds (FAO-REDLACH, 2004), as detailed in
Figure 1. Data required to carry out the successive steps of this approach were collected by i)a survey of the local population's perception of water issues , ii) a critical analysis andcompilation of pre-existing biophysical, socio-economical and geographical information andiii) field measurements.

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Figure 1. Represention of the 6 major steps of the PES feasibility
study. Baloons specify some of the methods used to complete thedifferent steps.

Location and characteristics of the study site
The Houay Xon watershed is located in the Luang Prabang province, in northern Laos,(Figure 2), south of the UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang. The studied
watershed (Figure 3), covers 22 km2 and includes 7 villages located along the Houay Xon
stream. The stream runs for approximately 15 km and has three main tributaries. The averageannual rainfall is 1403 mm (average of the last 30 years), and the mean annual temperature is
25°C. Two distinct seasons characterize the study site: a wet season from April to October,and a dry season from November to March. This catchment's maximum elevation is 584 ma.s.l., near the headwater area (Chaplot et al., 2005).
The study area encompasses a population of 6251 inhabitants mostly of the Lao Lum, Khmuand Hmong ethnic groups. Farming activities are located upstream, in the Houay Pano
headwater catchment. In downstream villages, the population is dominated by government
employees and agricultural activities are limited to small scale vegetable gardening and fish
breeding. Over recent years, the Houay Xon catchment has been subjected to increasing
environmental pressure which resulted in degraded water quality and reduced flow. In
addition, extreme climatic events, such as the flood of September 2006, have reportedly
caused increasingly severe damage to infrastructure essential to the community.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 2. Laos and the Luang Prabang province (after
Chaplot et al., 2005)

Figure 3. Map of the watershed and location ofvillages

Survey design and implementation
To estimate the supply and demand for hydrological services in the Houay Xon catchment, weselected a sample of 67 people who were interviewed over a period of one month. People
included in this sample represented the five main categories of water users identified along
the Houay Xon: farmers from upland and downstream areas, gardeners, tradespeople andvillagers who only use the Houay Xon water for domestic purposes. Not all categories are
represented equally in the sample because not all categories encompass equal numbers ofpeople and some individuals were not willing to participate. All these users, who are scatteredalong the stream, potentially contribute to water pollution and/or flow decrease. Therefore
they are potential buyers and suppliers of hydrological services since they participate in water
extraction, transformation and discharge. The questionnaire was designed to document
interviewees' socio-economical background and that of their dependants, their awareness ofwater flow and quality changes, their perception of the causes behind these changes, theirability and willingness to participate in a payment scheme and their understanding ofinstitutional and governmental support. This original data set was combined with information
previously collected by public and private institutions and biophysical data monitored by IRD
since 1991.

Results
In Table 1 we have summarized the information collected during this feasibility study. The
need for improved water quality and more constant stream water flow in the Houay Xoncatchment was clearly identified. These results can be used to define an ES, such as, for e.g. aguaranteed minimum water flow with precisely defined bacteriological and chemical quality.

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Table 1. Main results of the survey
Socio-economical
background

HistorySpace allocation andmanagement
Water extraction

Water quality

Water extraction
Water quality
Damage related to stream
degradation
Accountability
Willingness to implementchangeCharacteristics of the community
Low average income (USD500/yr/household). Consumption of self-produced
food dominates. Most villagers need more than one job. Lack of private
property: land use entirely depends on land allocation by the Government of
Laos (GoL).
Forced relocation (under GoL policy) but newcomers seem attracted by better
life conditions in the area (proximity of Luang Prabang is seen as an asset).
Population along the stream is increasing. There is no planning of new
developments. Farm plot size is decreasing.
Observed water use
Main form is distributed water extraction.
Farming and fish breeding use less water than gardening and domestic
activities distributed along the stream. Other sources of water (piped spring andground- water, bottled water) are used for daily household and production
activities.
Main form is distributed contamination.
Farming and fish breeding contaminate the stream with chemical fertilizers andorganic matter. Villagers are responsible for non point source pollution allalong the stream (solid wastes and grey water).
Perception of water use
Decrease in water quantity widely acknowledged but flow still deemedsufficient by many.
Unsatisfactory water quality with steady deterioration over years.
Economic damage difficult to quantify. Most significant damage ascribed tofloods: huge impact of Sept. 2006 floods.
Prospect for change
Villagers are believed to be responsible for water quality degradation. No clear
opinion re. changes in water quantity.
Population is ready to pay for waste collection system but not to invest in
upstream land use change although WTP sufficient to abate soil erosion.

However, we also identified several obstacles likely to impede a straightforward
implementation of a PES scheme along the Houay Xon. First, the binary concept of user vssupplier is poorly suited to the situation studied because water extraction and contamination
are diffuse along the stream. Figure 4 illustrates this lack of relationship between the locationof users along the stream and the way they use water.

Figure 4. Complex users- water use relationships in the Houay Xon watershed.
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In addition, the current land allocation system makes it difficult, if not impossible, for farmers
to alter land use (National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy, cited in NAFRI, 2005),
while it is a basic principle of the PES concept that land use can be altered with a certain
flexibility so as to ensure delivery of ES. The population relocation policy initiated in the
1970’s by the GoL (Lestrelin et al., 2006), also contributed to the emergence of conditions
rather adverse to the immediate success of a PES scheme: it resulted in the cohabitation ofseveral ethnic groups within small communities, often inducing tensions, and fell short ofestablishing good communication between villages and between villages and local authorities.
A side effect of the relocation policy was also that displaced populations did not fully bondwith their new environment. This resulted in limited awareness of environmental issues andunsustainable use of the natural resource base by the community, naturally leading to a lack of
WTP for ES among many.
In spite of these obstacles, the MSEC (Management of Soil Erosion Consortium http://msec.iwmi.org/ -), program clearly established that alternative farming practices andcareful management of sensitive areas (e.g. riparian areas) opens new avenues for the
improvement of water quality by reducing sediment delivery (Van Breusegem, 2005;
Valentin et al., 2006; van der Helm, 2007). WTP within the sampled population was approx.
USD 0.3/month/household which, if put in practice through a PES, would suffice to abatesignificantly the negative impact of soil erosion on water quality. However, at the wholecatchment scale, this would not warrant good water quality as it would not be enough tomaintain the waste collection system essential to abat the observed distributed contaminationof the stream. Therefore, one of the preconditions of successful implementation of PES in the
Houay Xon watershed is to increase the awareness of environmental issues in the concerned
communities to increase their WTP for ES, as at the moment, they fail to recognize the cost of
producing these ES.

Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research(CGIAR) as part of the Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF), PES in the Mekong
Region Project, grant 025-01-01-MUL-VT.

References
Chaplot, V., Le Bisonnais, Y., Bernadou J. (2005). Runoff, sediment and carbon losses withina small sloping-land catchment of the tropics showing different fallow durations. Advances inSoil Science, 167-180
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Latin American
Network for Technical Cooperation in Watershed Management (REDLACH) (2004).
Electronic forum on payment schemes for environmental services in watersheds. FAO (Eds),
Santiago, 27 pages. (available at http://www.rlc.fao.org/foro/psa/).
Lestrelin G., Pelletreau A., and Valentin C. (2006). Local knowledge and land degradation: aparticipatory case study in the upland of Laos. In proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Sustainable Sloping Lands and Watershed Management, 12-15 December
2006. IRD (Eds), 21 pages.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Mayrand, K. and Paquin, M. (2004). Le paiement pour les services environnementaux: étude
et évaluation des systèmes actuels. Unisféra International Centre (Eds), Montreal, 67 pages(in French).
NAFRI, NAFES and NUOL. (2005). Improving Livelihoods in the Uplands of the Lao PDR?
Initiatives and approaches. National Forest Research Institute (Eds), vol 1, Vientiane, 264
pages.
Valentin C., Boosaner, A., Guzman, T., Phachomphonh, K., Subaygyonos, K. and Toan, T.
(2006). Impact of innovative land management practices on annual runoff and soil losses from
27 catchments of South-East Asia. In proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on
Sustainable Sloping Lands and Watershed Management, 12-15 December 2006. IRD (Eds), 5
pages.
Van Breusegem, N. (2005). Sediment trapping capasity of riparian vegetation in a small
watershed catchment of Northern Lao PDR. MSc Thesis. Erosion and Soil and Water
Conservation Group, Wageningen Univerity (Eds), Wageningen, 56 pages.
Van der Helm, RB (2007). Evaluating alternative land use scenarios using the AnnAGNPS
model in the Houay Pano catchment of northern Lao PDR. Msc Thesis. Erosion and Soil andWater Conservation Group, Wageningen Univerity (Eds), Wageningen, 35 p.
Wertz-Kanounninoff, S. (2006). Payments for environmental services - A solution forbiodiversity conservation? Idées pour le débat, 12. IDDRI, 17 p.
Wunder, S. (2005). Payments for Environmental Services: Some nuts and bolts. Center For
International Forestry Research (Eds), Jakarta, 32 pages.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Healthy Schools in Rural Areas of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam

Lukas Parker
Formerly: Cuu Long Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, a joint Government of Vietnam and
AusAID (the official aid agency of the Government of Australia) initiative, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam.
Currently: RMIT International University Vietnam, 702 Nguyen Van Linh, Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho Chi
Minh City Vietnam, lukasparker@gmail.com

Abstract
The Cuu Long Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project built 120 blocks of toilets inrural schools as one component of water supply infrastructure construction works in fiveprovinces in the Mekong River Delta between 2001 and 2007. An innovative and creative
school-based personal hygiene, and water, environment and sanitation program wasdeveloped, launched and implemented to maximise the health benefits of newly built
infrastructure and promote personal hygiene in the community as a whole. Results from theevaluation of the program were encouraging with improvements to student hand cleanlinessand good toilet maintenance observed.

Introduction and Background
The Cuu Long Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (CLDRWSSP) was jointly
funded by the Government of Vietnam and AusAID (the official aid agency of theGovernment of Australia). The project was based in rural communes in Bҥc Liêu, BӃn Tre,Kiên Giang, Long An and Vƭnh Long provinces in the Mekong River Delta. The focus of the
project was to build water supply (piped, bore pump and rain collection) facilities in ruralcommunes scattered across these provinces with the ultimate aim of improving the health of
local population. The local counterparts, the provincial Centres for Rural Water Supply andEnvironmental Sanitation (CERWASS), were involved in the design and construction of the
project and will be managing in some capacity beyond the completion of construction.
Component 1 of the project was related to water supply and sanitation promotion. The focusof this case is the Healthy School program developed to support the project’s 120 newly built
toilet blocks in schools located in project communes. These fully functioning toilet blocks
have latrines, hand washing areas and in some cases a hard waste disposal incinerator. The
objectives of the program were to increase general personal hygiene, increase day-to-day
upkeep and cleaning of toilets and to promote long-term maintenance of the infrastructure.

Initiating Healthy School Program
With diarrhoeal diseases amongst the top three killers of children in the world today (WHO2000: 164), washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhoea by 42-45% (Curtis &Cairncross 2003). Winblad and Dudley (1997) identified sanitation, dirty hands andcontaminated water as key aspects to student health. Furthermore, they outlined four priorities
for maintaining students’ health: keeping the school compound clean of faecal matter andwaste, providing or restoring toilets and keeping them clean, providing convenient handwashing facilities and encouraging their use, and providing safe drinking water (Winblad &Dudley 1997: 18).

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Schools could provide the most cost-effective means to improve the health of children andthus to advance social and economic development (UNICEF/IRC 1998; WHO 1995; WHO,
UNESCO, UNICEF & World Bank 2000). “After the family, schools are most important
places of learning for children; they have a central place in the community” (UNICEF/IRC
1998: 1). Furthermore, schools can influence communities though outreach activities because
schools are in touch with a large proportion of households in a commune (UNICEF/IRC
1998; Winblad & Dudley 1997).
With this in mind, the idea of a school health and personal hygiene program was conceived.
Initial meetings between CLDRWSSP and CERWASS Information, Education andCommunications (IEC) staff garnered support for the development of a school education
program. Teachers of three project schools agreed to participate in initial discussions about
the types of WES resource materials they would find useful. Several meetings confirmed theirneed for more resource materials. Teachers’ opinions were then sought on nature of materials.
The key feedback received was that activities had to be brief and to fit in with the teaching of
the curriculum. Pictures and games were used to explore children’s values that might be used
to encourage desired WES-related behaviour.

Program Development
Traditional approaches of teaching and learning have primarily focussed on information, overlife skills (Postma, Phiri & Snel 2001). However this program focussed on the developmentof life skills. Life skills: Integrated Approach; Context of Life Skills Materials in
Collaboration with a variety of stakeholders; simple, inexpensive and culturally acceptable;
Implementing Learning tools and Games that do not require any external materials; Designingand selecting educational methods to increase knowledge, build positive attitudes and values,
and skills (Postma, Phiri & Snel 2001; UNICEF/IRC 1998). Moreover UNICEF/IRC (1998)
extrapolates that lasting changes in hygiene behaviour are only likely to occur if three factors
are addressed: predisposing factors (knowledge, attitudes and behaviour), enabling factors(latrine, hand washing and waste disposal facilities) and reinforcing factors (support andcooperation received from parents, teachers and other peer groups).
In terms of education, the program development concentrated on three elements: knowledge,
attitudes and skills (predisposing factors), using existing and newly built infrastructure(enabling factors) and involving teachers, parents and other community groups (reinforcing
factors). Winblad and Dudley (1997: 12) refer to a “hidden curriculum” that covers areas suchas basic social values and the development of interpersonal schools, which exists in all
schools. Integration with existing elementary school curriculum as extra-curricular referencematerials and activities, was identified as key to the program being accepted and adopted inproject schools.
Websites and documents from other Projects were then scoured for children’s WES-related
activities that:x Incorporated active learning principles, Namely: are fun to do, and therefore keep children’s attention;
 help children to remember lessons better because learning and doing are linked;
 encourage thinking, to promote real understanding of health ideas; and reflect local environment and actively help children relate what they learn to own
community.
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanx
x
x

Advocated behaviour that it is not outside the control of the children to practice.
Encouraged a sense of communal responsibility.
Used only very low-cost materials, or materials likely to be available in school.

Once selected, activities were then modified to take into account the teachers’ requirements
and curriculum, the local Mekong River Delta context, and where possible, children’s values
that could be tapped to encourage change. The activities and posters were then discussed indetail with teachers in several provinces, and posters and where possible games were pretested with children. Final pretesting occurred in two project schools in Long An province.
After a final review workshop with all project and provincial CERWASS IEC staff, the draft
materials were embedded in a school program. Both materials and the program were thentaken to the Provincial Departments of Education and Training (DOET) for review, commentand their ultimate approval. Materials were approved for use in project schools in all fiveprovinces under the condition that they were used as extra curricular reference materials. Thatnational Ministry of Education of Training (MOET) also gave final approval to the program.
The final Healthy School package of materials comprised:x Three Healthy School Books (Healthy School Guide, Healthy School Activities andGames, Healthy School Songs)
x Healthy School Songs CD (18 Songs, largely based on songs provided by DANIDA)x Double-sided game board (Snakes & Ladders and Consequences)
x Personal Hygiene A3 sized flip chart
x Set of 6 water resistant toilet posters (2 x A1 sized posters and 4 x A2 sized posters)
x Water resistant toilet regulations poster (2 x A3 sized posters)
Key features of the materials:
x Provide teachers with ideas on initiating a Healthy School program in their school.
x Checklists for the proper maintenance of newly built school toilet blocks.
x Linkages given to current school texts. All activities listed in the Healthy School
Activities and Games book are cross-referenced with existing school texts andapproved school curriculum.
x Little or no expense required to conduct activities. Little time and effort needed forteachers to prepare activities. Activities are quick and take little class time.
x Activities are fun for both the teachers and students.

Teacher Training
Coherent linkages between national, provincial, district and local school levels by means of
information, assistance, pressure and rewards is essential (WHO 1997). Teacher training washeld in each province and was hosted and conducted by representatives of the relevant
provincial DOETs. Training was funded by the project, with a representative from
CLDRWSSP in attendance at all workshops.
Although exact participants vary from province to province based upon agreement with theprovincial DOET, at least two representatives from each project schools attended as well as
relevant district DOET representatives. Training workshops were timed to coincide with160

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

construction, so that all teachers were trained to be able to run the program soon after the
opening of the toilets.
The Process
School toilet blocks were largely constructed within a 12-month period. A series of three tofour visits were organised and conducted by teachers at all project schools to coincide with
their completion. Representatives of the CLDRWSSP and provincial CERWASS attended theevents to provide advise and to conduct monitoring and evaluation activities. The Healthy
School program comprises three to four visits to every project school in every province. A listof activities conducted in each visit is shown in the visit schedule (see Table 1).
Table 1: School Visit Schedule
Visit
Timing
Key Activities
1 1-2 Weeks before x Introduce the school materials.
the construction
x Discuss how to organise “Health School Activity Day” andcompletion dateprocedures for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
x Decide upon a date for the second visit (Activities day).
x Check students’ hands at grade 3 and 5 (M&E)
x Take notes and pictures of the state of toilets and waste disposal
pit/incinerator (and comments of schools).
2 On the handoverx School conducts “Healthy School Activity Day”.*
day or whenx Observe and take notes of state of school (M&E).
construction
x Discuss and give the guidelines and the checklist about “Healthyfinishes.
School Festival”.
x Decide upon a date for the third visit (Healthy School Festival).
x Take notes and pictures of the state of toilets and waste disposal
pit /incinerator (and comments of schools).
3 3 months after the x School conducts “Healthy School Festival”.*
Healthy School
x Check students’ hands at grade 3 and 5.
Activity Day
x Observe and take notes (use M&E checklist and Healthy School(Visit 2)
Festival checklist).
x Take notes and pictures of the state of toilets and waste disposal
pit /incinerator (and comments of schools).
4 After the third
x Check students’ hands at grade 3 and 5 (M&E).
visit, but without x Take notes and pictures of the state of toilets and waste disposal
announcement.
pit /incinerator (and comments of schools) (M&E).
*A quantity of soap was donated by Unilever. This was directly distributed, one bar to eachparticipating student in Visit 3. A small quantity was also provided to each school in Visit 2.

Results
Students whose hands were clean increased from 10.1% through to 12.2% from visit 1 to visit
3, likewise dirty hands decreased from 70.8% through to 67.2%. Students’ nails were more
likely to be shorter in Visit 3, 58.0% in the first visit were observed to have short nails andincreased to 61.1%. However the cleanliness of nails was observed to deteriorate over thevisits, with 70.9% in the first visit found to have dirty nails increasing to 73.9%.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

In most cases there was a small improvement in the condition of children’s hands and nails,
however the following points should be taken into account when analysing this output. Firstly,
not all students who were inspected in visit 3 had taken part in activities between Visit 1 andVisit 3. Secondly, in most instances the students who were inspected in Visit 3 were not thesame students that were inspected in Visit 1. Thirdly, students who were inspected in Visit 3,
had not yet participated in the Healthy School Festival and therefore had not participated in
the entire program. Finally, at some schools where hands were inspected in Visit 3, school
toilets and hand washing facilities were not yet operational.
Overall, boys’ hands were generally dirtier than girls. 82.5% of boys’ hands were deemed
dirty compared to 59.1% of girls. 80.0% of boys had dirty nails compared to 20.0% of girls
and might be partly explained by 55.4% of boys had short nails compared to 63.5% of girls.
Grade level had little effect on the hand cleanliness of children. 70.1% of grade 3 children had
dirty hands compared to 71.6% of grade 3 children. 71.8% of grade 3 children had dirty hands
compared to 72.0% of grade 5 children. However 45.1% of grade 3 children had long nails
compared to 38.9% of grade 5 children.
Results from the School Checklists can be summarised as follows:
x Provision of soap at hand washing areas in operational toilets improved between visit
2 and 3. Soap was readily available at 63% of schools in visit 2 and 96% of schools byvisit 3. 75% of schools had soap located in a clean space at all basins by visit 3. It
should be noted that a small supply of soap was provided to the school in visit 2.
x Operational hand washing areas became less clean between the two visits with 67% ofbasins very clean and well maintained in visit 2, and 50% in visit 3. However, 92% ofhand washing areas showed evidence if recent cleaning in visit 3.
x There was a decrease in the general appearance of the operational toilet cubicles
between visit 2 and visit 3. 75% of cubicles had clean floors, walls and toilet bowls
and no bad odour in visit in visit 2 and decreased to 62% by visit 3. However, 97% of
cubicles showed evidence of recent cleaning in visit 3.
x Of schools where classrooms were visible, at 46% of schools in visit 2 had a healthcorner in some or all classrooms, which increased to 58% in visit 3.
It should be noted that although slight decreases could be seen in most results between visits,
it was not unexpected. School toilets inspected in visit 2 in many cases had only recently
opened and therefore had not been subjected to regular wear beforehand. Much of the wear
evident in visit 3 could be attributed to the everyday wear expected in the first three months ofoperation. It should also be noted, that both visit 2 and visit 3 were announced to the school inadvance, meaning that there was an opportunity for the school to prepare. Visit 4 wasunannounced, however it undertaken in only 4 schools.
Data obtained from visit 1, 2 and 3 were analysed. Visit 4 data were omitted because thesample size was too small for meaningful analysis (n = 8). Final monitoring and evaluation
testing may be undertaken in all five provinces in the first quarter of 2008. It is anticipatedthat more significant improvements will have occurred at this time.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Conclusions and Recommendations
As of the end of the 2006-07 school year, the program was 53% complete. The provincial
CERWASS IEC teams agreed to take on responsibility to ensure that program visits are
conducted as the final toilet blocks are completed.
Direct beneficiaries of the program or students who participated in the program at schools
where new toilets were constructed are expected to total 33,193. However it is estimated thata total of over 1 million students (General Statistics Office 2005) will be, should all schools inall five provinces conduct Health School program activities. All five provincial DOETs havebeen provided with a reduced package of Healthy School program materials for all schools.
A larger pilot testing process would have facilitated a more streamlined program. However
project time constraints and logistics made this unfeasible in this instance. A moreconsultative approach with MOET from the beginning may have facilitated faster approval ofmaterials in each individual province and also enabled greater integration of the activities into
the curriculum. Furthermore, this may have given greater enhancement to inter-level linkages
in terms of information, assistance, pressure and rewards required in the full program rollout.

Acknowledgements
Dr. Cecily Neil and Ms. Le Thi Thu Cuc for their instrumental part in the development andimplementation of the healthy school program. Long An pCERWASS for their involvementin the pilot testing of materials. DANIDA Vietnam for permitting the use of some of theirpersonal hygiene song recordings for inclusion in the Healthy School package.
References
Curtis, V. and Cairncross S. (2003). Effect of washing hands on diarrhoea risk in thecommunity: a systematic review. The Lancet: Infectious Diseases, 3(May): 275-281.
General Statistics Office (2005). General Statistics Office [Vietnam] (Tәng Cөc Thӕng Kê),http://www.gso.org.vn [Accessed: 24/5/2007].
Postma, L., Phiri, C. and Snel M. (2001). An effective approach for hygiene education: life
skills. 27th WEDC Conference: People and Systems for Water, Sanitation and Health, Lusaka,
Zambia.
UNICEF/IRC (1998). Towards Better Programming: a Manual on School Sanitation andHygiene. UNICEF: Water and Environmental Sanitation Section (Water, Environment andSanitation Series/UNICEF; No. 5), New York, NY, USA.
WHO (1995), Development of health promoting schools – a framework for action. World
Health Organization, Manila, The Philippines.
WHO (1997), Promoting Health Through Schools. Report of a WHO Expert Committee on
Comprehensive School Health and Education and Promotion, WHO Technical Report Series,
World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
WHO (2000). World Health Report 2000: Health Systems: Improving Performance, World
Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank (2000). Focusing resources on effective school
health: a FRESH start to improving the quality and equity of education. World Bank: The
Partnership for Child Development, Oxford, UK.
Winblad, U. and Dudley, E. (1997). Primary school physical environment and health: WHO
global school health initiative. WHO Information Series on Health (No. 2), World HealthOrganization, Geneva, Switzerland.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

The Water Quality Measurement
Through PROKASIH Program as Water Environment Management Policy
In Citarum River, West Java Province, Indonesia
Winia Farida*1, Rika Winurdiastri2, Setiawan Wangsaatmaja3, Lusia Boer4
1

West Java Environmental Protection Agency,
Jl. Naripan No. 25 Bandung, 40111, Indonesia, E-mail: winia@bplhdjabar.go.id
2
West Java Environmental Protection Agency, Jl. Naripan No. 25 Bandung, 40111, Indonesia
E-mail:rika83@bplhdjabar.go.id
3West Java Environmental Protection Agency, Jl. Naripan No. 25 Bandung, 40111, Indonesia
E-mail:setiawan-w@bdg.centrin.net.id
4West Java Environmental Protection Agency, Jl. Naripan No. 25 Bandung, 40111, Indonesia
E-mail: lusia_boer@bplhdjabar.go.id*Corresponding Author

Abstract
Citarum River is the largest watershed in West Java Province with 6,540.32 km2 width and
300 km length and become a source of life for people in West Java Province. The water isused for domestic, agriculture, animal husbandry, and industry. Thus, its functions brings
greater impact toward water quality showed by the number of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), such as BOD in 1990 is 10-35 mg/l,
become 50-80 mg/l as well as COD in 1990 is 30-80 mg/l, become 100-160 mg/l in 2000.
Furthermore, water quality become crucial case for water environment management becauseshows water threshold limit and water class of river. Thus, PROKASIH (Clean River Program)has been conducted to measure water quality in Citarum River. The purpose of water quality
measurement through PROKASIH is to arrange Water Threshold Limit Academic Manuscript
and Regional Regulation about Water Threshold Limit in Citarum River that necessary forwater usage basis target, operational background of permission and allocation of discharging
wastewater. Besides PROKASIH, Citarum Bergetar Program, a conservation program is also
conducted to improve water quality. Therefore, the improvement of Citarum River needs an
integrated water environment management such as supporting policy and program.
Keywords: Citarum River, Water Quality, Water Threshold Limit, PROKASIH, Citarum
Bergetar
Introduction
Watershed is an integrated area with river and tributary rivers and has functioned for storing
and flowing water derived from rainfall to the lake or sea naturally. The area covers the landborder that is a topographical boundaries and sea border until waters area that is stillinfluenced by land activities (Act No 7 Year 2004). One of the largest watersheds in WestJava Province is Citarum River with 6,540.32 km2 width and 300 km length. According to thewater usage, Citarum River has been a source of life for people in West Java Province
because the water is used for domestic, agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery and industry.
This water usage is supported by the average number of 5,819.62 million m3/year watersupply in normal condition and 3,440.19 million m3/year in dry condition or estimated from
184.54 m3/year average of flow rate in normal condition and 109.16 m3/year in dry condition.
Detail information about surface water potential in West Java Province can be viewed from
Figure 1.

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Potensi
Permukaan
Surface Air
Water
Potential
5.539
4.497

12.92411.313

7.878
6.973

10.987
8.813

RUN-OFF(106 M3)
CATCHMENT(KM2)

10.6958.034

Sumber: RENSTRA DPSDA JABAR 2001

Figure 1. Surface Water Potential in West Java Province
Source: RENSTRA DPSDA Jabar, 2001
Based on Figure 1, it can be viewed that Citarum River has 12,924.43 million m3/year water
potential with 11,313.4 km2 width. Detail information about surface water potential in WestJava Province can be viewed from Table 1.
Table 1. Surface Water Potential in West Java Province
Water Resources Management
Association

Wide Area (Km2)

Water Potential (million m3/year)
Province

Regency

Total

Ciliwung-Cisadane

4,496.9

5,376.27

162.36

5,538.63

Cisadea-Cimandiri

8,813.06

4,908.71

6,078.76

10,987.47

Citarum

11,313.4

10,990.79

1,933.63

12,924.43

Cimanuk-Cisanggarung

6,972.8

7,572.64

305.43

7,878.07

Citanduy-Ciwulan

8,033.70

7,069.50

3,625.68

10,695.19

Total Number

39,629.86

35,917.91

12,105.86

48,023.77

Source: West Java EPA, 2006

Citarum River Condition
Water quality depends on the substances that are contained in water. Thus, the humanactivities have also brought significant contribution toward river quality degradation as it has
the role as pollution load receiver water bodies. Human activities have caused land conversion
and became serious environmental problems in further. The land conversion in alongside ofCitarum River especially in Citarum Upstream Area can be known from 1983 to 2002 datasuch as the land use changes for forest area has been decreasing by 54%, agriculture has been
decreasing by 55% whereas the settlement area has been increasing by 233%, and industry
has been increasing by 868%. Furthermore, the increasing number of settlements and industry
development has made serious environmental problems because most pollutants are derived
from domestic and industry. The condition of Citarum River can be viewed from Figure 2.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Figure 2. The Citarum River Condition
The environmental problems that caused by the increasing number of settlements occupied by±11, 255 million people are mostly not supported by good sanitation and health system suchas clean water supply, disposal waste facility, etc. The condition leads to high water pollution
in Citarum River. Thus, the increasing number of industry has also brought significant
impacts toward environmental degradation in Citarum River. It is because there are more than
1,000 factories located in Citarum Watershed Area and 400 factories in Upstream Citarum
Watershed that consists of 74.5% textile companies and 25.5% metal producing companies,
pharmacy companies, food and drink companies. Furthermore, these activities affect the water
quality in Citarum River. It is can be shown from the number of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand). For instance, BOD in 1990 is 10-35 mg/l,
become 50-80 mg/l in 2000 as well as COD in 1990 is 30-80 mg/l, become 100-160 mg/l in
2000. Detail information about the pollutant contributor from the activities in Citarum Rivercan be viewed from Figure 3.
60

50Pollution
40
Load(Ton/D
ay)
30

20

10

0
Wangisagara

Sapan
Domestic

Cijeruk
Industry

Margahayu

Agriculture

Nanjung

Animal Husbandry

Figure 3. The Pollution Load in Upstream Citarum River In 2000
Source: S.Wangsaatmaja, 2001
The Water Quality Measurement through PROKASIH
Based on Government Act No 82 Year 2001 about water quality management and waterpollution control, the water quality become a crucial case for water environment management
because shows water threshold limit and water class of the river. The importance of water
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

threshold limit because it become water pollution controlling structure component as one ofwater quality management. In order to control the water pollution, PROKASIH (Clean River
Program) is conducted to measure the water quality in Citarum River. The water quality
measurement based on physic, chemistry, and biology parameters and depends on the existingwater threshold limit policy that used BCD classification and water class based on
Government Act No 82 Year 2001. The parameters that are used to measure the water quality
are TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), TSS (Total Suspended Solids), pH, BOD5 (Biochemical
Oxygen Demand), COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), DO (Dissolved Oxygen), Detergent,
Nitrogent, Phosphat, Fecal Coli. Thus, the others aspects for the water quality measurement
based on water usage, water pollution load and water resources characteristic. Afterwards, thepurpose of water quality measurement through PROKASIH is to arrange Water Threshold
Limit Academic Manuscript and Regional Regulation about Water Threshold Limit in
Citarum River that is necessary for water usage basis target, operational background of
permission and allocation of discharging wastewater.
Furthermore, The PROKASIH Program is conducted on 11 (eleven) locations in Citarum
River such as Wangisagara, Majalaya, Bendung Sapan, Cijeruk, Dayeuh Kolot, Burujul,
Nanjung, Bendung Curug, Bendung Walahar, Tanjung Pura and Sasakbeusi. The water
quality state is assessed using Storet Method and Pollution Index based on Government Act
No 82 Year 2001 that mentioned about the criteria of water quality state. More detail
information about the monitoring locations can be viewed in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Monitoring Location Area
Source: West Java Environmental Protection Agency, 2006
Based on the result of water quality measurement, it is known the three monitoring activities
that were conducted in 11 (eleven) locations shows some of parameters which always exceed
the water quality state criteria in Class 2. Thus, based on Government Act No 82 Year 2001,
these parameters are BOD, COD, Fecal Coli, Total Coli and H2S and except in Majalaya there
is no COD parameter that exceed the water quality state criteria in Class 2. Furthermore, fromthe first monitoring result there is also a metal parameter that exceed the water quality state

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

whereas in second monitoring there are physic parameters that exceed the water quality statesuch as TSS and TDS. Therefore, the water quality evaluation used by Storet and Water
Pollution Index shows most locations in Citarum River are highly polluted and are
categorized to D classification of water quality state.

The Water Quality as Basis of Water Environment Management Policy
The result of water quality through PROKASIH Program has shown that Citarum River andmost of its tributaries in upstream part are highly polluted by the domestic wastewater,industrial discharge, agriculture and animal husbandry. The importance of water quality
measurement is to show the existing of water threshold limit and water class. Furthermore, theresult of water quality is functioned to be a basis of water threshold limit in order to manage
water quality by reducing the pollution load based on Citarum River as the target basis ofwater use. Thus, based on wastewater threshold limit, it is necessary to be the operational
background of permission and allocation of discharging wastewater. Besides, to be the water
usage basis target and operational background of permission and allocation of discharging
wastewater, the water threshold limit is necessary to be a basic of infrastructure constructions
such as for sewerage system, drainage, wastewater treatment plant, etc.
Finally, the measurement of water quality will have significant contribution toward water
environment management policy in West Java Province. It is because one of its purposes fromthe water quality measurement through PROKASIH is to arrange The Regional Regulation
about Water Threshold Limit in Citarum River. Thus, policy making is supported by
PROKASIH Program in Province level that have program to collect data of river quality inmain watershed and to coordinate with the regency or municipality which conduct
PROKASIH Program so that it will support the water quality management and waterpollution controlling inter regency and municipality. Afterwards, another program that has
conducted to improve the water quality in Citarum River is Citarum Bergetar Program, aconservation program in Citarum River that being realization from one river basin, one planand one integrated management. Thus, the improvement and development aspects that
becomes the main agenda in Citarum Bergetar are:
1. Policy and laws by arranging Citarum Natural Resources Development Policy, reviewing
regulations, complementing regulations and optimizing the existing regulations.
2. Conservation by achieving 45% target of conservation area in West Java Province
including Citarum, conserving the critical lands like conducted reforestation in Province andNational Level.
3. Pollution Controlling by grouping pollutant contributors (which located in 7 industry
cluster in Upstream Citarum), building communal wastewater treatment plant both indomestic and industry.
4. Community participation by improving and facilitating participation process in Citarum
Watershed Management.

Conclusion
Citarum River is the largest watershed in West Java Province and become a source of life forpeople in West Java Province. Thus, with rapid development and population growth has
caused land conversion in alongside of Citarum River such as settlements, industry,
agriculture and animal husbandry. These activities have brought greater impacts toward water
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quality in Citarum River. The water quality becomes a crucial case for water environment
management because shows water threshold limit and water class of the river. Thus, the resultof water quality is functioned to be a basis of water threshold limit in order to manage water
quality by reducing the pollution load based on Citarum River as the target basis of water use.
In order to control the water pollution, PROKASIH Program is conducted to measure thewater quality in Citarum River with the result is Highly Polluted (D) with the outcomes is toarrange Water Threshold Limit Academic Manuscript and Regional Regulation about Water
Threshold Limit in Citarum River. Afterwards, another program to improve water quality in
Citarum River is by Citarum Bergetar Program which consists of policy and laws,
conservation, pollution controlling and community participation. Therefore, the improvementof Citarum River condition needs an integrated water environment management such assupporting policy and program in order to promote the sustainable water management.

Acknowledgement
This paper is a part of Main Report of Water Pollution Controlling Activity through
PROKASIH 2006 by West Java Environmental Protection Agency

References
http://www.dpuairjatim.org/index.php?act=userdef&p_code=57449
http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/cetak/2005/0605/06/teropong/lainnya.htm

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management in Malaysia:
Some Issues and Challenges

Tan Kok Weng, Mazlin Bin Mokhtar
Institute for Environment and Development
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM BANGI Selangor, Malaysia
Email: weng106@yahoo.com; mazlin@ukm.my

Abstract
Pahang River Basin (PRB) is an important watershed in Malaysia. It does not only meet thewater requirement of the people in Pahang State, but also a water supplier to the other state in
the Interstate Raw Water Transfer project (Pahang-Selangor ISRWT) as proposed in the Ninth
Malaysia Plan (2006-2010). The main objective of this study is to identify the major problem
based on the existing water resources management in PRB. In order to achieve success inwater resources development, a holistic approach such as the Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) is needed in water resources management, Apart from that, theparticipation of all stakeholders is a prerequisite to attain the goals of IWRM. In view of that,
The Malaysia government has played an important role through its policies, plans andprogrammes. For example, the Integrated River Basin Management (subset of IWRM) in
water planning and development was introduced in the latest Ninth Malaysia Plan. However,the current water resources management issues and challenges in Pahang River Basin are ahindrance of getting full participation from the various stakeholders. Although the Federal andState Governments are responsible for the planning and development of the Pahang River
Basin, the involvement from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community
based organisations are lacking and do not seem to be aware of their important roles in thismatter. At last, this study has identified thirteen components with specified issues andchallenges of water resources management in PRB.
Introduction
An effective management of water resources requires full participation form the various
stakeholders and a holistic approach. Utopian ideals of faultless cooperation and integration
are not far-fetched realities (Mokhtar and Aziz, 2003). It does require a change in the existing
system and collaborate in unity, regardless of jurisdiction and boundary, identifying themanagement needs and priorities. Pahang River Basin contains eight districts in the State (Atotal of eleven districts in Pahang State) and the water resources management involves various
agencies from different level. The difficultly would lie in agreeing upon priorities which
includes various stakeholders. Therefore, an appropriate institutional framework, a clear
policy and strategic and effective implementation of plans are required to alleviate some of
the current difficulties.

Study Area
In this study, Pahang River Basin has been chosen as a study area which is located PahangState, Malaysia (Figure 1). The Pahang River Basin (PRB) is a catchment’s area of about
27,000 km2, with longitude of 101º 30' E - 103º 30' E, latitude 3º 00' N - 4º 45' N. It consistsof five sub-basins and they are Pahang River Basin, Bertam River Basin, Bekapor River Basin,
Mentiga River Basin and Bera River Basin. The catchment’s area spans seven districts in
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Pahang which are Maran, Jerantut, Bentong, Lipis, Temerloh, Bera and Cameron Highlands
and one sub district in Kuantan, eleven sub districts in Pekan and also two districts in Negeri
Sembilan State which are Jelebu and Kuala Pilah (SMHB,1992; Pahang,1973).The climate of
PRB is generally hot and wet with an average annual rainfall between of 2,000 - 3,000 mm.
Central Mountain Range bounds PRB along its western side and East Coast Range in the
North-East. The main river in Pahang River Basin is Pahang River, which flows for a lengthof 440 km and is the longest river in Peninsular Malaysia.

Figure 1. Location of Pahang River Basin, Malaysia
Problem Statements
Some social and environmental problems exist in the basin such as population growth, highsiltation in river and lakes and non-point sources pollution. However, the major concern iswhat the future of water resources status is after operating of Pahang-Selangor instate raw
water transfer infrastructure in the Pahang River Basin. Hence, water resources managementin the Pahang River Basin requires a strategic and holistic approach through full participationof all levels of stakeholders to articulate the key issues.

Issues and Challenges
Low participation from NGOs and local communities was the main problem identified whichhinders the progress of implementing the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
As a result, it has led to some negative impacts in the area such as the unsustainable utilisation,
the management of water resources, and the decreased level of water quality (United Nations,
2004; Tan, 2007). The main causes which contributed to the problem were identified andthese include the following:

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanxx
x

Lack of legal requirement
Low level of awareness among decision maker
Political interference

Besides that, this study conducted the situation analysis on the thirteen IWRM components
which extracted from Global Water Partnership’s IWRM toolbox. Each issues and challenges
were identified for each component as shown in Table 1.
Lessons learned
Some lessons could be learnt from this study which related to water resources management inPahang River Basin as:xxx

Specific funding is required to improve the capacity of enforcement agencies andFederal Government has played the important role on this issue.
Full participation from all level of stakeholder in Pahang River Basin management andthis can be assurance through the formulation of new water resources management
enactment.
Local communities have partnership with government agencies to implement the
IWRM plan and are committed to accomplish the aim of plan.

Conclusions
Integrated approach in water resources management of river basin requires a full commitment
from all levels stakeholders. Besides that, the understanding of characteristics of the river
basin such as the physical, economic, social, as well as the institutional framework should not
be neglected. Apart from that, this paper has also revealed the major issues and challenges for
those IWRM components within the context of Pahang River Basin. At last, the finding of thestudy may prompt the following question to be investigated for further exploration:x

To what extent does the political will of Pahang State Government allow fullparticipation from relevant NGOs, civil society and local communities towards thewater resources planning and management?

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Issues and challenges in Pahang River Basin
There is lack of a comprehensive policy on water resources development and planning in Pahang River Basin.
Policies and plans such as the National Physical Plan 2005, Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), National Policy on
the Environment 2002, National Policy for Biodiversity 2998, and National Policy for Forestry 1987 are currently
available to address the complex issues that are related to water resources. They include assessing the relativeenvironmental, economic and social values of water; assessment of social impact; restoring and protecting thequality of fresh water.
In Malaysia, Federal Constitution 1957 is ranked supreme all over the nation. The relationship between Federationand State governments are stipulated in the Federal Constitution. The water resources related laws and theenforcement agencies are not exceptional and they function within the constitutional framework. Generally, ‘water’is a state matter, which is enumerated in the State List (Sani 1997). The water activities such as watershedmanagement, water resources development and management, navigation, fisheries and mining are enumerated in theState List. Although existing comprehensive legislation framework in Malaysia such as the Waters Authority
Management Enactment in Selangor State, there still lack of provision that recognise the role of local communities
into water resources planning and management in Pahang State.
Under the Federal Constitution Article 96 to Article 107, all revenues and money received by the federation andstate government shall be paid through the Federal Consolidated Fund and Sate Consolidated Fund for any
development projects. The development budget is arranged through the Malaysia Five-Year Plans (e.g Ninth
Malaysia Plan (2006-2010)), which are coordinated every five years by the Ministry of Finance through National
Finance Council (Pahang, 1973). The existing financial structure supports the water resources development but lackof financial support from government to increase the capacity of enforcement bodies. Due to this hindrance, someenvironmental issues such as illegal logging and non-point sources water pollution always happen in Pahang River
Basin.
Federal and several State Government agencies are carrying out water resources management tasks in Pahang River
Basin. Their roles are clearly defined in term of operation and maintenance, water supply infrastructuredevelopment, research and development of water resources. Besides, National Water Resources council is theplatform to discuss the water resources management issues between Federal and State Government that ensure
coordination of various stakeholders in the management of river basin will being well functioning. In the water
services sector, NWSC is formulated under provision of Water Services Commission Act. The function of NWSC isto employ the Water Services Industry Act, 2005 that supervises, licensing and monitoring the water services
industry within Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territory of Labuan. However the NGOs, local communities andcivil society are encouraged to participate in the early stage of water resources planning, but the role of group still is
not recognised in management of water resources.

IWRM Components

1. Related Policies to the Water Resources
Management
x An appropriate framework must mesh withnational development objectives and also
mainstream water resources concerns interm of use, protection and conservation.

2. Legislative Frameworkx A framework is used to support IWRM andprovides a structure for both development
objectives and mainstreaming of water
resources concerns.

3. Financial Structure of Water Resources
Management
x Water funding strategy that estimates
overall investment requirement, andidentity funding sources.

4. Institutional Framework
x Fundamental mechanisms for coordination
to ensure some measures of integrations.

Table 1. Some issues and challenges on Pahang River Basin towards Integrated Resources Management approach

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan173

Capacities building activities which are related to IWRM were held by the government in cooperation with various
institutions e.g. Malaysian Water Partnership (MyWP), MyCapnet, Global Environment Centre (GEC) and Open
University of Malaysia. These agencies are playing the important role for capacity building in Malaysia throughconferences and workshops. Likewise, the Open University of Malaysia has offered an MSc course in IWRM to the
public. Although formal and non-formal education are prepared in Malaysia, low level of capacity in enforcement
agencies (e.g. Department of Environment, Forestry Department and Local Government) that are rising out someenvironmental problems such as river pollution and loss of natural resources.
Since 1973, three water resources studies for Pahang River Basin have been conducted by Malaysia Government.
The latest national study on water resources for the Pahang State (1992) has given a comprehensive planning andmanagement scenario from 2001 until 2050. Nevertheless, Initial National Communication and National
Communication 2 (2007-2009) are launched that become a platform to further integrate climate change issues andimpacts into the national and local strategic and development plans. The main hindrance is to translate the proposed
strategies into action plan.
In national level, IRBM (Subset of IWRM) approach has been promoted in Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) andNational Physical Plan (2005) to ensure the sustainability of water resources. The Kedah State has been chosen as
pilot case for implementation IWRM in Malaysia. The latest National Framework on IWRM was approved by
National Water Resources Council to applied IWRM approach to manage the water resources in holistic manner. In
State level, although there are no any plans or strategies that are formulated to implement IWRM, study on
Effective Implementation of IWRM was conducted by Department of Irrigation and Drainages to identify the
package and information modules for the stakeholders and also formulate the action plan for IWRM capacity
building.
Pahang State is one of the state has reached a high percentage of non-revenue water in Malaysia which is 38% in
2000, 43% in 2001, 48% in 2002 and 47% in 2005 (MWA, 2003; EPU, 2006). These data are a significant andbecome an indicator to show the insufficiency water demand management in Pahang. However, some strategies arepromoted in Ninth Malaysia Plan (e.g Geographical Information System mapping of distribution network,
rehabilitation of distribution systems, upgrading of existing water treatment plants and tax rebates for industries thatrecycle water) but it should be integrated into social and economic instruments that changes the behavior of water
users
Awareness programmes and campaigns have been launched since 2000 by government agencies and NGOs such as
MyWater Voice forum, Malaysian Environmental Week, Sustainable City and Sustainable School Contest. The
concept of these events is to deliver the concept of sustainable development and importance of water resources tothe potential stakeholders.

5. Institutional Capacity
x Capacities of people and institutional at alllevels that effectively work towards thegoals and objectives.

6. Water Resources Assessmentx Assessment looks at both quantity andquality of water resources and pinpoints the
major water resources issues and potential
conflicts in different sector.

7.Implementation Plan of IWRM
x Work plan that includes development ofeffective
frameworkforpolicies,
legislation, financing structures, capacities
of institutions with defined roles andmanagement tools.

8. Water Resources Demand Management
x Demand management aims to change userpractice and behavior that improves theefficiency in water use, reuse andconservation. Hence this linked to socialchanges,regulatory
andeconomic
instrument.

9. Social Change Instruments
x Changing attitudes in individual, andinstitutions to ensure water practices toachieve IWRM. Some instruments may be
used such as education curricula, on job
training and awareness raising programme.

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174

This requires suitable mechanisms or institutional platforms to overcome water resources competition issues orconflicts. In Malaysia, five types of coordination system are found which are (i) committee system, (ii) council
system, (iii) bilateral consultation, (iv) specific unit and (v) statutory system. The National Water Resources
Council and National Water Services Commission are the major bodies that are formulated to discuss and approvewater related plan and issues between key stakeholders. The roles of NGOs and local communities are permanently
involved in these councils.
The Drainage Sewerage Services Act 1993; Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974; Environmental Quality Act
1974, Water Services Industry Act (Act655) and Local Government Act 1976 are the main legislations for the water
quality. These legislations were formulated to prevent, control of pollution of the atmosphere, soil, inland waters
and sea; and enhance the environment and improving sanitation of public. In addition, the Sewage and Industrial
effluents Standard; Malaysia Water Quality Standard; EIA guidelines 1987, Malaysia Sewerage Industry Guideline(under review), and Storm-water management manual were promoted in order to assess the private sector andpublic in related water quality matters (DOE, 2000). Some provisions of regulations are overlapped such as
EQA1974 and Local Government 1976; both Acts provide enforcement power to different regulatory bodies forcontrolling of water resources pollution in the River Basin.
Water pricing system for Pahang state was set according to three basic approaches, (i) Higher rates for higher ofvolume water consumption to discourage wastage; (ii) Cross-subsidy for domestic water users by industrial water
users; and (iii) minimum lifeline rate, which meet the ability to pay by lower income users for covering basic needof water for domestic purposes (MWA 2003). In the State of Pahang, the average domestic water tariff is RM0.57
m-3 (for the first 35 m3), and average for industrial water tariff is RM 1.45 m-3 (for the first 500 m 3) and the State
Government does not revise these water rates since 1983. Meanwhile, Pahang State has been recognised that having
heavy debt to Federal Government in the matter of water industry which is RM 10,534,306 (Lim 2006). PahangRiver Basin is a catchments’ which is rich of water resources (80 thousands million m3 annual rainfall) in
Peninsular Malaysia but the water debt may reveal the ineffectiveness of economic instruments in Pahang State.
The Department of Irrigation and Drainage are developing the National River Basin Decision Support System(NRBDSS) and part of the system is to support the Malaysia Geospatial Data Infrastructures (MyGDI). NRBDSS isdeveloped to integrate all river basin information in Malaysia into an effective decision support system and thissystem will be updated by relevant government agencies (Lee, 2004). The availability of information onhydrological, biophysical, economic, and environmental characteristics are able to make better policy decisions andpredict important responses in the basin. In order to achieve an effective participatory process, the availability of
relevant information such as up-to-date records and data for all water aspects is an essential precondition. The
system only can be accessed among key government agencies. Although, academia, NGOs and local communities
can obtain the data by following the application procedures, some sensitive information and data are restricted to beaccessed.

10. Conflict Managementx It is used to anticipate, prevent and react toconflicts
betweenindividual
andinstitutional in term responsibilities
overlap, competition for scarce resources
and incompatible approach.

11. Regulatory Instruments
x It is used to control the water quality,
quantity and water services. Examples:Laws, rules and standards.

12. Economic Instruments
x It involves the pricing market based
measures which provides incentives towater users to use water efficiently.

13. Information Exchange and Management
x An effective information management canallow professional and public to exchange
and share experience in implementing
IWRM, ensure engagement local
communities in water management.

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Acknowledgement
Thank to Institute for Environment and Development, UKM and Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation Malaysia for providing research fund to this study.
References
DOE (2000). Environmental Requirement. A Guide for Investor. Department of Environment,
Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.
Lee, C.S. (2004). Malaysia’s Experience in the Integrated River Basin Management.
Proceeding Paper of First General Meeting of the Asian River Organizations, East Java,
Indonesia. 24-26 February 2004.
Lim, K. Y. (2006). Water industry will not be liberalized. The Star, 30 Mei. 2006.
SMHB (1992). Study on comprehensive water Resources planning and development in theStat of Pahang. 1. SMHB Pte. Ltd..
EPU (2006). The Ninth Malaysia Plan. Economic Planning Unit, Putrajaya.
Mokhtar, M.B., Aziz, S. A. (2003). Integrated coastal zone management using the ecosystemapproach, some perspectives in Malaysia. Ocean & Coastal Management, 46: 407-419.
MWA. (2003). Malaysia Water Industry Guide 2003. The Malaysian Water Association.
Pahang (1973). Pahang River Basin Study. Work Studies Report. The Austrian Department of
Foreign Affairs: Australian Engineering Consultants Snowy Mountain Engineering
Corporation.
Sani, S. (1997). Environmental quality Act. 1974: Then and now. Lestari Publisher, Kuala
Lumpur.
Tan, K.W. (2007). The Status of Water Resources Management in Pahang River Basin within
the Context of Integrated Water Resources Management. MSc thesis. Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia.
United Nations (2004). Guidelines on Strategic Planning and Management of Water
Resources. New York.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Evaluation on the Policies for Water Environmental Protectionin Huai River Basin in China

Song Guojun, Jin Shuqin, Xu Sha, and Li Peijie
School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China 100872

Abstract
This paper collects most of information related water pollution control to evaluate the policy
results, including the contents of policy framework, activities, effluent control results, and thewater quality status. There is no enough evidences to show that the water quality is becoming
better, and there is a big gap to the planning objectives. The pollutant effluent has not been undercontrol, and industrial and living pollution is the most crucial factor that makes the water quality
bad. The independent sector monitoring system, lower data quality and insufficient investment
had affected policy effects greatly. Suggestions are as following: making and implementing strict
discharge permits system to large point pollution sources in Huai River Basin; establishing theplatform to share the Basin’s water environmental information; the central government shouldtake more responsibilities for the river basin’s water pollution control through permits system,
special funds and so on; improving the water environmental planning system, and making theriver basin’s strategic planning with a long term view.
Keywords: Huai River Basin; Water Environmental Protection; Policy Evaluation

Purpose of the evaluation
The Huai River Basin goes through five provinces, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong
with a drainage area of 270,000 km2 and population of 169 million. As the first river basin for its
water pollution, which attracted the national concerns both from leaders of the country to
grassroots’ people, many measures were taken for the pollution control. For example, the first andunique water pollution and prevention trial regulation has been enacted and implemented by StateCouncil in Huai River Basin. However, the water pollution is still serious and the water quality in
the State Environmental Protection Agency’ bulletin (2005) is still moderately polluted.
It is hard to settle the disputes in water pollution control in the Basin and the professional andobjective evaluation on its effect must be provided. The significance of the evaluation on policies
for water environmental protection in such a huge basin is that the evaluation has provided
comprehensive, systematic, and professional analysis. The evaluation have provided an objective
and cogency evaluation conclusion on the past efforts and experience and reference to policy
orientation and action models in the future.
The time range in this evaluation is 1995-2005, covering “9th Five-Year Plan” and “10th FiveYear Plan”. The tasks of evaluation are arduous and complicated with such a long time range insuch a huge river basin, and we believe that any attempt to evaluate the effect of water pollution
control in the Basin in simple way will result in adverse effects.

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Framework of the Evaluation
Objective and Clue of the Evaluation
Policy evaluation not only works as the basic way to examine the result, benefit and efficiency ofthe policy, but also influences the orientation of the policy i . The purpose of this paper is toevaluate the result of environmental management of the Basin, analyses result-influencing factorsof the policy, to forward the improvement proposal of the environmental policy and management.
The general mode of policy evaluation proceeds from up goal then down to bottom to value theeffect of policy. First, what’s the goal in policy itself? What kind of policy frame or system? And
then what’s the implement mechanism and divided responsibility? Are there any related functions
and powers, fund guarantee? Then in the policy implement, which actions are adopted? How is
the performance? Has the policy reached the anticipated goal after certain time? Finally thispaper will get back to the purpose of policy evaluation, and put forward the corresponding policy
suggestions.
The methodology of this paper is to regard final goal of water environmental protection as thestarting point, analysis downward through the logical clue of pollutant production, discharge,
spread and at last influence water quality, to discuss the problems of environmental policy andmanagement by evaluating on water quality, pollutant effluent and pollution control.
Methodology and Criteria
We collect different sources of data, and then analyze and mine them in several ways to reveal thereal rule and the information that are contained in the data. It contains:(1) Time series analysis of water quality and pollutant effluent ii
All statistics data from 1995 to 2005 about basin water quality and pollutant effluent in Huai
River have been collected in this research, carrying on the vertical contrast within the range of along time, analyzing the tendency of the whole or specific section water quality in the basin. The
data come mainly from the Huai River publication, environmental statistical yearbook and local
water supply department. The comparative analysis among different sources’ data is a kind ofimportant policy analytical methodology. The important effect of comparison of different sources
data lies in examining the validity of the data, reaching accurate conclusion through efficient data.
(2) Comparison the objectives with planning
Water pollution control in the Basin is based on 9th Five-Year Plan and 10th Five-Year Plan, twoprevention and control of water pollution plans. This paper uses the current water quality inplanning latter stage to compare with its former objectives, comes to more obvious conclusion, inorder to assess the effect of basin control and plan implementation.
(3) Evaluation Criteria
The aim of water environmental protection is the health of aquatic ecosystem, which is also thehighest standard in the water policy evaluation. The ecosystem healthy develops through the
improvement of water quality. Therefore, water quality becomes the direct standard of the water
policy evaluation. Partial goals related to water quality goal also include pollutant effluent,
pollutant effluent entering into rivers, pollutant flux, and etc.
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Contents and conclusions
Evaluation on the Implementation Activities
Water pollution prevention and control activities refer to the environmental protection activitiesof the stakeholders aimed at slowing down the water quality deterioration or improving the water
quality. [ iii ] Water pollution prevention and control activities will be divided as follows: industrial
water pollution prevention and control, urban wastewater treatment, agricultural non-point
resources pollution control, ecology protection, drinking water project.
(1)The Industrial Water Pollution Prevention and Control Project has obvious effect while theplanning objective goal has not been achieved. In the aspect of Industrial Water Pollution
Prevention and Control, though there is still major difference between the actual implementationand the objectives of “the 9th Five-Year Plan” and “the 10th Five-Year Plan”, outstanding effects
in the Basin have been attained because of the concerted effort, which can be well proved by the
declining of industrial COD discharge. However, such conclusions are drawn from thegovernment’s statistic data which are lack of more detailed demonstration.
(2) The municipal wastewater treatment plant projects are not well implemented in the wholebasin. At the end of the “the 9th Five-Year”, the unimplemented projects occupied 25.4% of theplanning projects, which increased to 44.1% of the planning projects in “the 10th Five-Year” up
to January, 2005. The main reason is that the funds were not in the place by investigation andanalysis. According to the estimation on sewage treatment capacity, the investment
accomplishment percentages are 43.88% and 28.7% respectively in the periods of “the 9th FiveYear” and “the 10th Five-Year”. Meanwhile, the waste distribution network is not enough to
support the construction of wastewater treatment plants. What’s more, the local environmental
protection agencies are weakly supervising the wastewater treatment plants.
(3) The agricultural non-point pollution resources control objectives are achieved basically. The
agricultural non-point pollution resources control was not taken into consideration until the “the10th Five-Year Plan” for the strengthening industrial point pollution resources control andincreasingly prominent ammonia-nitrogen pollution and six agricultural non-point pollution
resources control projects are started in the whole basin from then on. The projects building or
having built have occupied 83.3% of the total projects with a total investment of CNY 120
million up to up to January, 2005.
(4) The ecology protection activities are deficient. The key projects in “the 9th Five-Year Plan”
are for industrial pollution control, lacking enough attention to ecology protection. Some actions
aimed at soil and water conservation and water resources protection have been taken without anobvious effect. The local Water Sectors and the Basin Management Departments didn’t reachagreement on the water utilization management. In the aspect of water saving, there are still
major problems such as the water is wasted seriously, and the measuring management of water isweak. It is an important reason for the improper water resources allocation that the water price is
too low to reflect the value of the water resource, though the water price is increasing all the time.
The basin ecology protection has been strengthened since the “the 10th Five-Year”, and a series
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projects of Sewage Interception and Watershed Comprehensive Harness has been conducted. The
implementation effects of Wastewater Interception Projects are bad while the results of theWatershed Comprehensive Harness Projects are relatively better.
(5) The Funds of drinking water project are well appropriated. The deep-well and drinking-waterprojects are accomplished well. The funds for drinking water projects construction, including
rural drinking water projects and urban surface drinking-water guarantee projects in four
provinces along the Huai River, are better appropriated than the industrial point resource,industrial structure adjustment, cleaner producing, sewage concentrated disposal projects,
especially the urban surface drinking-water guarantee projects.
Evaluation of the effluent control effectAccording to two five-year plans, we choose the amount of pollutant effluent, amount ofpollutants into river and pollutant flux as the evaluation indicators to evaluate the Huai River’s
pollution control effect. The amount of pollutant effluent is aggregate value of target sources,
which is value in environmental yearbook. The amount of pollutants into river is the total
pollutant effluent discharged to the target river, which can be got by monitoring the water volume
and pollutant concentration. The pollutant flux is the amount of a certain pollutant that passes ariver cross section in unit-time. By comparing the three indicators in a river shed, we can estimate
actual pollutant effluent. If all the pollution sources have been covered in statistics, the pollutant
flux in lower river section will be less than the amount of pollutants into river, and the amount ofpollutants into river will be less than the amount of pollutant effluent. The relationship of themcan be represented as Figure 1.
Targeted sources

Total pollutant effluent
entering into river

Main stream

Aggregate
Monitoring

Main stream monitoring

Total amount ofpollutant effluent
Flux of tributaries

Flux of main stream

Figure 1. Evaluation route map of pollutant effluent.
(1) The amount of total pollutant effluent is much higher than the goal in the plan, and pollutant
effluent entering into rivers is not clear.
Generally speaking, Huai River didn’t achieve the 10th five-year planning goal, and there is a big
gap. From the statistic indicator, the COD effluent amount is 1.5 times more than the plan’s goal
all the time. So the COD effluent is more than half of the plan’s requirement.
The environmental department has no statistic of pollutant effluent entering into each river. Huai
River committee issues a pollution effluent bulletin of important water functional areas every

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

month, but they only monitor the areas at random. The interval is too long for one area monitored
two times, so the data are discontinuous. We can not know the real amount of pollutant effluent
entering into each river. The reliability of the data is not sure. The water function area controlled
by Huai River committee is different from that of the environment protection department, whichcauses the effluent data can’t be used. So we can’t have the distribution of effluent discharge.
(2) The pollutant effluent estimated by pollutant flux is much larger than the statistic pollutant
effluent. Although the statistic amount of pollutant effluent has showed a trend of declining, wefind that the pollutant effluent has not been controlled at all. We have estimated the pollutant flux
in Wujiadu section, which is located in downstream of Huai River in Bengbu city, Anhui
Province.
From figure 2 and figure 3, we can see that both the effluent amount of NH3-N and COD havehuge shaking in different year. There is no evidence indicates that they are decreasing. So thestatistic data are unreliable, and we ca not say that the pollution is under control.
WRQ
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Figure 3. COD flux in Wujiadu section.
We have also compared the effluent amount by statistic with that estimated by flux, as table 1,
181

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanand found that there is a huge gap between them. In some years, the latter is even lager than theformer, which is ridiculous.
Table 1. Comparison of flux and statistic effluent of COD. unit: ten thousand tons
Amount of COD load in Henan
Amount of COD load in
The flux of COD in
Year
and Anhui part of Huai
Henan and Anhui province
Wujiadu section
River(above Bengbu section)
1998
134.9
30.63
81.41
1999
139.68
31.76
13.46
2000
126.3
29.58
63.59
2001
110.33
25.33
37.01
2003
96.37
22.12
19ˊ12
average121.52
27.88
42.92(3) Although 70% of pollutants come from agriculture non-point sources, the industrial and living
point pollution sources are the chief factor that makes the water quality bad.
We compared the proportion of pollutant from industrial and living point sources with
agricultural non-point sources in table 2. The former take less than 30% while the latter take morethan 70% in each year. But according to the relationships between flux, water flow rate,
concentration and water quality discussed above, we can know that the agricultural non-point
pollution can enter into the river only in the water-abundant period, in when the water quality is
not the worst. On contrast, in the water-absent period, the pollutants are only from industrial andliving point sources. Therefore, the industrial and living point pollution sources are the chief
factor that makes the water quality bad.
Table 2. the proportion of industrial and living sources by year. (%)
Huaibin Bantai Huaidian Jieshou Lutaizi Wujiadu Average
NH3-N 33.08
39.64
24.45
31.32
5.92
31.68
27.68
COD 29.40

36.40

21.91

20.86

23.87

16.42

24.81

Figure 4 to figure 7 indicate such a series of relationships: the lager the water quantity, the more
the pollutant effluent, but the lower the pollutant concentration, the better the water quality.
Otherwise, the less the water quantity, the less the pollutant effluent, but the higher the pollutant
concentration, the worse the water quality. And the relationships showed by the data areconsistent with logistic deducing: the amount of pollutant enter into river is positive correlativewith rain capacity, the non-point pollution is the main sources, maybe it also contain thepollutants that are stocked and discharged when raining.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

3.5

3000

3

2500

2.5

2000

2

1500

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concentration˄mg/L)

flux and water volume

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Flux (ton)Flow rate (m3/s)

1200003000

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2500

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2000

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183

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Concentration (mg/l)

Flow rate (m3/l)
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Figure 7. Relationship of COD’s concentration and water volume.
Evaluation of water quality
We choose COD and NH3-N as the evaluation indicators to compare to the surface water standard
and “the 9th five-year” and “the 10th five-year” water pollution control programs, and analyze
the change trend of water quality by time-series analysis, analyze the situation of attained
standard wastewater. We analyze from the whole situation of different sections, water quality ofmain rivers, and we choose Bengbu for an emphatically analysis.
(1) There is no evident improvement or deterioration for water quality in the Basin
We have input huge manpower, material resources and financial resources in the ten years’
harnessing. But we gained little. Summarizing the experiences and lessons is more important thanestablishing an ineffective plan.
(2) The water quality in 2005 shows the Situation of uncompliance, and the water quality inprovincial boundary exceeded standard seriously
Both the water resource bulletin published by Huai River Committee and the Huai River Water
quality monthly report published by environment monitoring station, the standardized rate ofplanning section is about 60%. In the 37 province boundary, the ċ standardized Rate is about
16.6%.
(3) Poor data quality
We take the third water treatment of Bengbu City as an example. Because the objective ofmonitoring is the safety of drinking water, the frequency should be at least once a day, so it has
the high data quality. Taking the 2005 monitoring data as an example, the fluctuating range ofPotassium Permanganate is 10%~25%. The fluctuating range of ammonia-nitrogen is larger, from
50% to 140%. Therefore, monthly monitoring data couldn’t reflect true water quality. Highfrequency and Continuous Monitoring is very important.
According to the analysis of the data’s frequencies by SPSS soft (Fig. 8), if we want to reflect184

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

80% real water quality, we must monitor at least 289 times. The standard deviation is 0.875,
which is larger than the mean concentration, which is 0.803. The value of NH3-N’s concentration
is of big randomicity. So it just can reflect one thirtieth water quality if we only monitor once a
moth.
frequency
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Figure 8. the frequencies of NH3-N concentration in Bengbu water supply company.
Policy and management system evaluation
The water environmental protection policy in the Basin is consisted of water resource protection
and water pollution control. The water resource utilization and protection policy system is thesum of the policies aimed at water resource utilization and protection directly and indirectly.
There is no special law on water resource protection in China and the main content about waterpollution prevention and control is contained in the Law of Water Pollution Prevention andControl promulgated in 2002. In the Law of Water Pollution Prevention and Control, the legal
provisions on water resource protection are relatively principle without practical clauses and therelevant provisions are embodied in the general part of the Law. The decisions on water resource
management are made by the local governments themselves. The water pollution prevention andcontrol policy system is consisted of the policies with direct and indirect goals of pollutant
discharge control, lacking supervisions from central government to local government. In theprocess of policy implementation, concrete and norm implementation institutions like effluent
license system in developed countries are absent.
Based on the laws and regulations, all the environmental policies will be enforced by local
government. Because of the conflict between environmental development and water pollution
control, especially for the industrial water pollution control and urban domestic waste water
control, the local Environmental Protection Bureau has great limit to enforce the policies
seriously. And central government has no effective instrument to urge local government for waterpollution control both in command and control and marked based instruments.
Suggestions(1) Making strict permit system regulation and implemented to large industrial sources and185

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanurban waste water treatment plant as soon as possible
The most effective way to control large point pollution is to implement strict and normative
permit system. The permit system should contain strict emission auditing, normative permits
issue and management system, effective pollution monitoring system, rigid accountability system,
and reasonable economic stimulate mechanism. Issue and implement the normal and strict permit
system as soon as possible. Central and provincial government should carry on direct supervisionand control to urban waste water treatment plant.
(2) Set up the basin water environmental information platform
The first step to solve the problem is to identify what the problem is. Even this research has
carried long-time to try to collect all the existing related materials, we still can't give clear andexact conclusion. Therefore, forming environmental statistics and setting the information sharing
platform is also the most cost-efficient method of improving management. This platform
concentrates information of different source, all kinds of uses, such as the monitoring data ofwater conservancy, environmental protection, water supply department, statistics of fishery,
agriculture, medical treatment, etc. These data not only can meet different demands of managing ,policy making , studying etc. , but also can be regarded as supplement to each other , speed theimprovement of the quality of the data.
(3) Central government should take more responsibilities of pollution control in big river basin
Because of the inter-province externality of water pollution in basin, the local governments in thebasin have no incentives and ability to carry out the full water pollution control tasks individually.
Except for guide, the central government have responsibility to offer environmental protection
service directly. Tt should manage important projects and activities of environmental protection
directly. The effective means to solve the water pollution in basin can be supervising the local
government to finish the goal of environmental protection, setting up the special fund ofenvironmental protection of water, building local branch office etc..
(4) Improve the water environmental protection planning system
Establish the water protection planning system in the basin. The system contains basic plans andapplied plans. The basic plan refers to long time scale (more than 20 years), and its core lies inregulating the function of land and water related to the protection goal from the strategic height.
Its goal lies in offering water of normal production, living and ecology for sustainable
development. Applied plan is a special plan made on the principle of basic plans, including basin,
small basin, urban water protection plan and pollutant reducing plan.
ReferencesiSong Guojun Ma Zhong Jiang Ni. Environmental Policy Assessment and Its Significance on
Environmental Protection in China˄in Chinese˅. Environmental Protection,2003.12. Vol.314,
34-35.
ii
Song Guojun Tan Bingqing. The Evaluation on the Policies for Water Environmental Protectionin Huai River Basin in China (ISBN:978-7-300-07932-5/F.2709). Beijing: Press of Renmin
University of China, 2007.
iii
Xia Guang. Environmental Policy Innovation. Economic Analysis on Environmental Policy.
Beijing: Press of Environment Science of China, 2001: 55. (in Chinese)

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

A Method of Water Quality Monitoring and Effective Use of the Results

Takayuki Tsuge
Department of Environment, Aichi Prefecture Government, 3-1-2 Sannomal, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 460-8501
takayuki_tsuge@pref.aichi.lg.jp

Abstract
We started Water Environment Collaborative Monitoring with local inhabitant’s groups from
April 2005. The results of the monitoring are put in Electric Library which sends some
information to local inhabitants on the internet. We could accumulate the monitoring data for
two years (from April 2005 to March 2007) so we are just starting to examine how to use
these data effectively. So I describe the present situation of Water Environment Collaborative
Monitoring with local inhabitant’s groups and the examination of effective use ofaccumulated data for improvement the water quality in this report. This might be a simple andgood way to share the information among the concerned people each other and to conserve
water quality.

Introduction(1) The reason that we start Water Environment Collaborative Monitoring
We have only natural lake in Aichi prefecture. The name of the lake is ABURAGAFUCHI.
The summary of ABURAGAFUCHI is as table 1.
Table 1. The summary of ABURAGAFUCHI.
㵶
㵶
㵶
㵶
㵶
㵶

Located in the southern-central part of Aichi
Only natural lake in Aichi
Surface area : 5.83 km2
Circumference : 6.3 km
Average depth : 3 m
Maximum depth : 5 m

Water quality of ABURAGAFUCHI is not good because of the development of theurbanization in the basin and closed water body. We have tried to improve the water quality
until now but it’s impossible that the water quality restore to purity so as to be able to swim in
the past. Annual average of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) was 8.3 mg/l in fiscal 2004
year (according to the official regular monitoring result) and it was the worst 6 in the nationallakes.
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe cause of water pollution is domestic waste water mainly and other causes are waste waterfrom factory and non-point pollution, etc. These kinds of pollution have accumulated in thebottom of lake and have become the sediment. So we settled on second period short termwater environment improvement action plan and we have conducted comprehensive
countermeasures for water environment improvement. And from April 2005 we started thewater environment collaborative monitoring with local inhabitant’s groups to promote theirunderstanding the present situation of water environment. Because we think it’s very
important to understand the present situation for local inhabitants to promote the domestic
waste water countermeasures by themselves. In addition we can not improve the water
environment only administration and we need the collaboration from local inhabitants.

The present situation of Water Environment Collaborative Monitoring(1) Measurement items and points
We measure the water quality once a month basically and the administration measures various
items by official method but local inhabitant’s groups measure 2 items (COD and horizontal
visibility) by simple method in principle.
There are 102 monitoring points include the river which flow in and out ABURAGAFUCHI.
We share the monitoring point, 32 points are measured by administration and remaining 70
points are measured by local inhabitant’s groups. These monitoring points dotted the variety
river such as city drainage, irrigation canal or drainage for agriculture and the small river.
(2) Shearing the role of administration and local inhabitant’s groups
We are shearing the role to conduct the collaborative monitoring as table 2. Administration(Aichi Prefecture Government) provides the tools which is necessary for water intake and themeasurement as table 3. Local inhabitant’s groups measure the water quality to use tools
which provided by administration once a month and register the result of investigation at
Electric Library on the internet if some groups don’t have the computer they may send theresults by the facsimile.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 2. The role of collaborative monitoring.
Name of organization

Local inhabitant’s groups

Local city

Administration

Aichi prefecture

Role to conduct the monitoring
Investigate the water environment once a month at the point that was
assigned( Totally 70 points are assigned now )Report the result to environment department of Aichi Prefecture
Government on the internet or facsimile
Attend to the Information Exchange meeting once a year
Investigate the water quality including the items which local
inhabitant’s group doesn’t measure once a month at the point that
was assigned( Totally 20 points are assigned now )Report the result to environment department of Aichi Prefecture
Government on the internet
Attend to the Information Exchange meeting once a year
Investigate the water quality including the items which local
inhabitant’s group doesn’t measure once a month at the point that
was assigned( Totally 12 points are assigned now )Administrate the Home Page containing the Electric Library on theinternet
Make the report of monitoring results and hold the Information
Exchange meeting and explain the report

Table 3. The list of tools provided by administration.
Investigation
Item
Water
temperature
Observation

Water intake

Number (perCommentary
one group)㧙File for A5

Name of the tool
Field note
Thermometer2

Stick thermometer

BucketRope
BeakerhandleDipper1
1

Made of plastic
10m with a rewinding handle

1

1Ͱ Beer mug type made of plastic

1

With long shaft
1 liter with a cover (In case of measurement Horizontal
Visibility in the room)
200ml with a cover (In case of measurement packed
COD)
A5 Both sides laminated processing, contained Filed
note

with

a

Polyethylene bottle㧙

Color chart
Color of water

Horizontal
visibility
COD

Coloring
observation
container
Horizontal visibility
meter
Packed COD test kit(D)
Packed COD test kit
Comparison

According toinvestigation
pointscolor

1

10cm in height, diameter of 9cm, white color

11m Made of acrylic1

Low concentration use (measurement range is from 0 to
8 mg/l)High concentration use (measurement range is from 0 to
100mg/l)Low concentration use
189International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

list

High concentration use

Timer
Container

According toinvestigation
points1
1

Vinyl back1

Beaker

Safekeeping
andTransportation

100ml Made of plastic
Reaction time is 5 minutes
Made of plastic with a cover and a handle
Using to carry tools(3) The way to collect the monitoring data and announce the results
We make the investigation seat as table 4 to share the information among the concerned
people each other. These data are taken in an Electric Library and especially COD and
Horizontal Visibility are able to be displayed the change every spot. The contents of ElectricLibrary (http://www.aburagafuchi.jp/web_page/library/index.html, original form is Japanese)are as table 5.

Water quality monitoring items

Basic items

Table 4. Investigation seat for ABURAGAFUCHI water environment monitoring.
Investigation seat for ABURAGAFUCHI water environment monitoring
Nameofmonitoring
Code of the point
point
Investigation
Date
Month
Year
date
Parson of entry
Investigation
AM࡮PM
Hour
Minutetime
Weather
1 : Fine 2 : Cloud 3 : Light rain 4 : Others ()
Temperature
.
Water
.
temperature
Strength
Smell of water

1 : Nothing
3 : Distinct smell

Color of water
Horizontal
visibility

4 : Rotten
8 : Shell㨯See
4 : Greenish brown
8 : Yellowish brown.

( cm )

Water temperature at measurement.
( ͠ )Concentration( mg/l )Water quantity, Speed of a moving fluid, State of the circumference, Yesterday’s weather, and River
construction work, etc.
COD

Note

( ͠ )

2 : Slight smell
4 : Strong smell

1 : Sewage 2 : Soil㨯Mud 3 : Detergents
5 : Mold
6 : Oil
7 : Urine
9 : Others ()
1 : Yellow
2 : Greenish yellow 3 : Grayish green
5 : Grayish brown 6 : Dark brown
7 : Gray
9 : Colorless
10 : Green

Kind

( ͠ )

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Table 5. The contents of Electric Library on the web page.
The result of water quality measurement
Water quality data (measurement point)
Each ppoint dataMapp indication each month ((COD㨯Horizontal visibility)y)
List of COD㨯Horizontal visibilityy in this month
List of COD㨯Horizontal visibilityy last fiscal yyear
Water quality data inside of the lakeqy data inside of the lake last fiscal yeary
Water quality
The result of creature research
The results of creature research for last two fiscal yyears
Activityy reportsp
Introduction of participationppggroupsp
What’s voluntaryy group?
g p
Water qualityqy monitoringg manual

We conduct the water quality monitoring with related organizations to understand the present
condition of water quality as possible finely and we announce the results by the ElectricLibrary on the internet to many people. The image of this system is like figure 1.
Implementation
organization
Inhabitants

Aichi prefecture
Inside lake
Monitoring
point

CitizenGroups

River
Water

Environment

Monitoring in the
4 cities in the

Basin

Basin

Grasp of the Water

River in the
City

Information of
Measurement

Environment all of
the Basin

Electric Library

Schools

Send Information to
Basin

CitizenGroups in the
Basin
Close
Waterside

Enterprises
Research
Organizati
ons

Figure 1. Image of the Water Environment Collaborative Monitoring system

Acknowledgement(1) The examination of use the accumulated data
We could get some information from the monitoring data for two years. In 2006 fiscal year
the inside of lake’s water quality (based on the official measure by Aichi Prefecture, COD)
became to be better than 2005 fiscal year. We understood the change of COD concentration
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanwas related to the internal production inside of the lake because of the number of inside lake’s
chlorophyll-a (based on the official measure by Aichi Prefecture) was less than 2005 fiscal
year. But average of inflow waterways’ water quality (based on the measure by local
inhabitant’s groups, COD) became to be a little worse. Because of this we started to examine
where and when was worse in detail about some inflow waterways. And we begin tounderstand that there are some points to be worse than 2005 fiscal year and some points areworse in only a few months among one year. So we are now examining where the cause is in
those points.
(2) How to develop the countermeasures to improve the water quality in the future
According to the collaborative monitoring results we could find some points that become to
be bad water quality. So we are going to investigate the situation of the land use and theexistence of specified factory which is reported on the installation of specified facility basedon the Water Pollution Control Law around these points.
First we are going to carry out some inspection of specified factory which is near these points
and if there will be some problem concerning waste water treatment system or process of
production, we are going to lead the factory owner to carry out improvement.
Then we are going to enlighten local inhabitances who live near these points about thedomestic waste water treatment.
Next we are going to lead farmers who cultivate their rice field near these points to reduce ofthe consumption of the agriculture chemicals and to improve the usage of them.
Finally we hope to be able to conduct these countermeasures comprehensibly in the future.
In addition we hope the collaborative monitoring might be useful to promote understanding
the present water quality situation for the local inhabitants including factory owners andfarmers and conservation water quality by themselves.

Other relevant information(1) Clear Water Renaissance
Lake ABURAGAFUCHI Water Quality Purification Promotion Council settled on second
period short term water environment improvement action plan (another name is Clear Water
Renaissance Τ) in fiscal 2004 year.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

In this action plan some target values of water quality as table 6 are set. These targets are set
as the values which should to be achieved by fiscal 2010 year.
Table 6. The target value of Clear Water Renaissance.
Assessment item

Target value

Improvement level

COD

8 mg/l or lessImprovement to a level where pedestrians smell nounpleasant odors while walking on the lakeside
walkway

Dissolved
Oxygen3 mg/l or more
(in the bottom of the lake)

Improvement to a level where aquatic organisms,
such as fish and shellfish, can survive

Turbidity

Horizontal visibility 30 cm or more

Improvement to a level where the bottom of thelake is visible

We are conducting some measures as follows to achieve these target values now.
㨯Lake ABURAGAFUCHI and rivers purification measures such as sludge control andinstallation of river water purification facility, etc.
㨯Domestic, industrial wastewater and land related pollution control.
㨯Water Environment Collaborative Monitoring which is one of the way to realize the water
environment improvement collaboration with local inhabitants.

References
ABURAGAFUCHI mizu kankyou monitoring (in Japanese), (2005) Department ofEnvironment Aichi Prefectural Government
Dai niki mizukakyou kaizen kinkyuu koudou keikaku (in Japanese), (2004) Lake
ABURGAFUCHI Water Quality Purification Promotion Council, Aichi

193

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Watershed Services Agreements: An Analysis of Benefits towards a Pro-poor Reward
Mechanism in Bakun, Philippines
Grace B. Villamor1, Alberto Banatao, Amos Beta-a, Rodel D. Lasco1
1

World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) – Philippines
Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management (CHARM)- Philippines
Bakun Indigenous Tribe Organization (BITO) –Philippines
Email: g.villamor@cgiar.org

Abstract
Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs) supporting the Philippine laws which govern thehydropower companies in Bakun watershed were analyze to examine the efficacy andtransparency of the MOAs as basis of rewards. This study was conducted to develop a modelof intervention to improve reward mechanisms that benefit the upland communities for thewatershed services they provide. Two kinds of benefits (statutory and negotiated) derived by
Bakun municipality from the hydro companies were identified and its pro-poor potentials
were assessed. Based on the results, recommendations and challenges were identified tosupport the development of a pro-poor reward mechanism.

Introduction
Bakun, a marginalized agricultural municipality in the mountainous region of the northern
Philippines was selected as one of the six pilot sites for the Rewarding Upland Poor for
Environmental Services (RUPES) 1 program in Asia. The concept of Payments for Watershed
Services (PWS) is expected to work well in Bakun since essential ingredients for PES suchas: buyers of watershed services as represented by the two hydropower companies, sellers ofwatershed services which are the community upland farmers dwelling within the watershedareas while applying their indigenous land-use practices, and an intermediary or broker of the
reward mechanism which is the Bakun Indigenous Tribe Organization (BITO), as a municipal
wide grassroots organization, are present.
Hydroelectric power generation in Bakun is encouraged under Philippine laws as a major
economic development thrust. There are a number of policies and agreements supporting thenature and amount of benefits that communities receive from hydroelectric power companies(Table 1).
Table 1. List of legal stipulations governing the nature and amount of benefits derived fromhydropower generation.
Law
Title
Executive Order No. 215
Allowing the Private Sector to Generate Electricity
Republic Act (RA) 7156
RA 7160
RA 7638
RA 9136
Energy Regulations (ER) 1-94

Mini-hydroelectric Power Incentives Act of 1991
Local Government Code of the Philippines
Department of Energy Act of 1992 (DOE Act)
Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001
Rules and Regulations Implementing Sec. 5(i) of RA 7638.

1 RUPES is an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported project, whichaims to development reward mechanisms for environmental services.
194

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

With these legal instruments, specific benefits for the Bakun municipality from thehydroelectric companies (HEC) are translated through Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs).
The first MOA between HEDCOR, Inc. (then NMHC) and Bakun Municipality was signed in1991 while the second MOA involving Luzon Hydro Corporation (LHC), Benguet Province,
National Power Corporation (NPC), and Bakun LGU was signed in 1997.
Together with the Cordillera Highlands Agricultural Research Management (CHARM) project,
and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), BITO examined the efficacy and transparency ofthese MOAs as basis of rewards. This activity aims to assess the performance of the benefits
derived by the municipality from HEC as stipulated in the MOA; to recommend ways how to
improve reward mechanisms that benefit the upland communities for the watershed services
they provide; and develop a model of intervention that allows the indigenous peoples (IPs) toexercise their rights in decisions that affect their livelihood.

Benefits flowing to whom
There are two kinds of benefits derived by Bakun from HEC: 1) statutory benefits in terms oftax payments mandated under existing government laws (Table 1); and 2) voluntary social
development and livelihood assistance.
Statutory (mandatory) benefits. HEC directly pay the business and real property taxes to the
local government unit (LGU) treasury office while the special privilege tax is paid at thenational treasury.
The national wealth tax is one percent ofgross revenue of the power company, and it isbeing paid directly to the LGUs concerned
following a sharing scheme: 20 percent to theprovince, 45 percent to the municipality, and35 percent to the barangay (village) (Figure
1).
A different benefit-sharing scheme isobserved with the HEDCOR, Inc., which
MOA was signed before the enactment of the
Local Code of 1991. The company remits
three percent of its net sale to the LGU with asharing scheme of two percent for themunicipality and one percent for the hostbarangays.

Sharing Schem e

Barangay
35%

Provicial
20%

Municipal
45%

Figure 1. Share scheme for the national
wealth tax.

With regards to ER 1-94 funds (as provided under the country’s Department of Energy Act of1992 and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001), the benefits are provided to thehost communities in the following forms:
 Electrification fund (EF) equivalent to 50 percent of one centavo per kWh of total
electricity sales of the power station (PhP0.0050/kwh); Development and livelihood fund (DLF) equivalent to 25 percent of one centavo perkWh (PhP0.0025/kwh); and Reforestation, watershed management, health and/or environmental enhancement fund195

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan(Refo funds) equivalent to 25 percent of one centavo per kWh (PhP0.0025/kwh) of thetotal electricity sales of the power station.
These funds can be accessed by the host LGU upon submission of project proposals, which
are evaluated and approved by the Department of Energy prior to implementation.
All these mandatory taxes have substantially supplemented the revenues of the municipality.
The funds derived from HEC are then integrated in their annual budget appropriation forcommunity development. As of December 2006, the total cash benefits and assistance derived
by Bakun from the power companies was estimated at US $3.7 million. For the most part, itis the LGU’s prerogative to utilize the payments from HEC to finance basic community
services such as health and education, as well as for community development projects
prioritized by their Sangguniang Council.
Voluntary or negotiated benefits. The voluntary benefits are provided annually by the powercompanies in response to the requests of the LGU and /or People’s Organizations (POs). Mostof the benefits are in the form of carefully prioritized infrastructure projects such as roads andbridges while others are in the form of social development and livelihood assistance.
Estimated voluntary benefits provided by HEC as of 2006 was US $165,000.00. Thesebenefits could be perceived as company’s gesture of goodwill in response to the urgent needsof the communities.
These MOA and non-MOA benefits have indeed contributed in the development of themunicipality particularly the major roadways (e.g. Halsema highway going to La Trinidad,
Benguet and Baguio City). However, more interventions have yet to be done in terms of thenatural resource protection and management, which supports the source of livelihoods of theIPs. In particular, there should be annual budget appropriation for Natural Resource
Management (NRM) activities/projects funded from the payments/benefits derived from thepower facilities.

Pro-poor potential
Based on the result of this study, recommendations were made to improve the existing
financing mechanism to be more pro-poor, these are:
 Implementation of agroforestry farming projects as strategy for community livelihood
development; Direct negotiation of the communities through BITO to hydropower companies for thevoluntary benefits; LGU should observe proper balance in the utilization of the negotiated benefits suchthat infrastructure as well as resource conservation and management projects are
implemented proportionately; and Utilization of the funds (e.g. national wealth tax as paid by the hydropowercompanies) to produce more public services such as electrification of barangays, farmto-market roads, and land tenure delineation activities addressing the unequal access tophysical capital in the uplands.

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Avenues/Mode of Intervention to a Realistic Pro-Poor Mechanism
To realize the abovementioned recommendations, the following are identified avenues andmode of intervention to improve the existing benefit mechanisms for the Bakun watershedstakeholders.
Bakun Integrated Watershed Development and Management Plan (BIWDMP). Through thefacilitation of the RUPES project in Bakun, the BIWDMP is currently being formulated thatwould integrate the RUPES concept as a distinct strategy to achieve resource conservationand poverty alleviation. This plan integrates all piecemeal watershed management projects
being implemented within the domain, and will serve as the main document on which allwatershed management projects and activities are based. BIWDMP will identify priority
watershed management and community livelihood projects, and one of these is thedevelopment of agroforestry farms within open and critical portions of the watershed. This
project will improve the water quality that supports HEC while simultaneously providing
additional incomes to the upland farmers. It is envisioned that HEC would be encouraged tofinance the development of agro-forestry farms.
Adoption of a municipal-wide improved land management practices. HEC has expressed
willingness to upscale the rewards being provided to the communities provided there would
be a marked reduction in the volume of silt and sediments that flow to their facilities (i.e.
turbines) especially during the rainy season. HEC has been incurring huge expenditure inmaintaining turbines and other related facilities that are damaged by siltation/sedimentation. If
this problem could be addressed by the upland dwellers through the adoption of improved
land management practices, then HEC would be willing to grant more rewards to thecommunities.
Annual provision of voluntary benefit. Aside from the abovementioned benefits, the hydrocompanies are strengthening their goodwill through provision of voluntary benefits such as
scholarships, repair and maintenance of school facilities, provision of computer and copiermachines; medical and dental assistance, assistance to roads maintenance; livelihood
assistance; seedling dispersal programs, assistance to cooperatives, and training of selected
farmers among others.
Lessons Learned and Challenges
From this study, BITO sees the potential avenues and mode of intervention to develop a propoor, realistic and conditional payment agreement with HEC. At this stage, capacity building
activities especially for equipping the IPs (e.g. training on water quality monitoring,sustainable agroforestry/NRM systems and management of RUPES mechanisms; training on
project development and management) are vital.
At the same time, from all the activities and the dialogues conducted, HEC now see potential
gains for the people and their company in rewarding watershed services. New MOA is undernegotiation in which the IPs of the upstream communities are the target recipients of the
reward. In addition, identified research needs to support a pro-poor, realistic and conditional
payment agreement includes: Effective valuation of watershed services
 More demonstrations of viable agro forestry livelihood technologies in Bakun
 Policy and legal reforms
 Development of a holistic market-based reward for environmental services.

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References
RUPES Bakun Site Profile. (2007). World Agroforestry Centre-Southeast Asia. Bogor.
Villamor, G. and Banatao A. (2007). Towards a Pro-poor Reward Mechanism. Insights: Notes
from the Field. Issue: 2, pp 65-71.

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With Our Own Hands: Promoting Ecological Sanitation in Mindanao

Cora Z. Sayre
Executive Director, Local Empowerment Foundation (LEF), Libertad, 9022 Misamis Oriental, Philippines.
Email address: empower_8@yahoo.com

Abstract
Ecological sanitation or ecosan for short in the Philippines and elsewhere is a new paradigm
which has the potential of improving food security and health and sanitation especially among
the poorest of the poor. It considers waste as a natural resource needed in growing crops andthereby closes the loop between sanitation and agriculture. Our experience shows thatmarginal farmers adopt ecosan when it is incorporated in a holistic manner into the larger
program of assistance to them and in our case, agro-forestry, vegetable gardening, community
organizing and capacity-building. A multifarious and sustained education and communication
strategy is also needed for beneficiaries to really be able to adopt the technology. We focus
our attention first on the most innovative farmers and leaders in the community. Our
recommendation includes the following; a) for the government to institutionalize ecosan inschools and public places and allocate some budget so that ecosan toilets can be constructedin these places; b) for the department of education to integrate ecosan teaching in the
curriculum; c) the adoption of ecosan at the family level; and, d) the conduct of more research
especially in the arena of economic measurements of the impact of ecosan to the community.
Finally best practices must be documented, disseminated and popularized.

Introduction
Ecosan or ecological sanitation is a new paradigm in promoting health and sanitation in thePhilippines and as I can surmise it is also a new paradigm globally. It is a system of “closing
the loop between agricultural production and health and sanitation and is a shift from thetraditional end-of-pipe system” (Werner: 2004). The argument is that “sanitation could be
solved in a more sustainable and efficient manner if the resources contained in excreta andwastewater are recovered and used rather than discharged into water bodies and theenvironment.” Feces, urine and grey water are stored in ecosan toilets and the resulting
organic matter is used to fertilize plants such as vegetables which are very much needed in acountry like the Philippines where most of children living in the rural areas areundernourished. Using feces and urine in this way also prevent it from contaminating theenvironment and prevent communicable diseases from spreading. Ecological sanitation
follows the Bellagio Principles (2000) stating that “current policies in waste management are
abusive to human well-being, economically unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable.”It further states that “human dignity, improved quality of life and environmental security
should be at the center of the new approach” and that “waste should be considered aresource…”
The idea of ecosan was first introduced to the Local Empowerment Foundation (LEF), a
grassroots NGO I am directing by one of our partners, the German Doctors for Developing
Countries based in Frankfurt. In one of the visits of its Project Officer, Mr. Peter Wychodil,
he brought with him a piece of paper with some diagrams about ecosan. The diagram was notvery clear but I got the web address and conducted a search and came in contact with Ms.
Ulrike Lipkow, a German technical expert from GTZ who has a project in the Visayas
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanpromoting ecosan. I got also some information that a nearby university here is promoting
ecosan with their peri-urban gardening project. With this serendipitous confluence of events,
our ecosan project came into being and well on its way to offer some solution to the pollution
and unmitigated spread of diseases in Mindanao due to improper disposal of feces and urine.
Our project is not only relevant in our locality because on the whole, 90% of the sewage
generated in the Philippines is not disposed or treated in an environmentally acceptablemanner and diarrhea is top 3 major cause of death especially among children. There are also
2.6 billion people worldwide without access to any kind of improved sanitation and 2.5
million annual deaths of mostly children under the age of 5 is caused mainly by sanitationrelated diseases.
This paper attempts to describe our concrete experiences in promoting ecological sanitation tosmall, marginal farming households in the project areas in Northern Mindanao and describe
peoples’ responses, benefits, challenges and opportunities. One caveat that I may say is that I
do not attempt to present a panacea, or a “cure all” for all the health and sanitation problems
besetting our country but to offer some solutions based on pragmatic, on the ground andlocalized experience. This is also a song of hope showing that if people do study, think andinitiate, no matter how small they may be, then positive things can synergistically happen andthat help is not really far behind. The phrase “think global, act local” may be appropriate
here.

Present practices of defecating and relieving oneself in the project area
The present practices in defecating and relieving oneself here are; a) using water-sealed toilets
common in lower to upper middle class homes, b) using an “antipolo” system which is no
more than a hole in the ground and a piece of wood or bamboo planking at the mouth forpeople to sit, and, c) just doing it under the open sky. The last case is very common in rural
barrios and in coastal areas. In the interior barrios, there are a lot of open spaces and shrubs
where one can just sit down and defecate while in coastal areas, feces is easily covered bysand. A convenient banana or any leaf or sea water is used to clean the anus. Urinating ismuch simpler where any natural obstruction can easily be used. Men and women equally dothis but it is the men who are more unbothered while the women have to hide and be
somewhat modest. Children have no qualms at all and just relieve themselves anywhere theylike. It is really amazing because when Filipinos travel the world in our Diaspora we are very
sanitary and uses the most modern toilets with facility. It is unthinkable for a Filipino tourinate like dogs in the sidewalks of Sydney or Rome, for example. The connection between
communicable diseases or pollution of the waterways do not bother the ordinary Filipinos
who in a sense is much more bothered in finding the next meal than thinking about
microscopic germs infecting them. A disease or a sickness is considered an “act of God” andin the same vein of reasoning only God can save the sick. Of course I am not talking about
educated, middle class Filipinos but those 92% in our project areas that are dirt poor and“uncultured”.
Negative consequence of defecating and urinating in anywhere is well documented and we
can see it in scrawny children with bloated stomachs which is a sign of infestation of all kindof worms be it tape, round, ring or even schistosomiasis. Small children bear the brunt since
they like to play hide and seek and explore the nooks of the neighborhood and it is here wherea mound of feces often sits and are trodden upon by innocent feet. Parasites are freely
exchanged in the water table as feces and urine seeped through the numerous open wells to be200

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japandrunk and partaken by all including the salmonella, helminth ova and enteric viruses
associated with it. In our measurements in one of our coastal project the presence of fecal coli
forms is constantly high all throughout the 3-year project period indicating that the coastal
waters are very much polluted already. Given that the Philippines is composed of 7,000 +islands, this is a great challenge indeed.

How we promote ecosan
Promoting ecosan in our areas is fraught with inaction, benign distrust and resistance simply
because it challenges local values and age-old practices. One problem also is the lack ofpolitical will (and budgets!) of the local government units in pursuing waste management
here. Fortunately for us, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has an entire
website promoted to ecosan and we make full use of this. The steps on how to start an ecosan
initiative is particularly helpful although during our implementation we found out that thesteps outlined consisting of awareness, launching, baseline study, social preparation, decision
making and implementation is not necessarily linear but is an iterative, recurring process, withno particular order at all. For example, awareness-raising should not be seen as a one-shotdeal but should be done all throughout. Ms. Ulrike Lipkow also sent us practical tips andcommunication materials appropriate for our needs. Here I can cite some of our successfactors;a. Identification and mobilization of local promoters – the local promoters comes from therank of innovative farmers in the locality whom we think have the leadership capability andstamina to promote ecosan to his or her neighbors. Our idea is that given the new way of
doing things, we need to have local champions in the area whom we can depend upon in orderto defend us in controversies and guide those who show willingness to adopt the practice. We
roughly divide the people in a given barrio into roughly 70% neutral (to the ecosan idea), 15%vehemently opposed and 15% as our champions. Our simple contention is that why focus on
the 15% who are vehement oppositionists? We better focus on the 15% champions (or early
adopters) first then let them persuade the 70% neutral to lean to our sides, the oppositionists
we left to fend for themselves. The approach is similar to those used by itinerant direct
marketers in our area whom we observe will talk only to those who sign some positive
indication to what they are selling but will not spend an iota minute to those whose facial
expression show that a sale cannot be had. We target as part of the group of champions or
those who are on our side the local barrio officials and the teachers in the elementary schools
who are more exposed to issues of health and sanitation.
b. Use of incentive under our water, agro-forestry, nutrition and development (WAND)
project. Our WAND project is an award-winning initiative (Development Marketplace 2004)
and focuses on providing a package of assistance to the small farmer consisting of support totheir need for water, need to conserve soil and water via agro-forestry, promotion of vegetablegardening and organizing them into functional neighborhood clusters. So to complement the
WAND, we provide as incentive vegetable seeds on credit to the farmer-participants. The
ecosan initiative perfectly matched the w, n and d components of the WAND. Capacitybuilding, gender and development and community strengthening are themes cutting across all
the components.
c. Use of multiple teaching and learning techniques- some of the early ecosan initiatives
suffer from lack of sustained training and capacity-building and were declared failures. There

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanis always the mistaken notion that when we introduce something to unlettered farmers, they
get the solution immediately, when in fact it is not really the case; what is simple to us may bevery complex for them given a host of major considerations on their side such as budget (it iseasier to defecate in the open, clear blue sky), time, values, cultural practices and so on. In
our case, we use multiple teaching methods like lectures, field demonstration, bringing themto see actual ecosan operation, using posters and simple illustrated manuals in the local dialect(Cebuano). Added to this we added a senior promoter coming from our staff to focus closely
on capacity-building activities. This has ensured that the ecosan technology is slowly being
institutionalized and become part of the day to day actions of the local people. The GTZ
assisted us by training 3 of our community facilitators on ecosan in Dumaguete City.
d. Establishing communal ecosan models. It is said that when we promote something weshould be the first ones to lead by example. In this case, we constructed one ecosan toilet in
the LEF main office in Libertad and ask all the staff to use it. In this way, farmers coming tothe office to conduct their business or attend trainings will be able to see that we ourselves arepracticing what we are preaching. We also constructed communal ecosan toilets in 4 barrios
in Misamis Oriental. We have submitted a proposal to the German Federal Ministry of
Economic Cooperation for expansion activities and the construction of 60 more ecosan toilets
in the province of Zamboanga del Norte in the years 2008-2010.
e. Linkage and partnership with local and technical expertise. With the advent andaffordability of the internet nowadays, Asia and the rest of the world becomes just like nextdoor neighbors. Thus when we have for example a problem with how long to store the urine
before it can be used to fertilize the plants, an expert informed us that as per WHO standard, itshould be stored at least 1 month. When we asked whether the underlying principle isanaerobic digestion or simple dehydration, an expert based in a university said that the
principle working is simple dehydration. When we had a problem looking for the specializedecosan bowl to be used, a contact in Manila gave us the address and facilitated the purchase of
the bowls. This linkage and partnership we are able to exploit despite our being located in themost far-flung of places. In the 80’s this could have not been done and we have to wait formonths on end in order to get the information that we want. Our space has collapsed
dramatically making us truly inhabitants of One World.

Conclusion and Recommendations
It is much too early to draw conclusions as to the impact of our initiative but the value interms of prevention of diseases, savings in terms of the use of feces and urine as organic
fertilizer and the reduction of pollution in the groundwater and coastal areas will betremendous. The effect evaluation of our initiative will be done by next year when substantial
data has been generated already.
At this point, some of the recommendations that we can offer are the following:a. In terms of policy, for the government to come up with a pronouncement that will
institutionalize ecological sanitation in schools and in public places. Coupled with thispronouncement will be a support fund that will be used in order to construct ecosan toilets inthese schools and public places such as in barrio halls, waiting areas and public clinics. In our
experience one double door ecosan toilet will cost approx 23,000 pesos to construct and thiscan serve a total of 300-500 households, a small investment compared to the benefits in terms

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanof low disease and parasite infestation, less pollution and contamination of the water tables,etc.
b. For the department of education to institutionalize ecosan teaching in the schools. The
schools can well serve as the local promoter of ecological sanitation plus the help of local
NGOs such as the Local Empowerment Foundation and the policy-level assistance of thelocal government units. These multi-level collaboration and coordination will be an effective
tool to popularize and promote ecosan in the local areas.
c. Our present practice is to promote ecosan at the commune level since cost of constructing
one is too high for a household to consider. One direction should be for ecosan to be adopted
at the household or family level with NGO and local government support and incentive.
d. In the arena of research, more research should be done in the area of actual cost-benefit
measurements using multi-criteria analysis to determine the actual benefit (and cost) in using
ecosan toilets versus in just defecating and relieving under the hot sun. The research output
can be used to educate and inform local stakeholders about the value of ecosan. Anotherresearch theme will be on the cultural and socio-economic aspects taking into consideration
affordability, sustainability, conformity to religious and cultural practices, and so on.
e. In the arena of advocacy, there should be a network or even just a blogspot solely
promoting and “marketing” ecosan to the public. This site should enable practitioners, policy
makers, extension workers and advocates to exchange notes, get moral support and even findsome funding possibilities.
f. Since eco-sanitation is an infant approach/concept in the Philippines (started only in 2005
with a GTZ-supported project in the Visayas), effort should be made to document bestpractices so that this can be popularized and or made into a resource book.
g. In terms of cost-recovery, an “ecosan user fee” can be implemented with those using thetoilets paying a small fee to recover cost of construction and maintenance of the toilets. User
fees in public toilets here are fairly common. Some of the organic fertilizer and compost canalso be sold to seedling nurseries, flower enthusiasts and gardeners in order to recover cost.

References
Austin and Duncker (2002). Urine-diversion ecological sanitation systems in South Africa.
CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa.
GTZ Webpage on Ecological sanitation.
Reintjes, Haverkort, Waters-Bayer (1992). Farming for the Future: An Introduction to LowExternal-Input and Sustainable Agriculture. ILEIA, The Netherlands.
Werner et. Al. (2004). Planning and implementation of ecological sanitation projects. Draft
version 08/04. GTZ.
Communications with Ulrike Lipkow of the GTZ and Peter Wychodil of the German Doctors
for Developing Countries.

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Public-Private and Community Participation in Water Resource Management:
The Missing Dimension - The Power of Three

Esera Tupepepa
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan

Abstract
The call to find more sustainable ways to protect water resources and improve water related
services has yielded a number of important strategies. One such course of action is that of PublicPrivate and Community Participation. As the name denotes the approach derives its strength fromvoluntary collaborations between governments, the private sector and the local communities. To
create these relationships is no easy feat but the potential of such an alliance to accomplish
positive results due to their combined strengths and capabilities is incentive enough forconsideration. This paper attempts to highlight the attributes of this approach and how its
application to the water sector where appropriate can alleviate some of the chronic problems it iscombating. The Public-Private and Community Participation Concept is not a cure for all that ails
the water sector, each country must make its own assessments as per to the merits of this strategy
based on their water needs and its suitability to the fulfilment of those needs.
Keywords: Public Sector, Private Sector, Community/Civil Society, Tri-Sector Partnerships,
Synergy.

Introduction
In most countries water resource management and related services is the prerogative of thegovernment. Growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the public sector has given rise to achange in the status quo allowing for the participation of the private sector. A more attractive
alternative came in the form of public and private partnerships. Through these respective
strategies many positive in roads into the water sector have been achieved. The call for a more
active participation by the community gave birth to the Public-Private and Community
Participation concept. The inclusion of the community to the public-private equation has changed
the dynamics once again. PPCP has allowed for the entry of the community into areas that wereonce considered the exclusive domain of either the public or private sector. In the context of thispaper the term ‘Public’ is in reference to the government, ‘Private’ denotes Private Businesses
and Companies and ‘Community’ is civil society or local people and non governmentorganizations. It should also be noted that in this paper the term “participation” is at times usedinter changeably with that of “partnership.” In some of the consulted literature the Public-Privateand Community Participation concept is also referred to as Tri-Sector Partnerships (Tremolet &Browning,2002) Other terms such as Multi Stakeholders Partnerships (Caplan, Heap, Nicol,
Plummer, Simpson & Weiser,2001) or Cross Sector Partnerships(Hagen,2005, Tennyson,2006)
share commonalities but the activities of the later are not strictly confined to the involvement of
the public, private and community sectors. They often at times include the participation ofbilateral, multilateral, international agencies and institutions.

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PPCP in Action
The Public-Private and Community Participation approach is not a new phenomenon and has
been employed for some time in other public utilities such as health, security, energy,
telecommunications (Ockelford,2000) and by extractive industries (Tennyson,2006) such as
mining, oil and gas. The Philippines is the first country to produce an official document
recognizing the inherent advantages of tri-sector partnerships. (CADI,1998) Through its Centre
for Alternative Development Initiatives it is pioneering tri-sector partnerships or three folding
stakeholder approaches to sustainable development. In light of its ground breaking work the casestudy highlighted in this paper is taken from the Philippines. The Philippine Agenda 21 initiative
however is only the tip of an iceberg. There are other examples of tri-sector partnerships startingto take root in many unexpected and unusual places and in many different settings and parts of
the world. For example the World Bank, ADB, Business Partners for Development, Synergos,
World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Economic Forum, World Wild
Life Fund, Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, PACT, Global Knowledge Partnership
Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (BDP,2001)

Building Blocks of PPCP
Though the Public-Private and Community Participation approach presents much promise suchpartnerships do not occur naturally nor are they easy to create. Given the different interests andagendas of the three sectors getting such a partnership off the ground will take more than thedesire to try out something different There are certain conditions that have to be met before any
collaboration can be considered a true partnership (Gunton & Day,2003) These conditions will
determine whether or not the three sectors can create and sustain a working and mutually
beneficial partnership.

Foundation Elements
x
x
x
x
x
x

Compelling Vision
Strong shared leadership
SharedProblemdefinition&
Approach
Power Equity
Interdependence/Complementarity
Mutual Accountability

Sustaining Elements
Elements ofSuccessful
Partnerships

x
x
x
x
x

Attention to process
Communication linkages
Explicit decision making
process
Trust & commitment
Credit & Recognition

Figure 1. Elements of a Successful Partnership.
Source: Spink & Merill-Sands, 1999

There is no universal blue print for creating a successful partnership for each one was createdwith a different purpose in mind. A three way, collaboration is not easy to achieve and bringing
together partners from three very different sectors to work together in a fragile but complex
sector as that of water is not a simple process. It will take time to choose the partners with theright skills who is willing to be part of the team sharing costs and responsibilities together.

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Potential Benefits
Those who advocate the concept of Public-Private and Community Partnerships see it as aninnovative approach to address an impressive range of issues such as corporate social
responsibility, poverty reduction, good governance, natural resources management, water andsanitation, road safety, youth development, leadership development, democracy, human rights,
labour, environment, social equity, information for sustainable development and sustainable
development itself. Given the positive endorsement the next step is to see what PPCP can do
specifically to improve things in the water sector.
The power of three: synergy. Synergy is the distinguishing feature of collaboration that gives
partnership an advantage over single agents (Lasker & Weiss,2001) In the case of Public-Privateand Community Participation the combined resources skills and capabilities of the three sectors
gives this approach a significant advantage over other arrangements. Governments at times areunable to improve their water services due to chronic constraints to their limited budgets.
(ADB,2001)The private sector with its financial muscle can inject the necessary funds into therequired projects or services. Eliciting the help and input of local communities is beneficial.
(Bell,2001) As the main consumers or the end users they may have in their possession local
knowledge or information that would enable the partnerships to place its skills and finances into
appropriate developments. Together the three sectors have a higher probability of success inovercoming obstacles they would have trouble navigating on their own.
Community Empowerment is another factor that PPCP can influence in a positive way. Allowing
the community to be part of the management process ignites a feeling of ownership which in turnengenders a sense of responsibility. This can be manifested by the community taking better careof their water resources and conserving supplies responsibly.

Challenges
PPCP is a feasible alternative but finding the appropriate place where it can be applied is aconsiderable challenge. There are a number of areas within the water sector that can benefit fromthe tri-sector approach such as the management, monitoring and protection of water resources.
Supply and distribution services, fee collection as well as systems installation and maintenance.
The Tri-sector approach can also be employed during policy consultation and information
dissemination programs.
There are other challenges aside from the one mentioned but failing to apply to concept
appropriately will cause more complications on an already troubled sector.

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Glimpse at a Case Study
Public-Private Community Partnerships in Management and Delivery of Water to Urban Poor: The Case of Metro
Manila.
In the Philippines, the Public-Private Community Partnerships are serving the poor with water through public faucets, group taps,
bulk water and individual connections. The removal of technical and institutional barriers in providing water in urban poor
communities or informal settlements in Metro manila has allowed delivery of different forms of water services in these areas. The
principal partners are the government as represented by the residual water utility and the regulatory office as well as the local
government, the private sector as represented by the private concessionaries of the water utility and the community by the local
associations and non governmental organizations.
The government allowed private companies to bid for a 25 year concession agreement to handle the East and West Zones ofMetro Manila. The bidding process resulted in Manila Water (2.32 pesos per cubic meter) winning the concession for East Zone
while Maynilad Water Services Inc (4.97 pesos per cubic meter) won the West Zone. Their bid prices were low compared to theprices before hand (8.78/cu.m) making Metro Manila the place with the lowest water prices in the country as well as in the
ASEAN region. The community was involved in the consultation stage with the concessionaries. The communities agreed tophase out all illegal connections both agreed on bulk water service where a local association was given the responsibility to
manage the local distribution net for the entire area. The concessionaries waived the Land Title requirement and gave allowancefor connection payment fees to be spread over a period of 3 months to 2 years. This procedure paved the way for regularizing
illegal connections in squatter communities which in turn reduced non revenue water benefiting consumers and concessionaries
alike.
Source: Inocencio & David, 2001.

Lessons Learned
The three sectors working together were able to improve significantly the living, health andeconomic conditions of the serviced households in terms of access to and availability of safe andgood quality water. Reduced cost of water per cubic meter translated to families saving a bit moremoney. Installation of public faucets and individual connections meant households, especiallywomen and children who once spent hours queuing up for water were now free to utilize theirtime in other activities, such as earning incomes, leisure or taking care of young ones. In helping
the disadvantaged people of Metro Manila the Public-Private and Community Partnership has
proven that the provision of water to the poor can be a potent and innovative tool for alleviating
poverty taking into consideration its positive impact on the health, income, consumption, genderand social inclusion of the community. Allowing the people to be a part of their water
management has transformed not only their lives but their perceptions about the importance ofwater which is of great value in itself as responsible users are important to the care and protectionof the resource. Valuable lessons learned from the Metro- Manila case may be operationalized,
improved and adjusted to comprise good practices that can be applied to other water utilities
around the Philippines as well as other countries in the region. Relaxation of earlier stringent
technical and institutional requirements in providing water service connections by bothconcessionaries made possible the positive changes to take place however the government stillplayed a key role. In its capacity as regulator the government allowed for the biddings to takeplace giving the private sector the opportunity to service community. The community asked to bepart of the consultation process made certain commitments initiating trust between the respective
partners completing the three way relationship and completing the missing dimension.

Recommendations to Improve PPCP Knowledge and Application.
1. Concrete cases of Public-Private and Community Participation from around the region/worldmust be documented and followed up as to compile a database to monitor its success. This isimportant, as the potential of such an alliance to attain success due to the combined strength207

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanand capabilities of the three sectors is just as valuable as the implications of failure due to thecomplex functions, nature and interests of the different parties involved.
2. The success of the Public-Private and Community Participation approach depends not solely
on the financial capability, technical know how and manpower of those involved, a clear
commitment, trust and resolve are just as important. Therefore defining and solidifying the
responsibilities and obligations of each partner is a priority.
3. Public-Private and Community Participation is a local strategy that can be applied on a
global scale. Successful case studies can be replicated but care must be taken to ensure thatthey are adapted to suit the local conditions and not be transplanted or taken at face value.
Just because it worked in one community does not guarantee automatic success elsewhere.

Conclusion
The Public-Private and Community Participation approach though lays no claims as to being amagic bullet can be a powerful engine for achieving sustainable water resource management andassociated services. The three sectors working together is incorporating the best of what society
has to offer. Each sector has a specific role to play in the partnership that must be acknowledged
as necessary and equally important. The key to obtaining optimum results is applying the strategy
in an appropriate context. The Metro-Manila example shows that it has great potential when
given a legitimate chance, the necessary political will, financial backing, technical and human
support it requires There is a genuine need for the three sector to work together to combat thetroubles in the water sector and this is emphasized by the words of Norwegian Environment
Minister and Chair of the United Commission on Sustainable Development Borge Brende.
“Water is the world’s most precious resource. Its fair, stable and sustainable distribution must be a priority in all
countries, particularly in the fight against poverty. To succeed, we need a wide range of measures and partners. The
needs are great, but so are the opportunities, for governments, private companies and the civil sector. We need themall – and we need them now.”

References
Asian Development Bank (2001) Water For All: The Water Policy of the Asian Development
Bank. Asian Development Bank. Manila.
Bell, R. G. (2001) The Conceptual Perspective for Public Participation. Proceedings of theWorkshop on Good Governance, Public Participation and the decision-making Process forEnvironmental Protection. Saitharn Publication House, Bangkok, Thailand. March 18th-19th
2001.
Business Partners For Development (2002) Putting Partnering to Work:1998-2001 Tri Sector
Partnerships Results and Recommendations. Business Partners for Development. London.
Caplan, K., Heap, S., Nicol, A., Plummer, J., Simpson, S., & Weiser, J. (2001) Flexibility by
Design: Lessons from Multi-Sector Partnerships in Water and Sanitation Projects. Business
Partners for Development Water and Sanitation Cluster. London.
Gunton, T. I., & J. C. Day. (2003) The theory and practice of collaborative planning in resourceand environmental management. Environments 31( 2):5-19.
Inocenciso, Arlene B & David, Christina C. (2001) Public-Private-Community Partnerships inManagement and Delivery of Water to Urban Poor: The Case of Metro Manila. Discussion Paper
Series No. 2001-18. Philippine Institute for Development Studies. Makati. Philippine.

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Jones, David. (2002) Benefits to Business of Tri Sector Partnerships: Public-Private & Civil
Society Partnerships Providing Water and Sanitation to the Poor. Business Partners forDevelopment. London.
Lasker, R D., Weiss, E S & Miller, R. (2001) Partnership Synergy: A Practical Framework forStudying & Strengthening Collaborative Advantage. The Milbank Quarterly 79(2)Ockelford, Jeremy. (2000) Research and Survey Series: Tri Sector Partnerships Beyond those ofParticipating Groups in the BPD Cluster. BPD Water and Sanitation Cluster. London. U.K.
Spink, Linda & Merill-Sands, Deborah. (1999) Successful Collaborative Partnerships:Key
Elements and a Self Assessment Inventory. Simons Institute for Leadership & Change. Boston.
Tennyson, R. (2004) The Partnering Toolbox. Partnering Initiative.
Tremolet, Sophie. & Browining, Sara. (2002) Research & Survey Series: The Interface between
Regulatory Frameworks and Tri Sector Partnerships. Business Partners for Development Waterand Sanitation Cluster. London.
Internet Sources
Borge Brende 2004: Turning words into action
http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/144/nielson.html
Business Partners for Development:
http://www.bpd_waterandsanitation.org
Center for Alternative Development Initiatives.(CADI) Philippines.
http://www.cadi.ph/threefolding.htm
http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap
United Nations (1993) Public-Private Partnerships: The Enabling Environment
For Development.
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan000727.pdfl
World Economic Forum. http://www.weforum.org

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Collaboration Effort to Maintain the Water Resources Degradation
at Batu Municipality, East Java, Indonesia
Prayogo Tri Budi
Water Resources Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Brawijaya University
Email: tribudip@yahoo.com

Abstract
As the municipality that located in the upstream of the Brantas River, Batu Municipality, East
Java, Indonesia faces some many problems that caused the degradation of the water resources.
The degradation of the water resources was including the degradation of water quality andwater quantity in the river and the spring source. This degradation will have influence to thedownstream area of the Brantas River watershed as the supporting source of the water
resource availability.
Some activity have conducted by the Batu Municipality government and the community thatstill have concerning to the environment issue in the Batu Area. The communities that include
in this effort action were the university, NGO, the student, villager and other community
organization. This study was shown some activity that used as the effort for supporting thepreserving the water resources availability.
These efforts were common activities that conduct to the water resources management in thewatershed. But according to the specific conditions at the Batu Municipality, these activities
that collaborated between the government and the community organized have shown that thewater resources management at the certain area was depending on the condition of the area
and community at its area.
Keywords: Water Resources Management, Batu Municipality, Collaboration Activity

Introduction
Batu Municipality, East Java, Indonesia is the municipality that the area where the biggest
river in East Java Province, Brantas River, begins. The Brantas River is flowing across to 14
prefecture and city in East Java Province before ended at the Java Sea. This river is the one of
the water resources for more than 5 million populations that depends on the water from thisriver. This water river was used to purpose as the irrigation water, electricity water, fisheries
water and the raw water for the drinking water. This river has approximately 320 kilometersand 12,000 square kilometer width of the watershed. Along the river located more than 7
multipurpose dams that regulated the river water for serve the availability of water.
The Batu Municipality width area is 4,850.68 hectares that lying at the Brantas watershed,that including 12 villages and 4 sub-districts. The area of municipality was covered by paddy
field, backyard, apple field, vegetables field and the forest with the slide conditions more 15%
in average. This area have more than 107 spring water resources that still used as the raw
water for drinking water for the population in Batu municipality its shelf and the region thatlocated at the downstream of the municipality.
As the origin of the Brantas River, Batu Municipality has the specific role at the development
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanof the Brantas River watershed. The municipality must be maintaining the conditions of thewater that flowing into that river, even in quality and quantity of the water. As themunicipality that located in the upstream of the Brantas River, Batu face some many problems
that caused the degradation of the water resources. The degradation of the water resources
was including the degradation of water quality and water quantity in the river and the springsource. This degradation will be because the degradation of the environment, especiallyavailability of water, to supporting the conditions of human lives that living at the Brantas
River watershed.
The degradation of the water resources supporting that faces such as the decreasing of thewidth of the forest area near the spring source that cause the degradation of water springsource, the sedimentation in the river that cause by the erosion at forest area and changing ofland use from the farm land where the cultivation in the farmland was the short periodic
cultivation such as potato, carrot and the other type of vegetables.
This condition was aggravated with the degradation of the water quality especially in the river.
The pollution came from the population that lives in the municipality. This municipality was
dominated by occupancies of the household and the hotel, because the Batu municipality is
the one famous recreation area in the East Java Province. The household and some number ofhotels were not having the wastewater treatment, and flow the wastewater directly into theriver. Beside that the waste water came from the small to medium industry was supporting thedegradation of the water quality. From the farmland, the degradation of the water quality was
supporting by the pollution that caused from the using of pesticide and fertilizer at thefarmland. The farmer using the pesticide and fertilizer for their cultivation, this un-treatment
waste water from that farmland will be directly flowing into the river.

Methodology
The research was conducted to shown the effort of the government of the Batu Municipality
and the community in the Batu surrounding area to prevent the degradation of the water
resources in Batu Municipality area. This effort in government stage was conducted by the
Batu Municipality Government (Pemerintah Kota Batu) that implemented the Office of Boardof Regional Planning (Badan Perencaanan dan Pengembangan Daerah /Bappeda) thatcollaborate with interrelated office that have responsibility in the environment issue in the
Batu Municipality such as the Agriculture Office, Energy, Water Resources and Mineral
Office, Sub-District Office and the Village Office. The Perum Jasa Tirta I, the government
office that responsible to the maintaining the Brantas River from the upstream area to thedownstream area, have active role to support the other institution to implemented the programof water resources preserving and management.
Beside that some community and organization have done some effort to support the
government effort to prevent the degradation of the water resources availability. The
community and the organization that had conduct the effort such as from university, Non
Government Organization (NGO) and other community organization. This effort was
including the social effort and physically effort. This effort was collaborated the entire
element of the community, such as the villager, the student from the kindergarten until theuniversity student, and the other element of the community by implemented some activity that
all the purpose was connecting with the preserving the water resources and environment.

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Government Effort
As the daily responsibility to manage the water resources in the Batu municipality, the
BAPPEDA conducted some activity to prevent the degradation of the water resources
availability. These activities were the implementation of the government program thatorganized by the BAPPEDA. These activities including the forest preservation, riverpreservation and spring water resources preservation. These activities such as:- Maintain the origin spring water of the Brantas River.
The government and Perum Jasa Tirta was preserving the area where the spring water
resources that believed as the origin of the Brantas River. This area was locate at the Sumber
Brantas Village, Junggo sub-district. The area recently was developed as the “Arboretum”,
where the origin of Brantas River located. This activity had purpose beside to preserve thespring water resources by reforest activity, the government want to make the area as the“museum”, where the community in the future has some awareness to support the preserving
the water resources by watching naturalists of the Brantas River origin area. In this area thecommunity can cultivated the some plants as the one activity to support this area.
- Conducting the some study of the water resources
The government conducting some study that connecting with the water resources field. For
this purpose, the government has some collaborate with the university or the consultant toserving the availability data to support the action in the water resources preserving. Somestudy that had conducted such as the study about the sedimentation at the river that relatedwith the erosion that occurred at the forest and the farmland. The study shown that erosionthat occurred at the river was 0.42 ton/hectare/year, while the erosion rate was 0.003 cm/year(Fitria, 2007). Beside that hydrologic study was shown that the river discharge and theamount of the rainwater still sufficient to support the availability for the Batu Municipality
area supply of water (Anonymous 1, 2006).
- Conducting the preserving of the spring water resources
Perum Jasa Tirta have conducted to collecting the data of 107 number of spring water
resources in the Batu municipality surrounding area (Jasa Tirta, 2005). This activity was
shown the availability of the spring water discharge that can be used as raw water resources
for the community and as the one factor to developing the Batu Municipality in the future era.
The data shown that some of spring water resources were used to support not only for the
Batu area but also for the region that located at the downstream of this area, Malang regency
and Malang Municipality. This situation need some attention for manage the water resourcesin the future, especially for maintain the conflict that maybe occur between those region.
- Placement the water resources collecting data station
Some station collecting data of the water resources had placed at Brantas River. This station
was collecting the data hourly, where the station was connecting with the station at the entire
Brantas River watershed, as the one of the part of the Flood Forecasting Warning System in
the watershed. The station collecting data was including the rain gauge station, discharge
gauge station and water quality data station. These stations were under authorized of Perum
Jasa Tirta and Energy, Water Resources and Mineral Office of Batu Municipality.
- Tracking the river and forest
This activity was conducted by surveying the conditions of the river water and forest actually.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanThe surveying was conducted by watching the conditions directly in the field, at the river andthe forest. This activity was implemented routinely to known the real conditions of the fieldcontinuously (Anonymous 2, 2006). At the forest, the tracking was collecting the data ofconditions of land use changing, type of plant that cultivated farmer activity and the othersupporting data. This tracking was conduct with collaborated with the Agriculture Office of
Batu Municipality and the university. The river tracking activity had conducted to collect thedata of the river condition and its environment, such as the water conditions, sedimentation
conditions, water quality, discharge and river banks conditions, sand and rock mining in theriver and the other aspect of the river. This activity was conducted by the Energy, Water
Resources and Mineral Office of Batu Municipality and supporting by university andinterrelated institutions and other organization that have concern about the environment issue
especially in the water resources management and development.
Community Effort
These efforts that conducting by some organization was develop in order to encourage thecommunity awareness to the water resources management. These activities such as:- Brantas River Watershed Week Activity
This activity was conducted by Student Union of Water Resources Engineering Department,
Brawijaya University. This activity was including some competition that used the river water
environment issue as the theme of the competition such as drawing and painting competition
for kindergarten and elementary student, scientific paper competition for the high school andthe university student, picture and photograph competition, and the river tracking competition
that started from the Brantas River origin area. The entire competition had purpose toencourage the awareness of the community from the student to the public community to havecontribution to preserving the water resources in the Brantas River watershed.

- Spring Water Resources Preserving and Construction
This activity was conducted by the local NGO that collaborate with AUSAID. This activity
implemented to preserving the spring water resources by build the appropriate construction atthat area. The other purpose of this activity was to maintain the buffer area in the surroundingarea of spring water resources. The goal of this activity was the organization concern about
the sustainability of the spring water resources to support the availability of the water that canbe used by the local habitants and to support the local organization to conduct the preserving
water spring resources activity.
- Community Development
The NGO organization collaborates with the Agriculture Faculty and Water Resources
Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University have conducted theactivity to encourage the community development in the Batu Municipality resident. This
activity not only encourages the awareness of the resident about the environmental issue andits sustainability but also conduct some activity that related with the law and legacy of thepreserving the water resources. The main goal of this activity was to promote the community
to eradicate the sustain organization to maintain the water resources even in the water
resources operational and maintenance work side or in the legal work side.
- Independent Study of water Resources Management
Agriculture Faculty and Water Resources Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering,213

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Brawijaya University had conducted the independent study that located at Batu Municipality.
The agriculture was concern at the land use changing from the forest to the farmland area andresidential area. The Water Resources Engineering Department conduct the research that
related with the water resources management including the disaster potential area that might
be occurred at that municipality.

Discussion
The collaborate effort from the government and the community organization had conducted topreserving the water resources at the Batu Municipality. In this chase, these efforts need some
contribution from two parties to promote the action to encourage the awareness for theenvironment issues. The effort that conducted by two parties was depending on the condition
where the area will preserve the water resources. Because of that some activities still coloringwith the indigenous culture where the area was located.
These activities were the common activities that conducted for the water resourcesmanagement. The interesting manner was that the activities had elaborated the parties thatconcern to the water resources management issue, where the parties realize that the activities
will be influence to the downstream area. The government effort was have big role in thischase because the government can conduct the some activities of preserving the water
resources and can encourage the community organization parties to include and to have big
participation on the activities.

Conclusions
To prevent the degradation of the water resources conditions and availability of the water
resources on Batu Municipality, some activity have conducted by the government and thecommunity. These activities will be supporting for each other. Even though these activities
was the common activities that conducted at the water resources management at the watershed,but some specific activities was conducted by using the specific area approaching andconducting by the government and the community that live at that municipality, Batu
Municipality, that had the specific conditions that depend on the where and when theapproaching conducted
References
Anonymous 1, (2006), Hydrology Study at The Upstream Brantas River Watershed. (InIndonesia) Study Report, Settlement Board East Java Province, Surabaya, East Java.
Anonymous 2, (2006), Report of Forest and River Field Surveying Report. Report Study.
Office of Board of Regional Planning, Batu Municipality, East Java.
Anonymous 3, (2006), Report of Kali Brantas Tracking Activity. Student Report Activity.
Water Resources Department, Brawijaya University, Malang, East Java.
Fitria Utami, (2007), Erosion Rate Prediction and Conservation Effort at the Brantas River
Watershed at Batu Municipality. (In Indonesia) Undergraduate Thesis, Water Resources
Department, Brawijaya University, Malang, East Java.
Perum Jasa Tirta, (2005). Spring Water Resources Collecting Data at Batu Municipality
Surrounding Area. Study Report, Perum Jasa Tirta I, Malang, East Java214

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Community Activities Contribution to Water Environment Conservation of Inle Lake

Mu Mu Than
Assistant Engineer, Irrigation Department, Myanmar

Abstract
The Inle Lake, through the second largest, is the most important lake in the Myanmar byvirtue of its economic, social, cultural and ecological implications. Its also a prominent water
resource for largest hydro-power generating in country. In the last decade, the lake has been
facing with combined threats due to natural and manmade pressure that become causes ofdecrease water holding capacity, changes in water quality, disturbs the navigability, decline inlivestock and other products. The objective of this paper is to reveal the present situation in
face of environmental degradation surrounding Inle region. And also it will present the
government agencies have undertaken several activities collaboration with local communities
by formulating the long term plan since 1992. From such kinds of integrated activities,
especially PH value of water quality is changed from (7.81 ~ 9.03) to (6.84 ~ 8.49) which isacceptable range. Some years after implementing of the cooperative activities, annual rainfall
intensity significantly raise and local people have never suffered natural disaster as drought.
This condition extremely supports on navigability of lake. Furthermore, there are large
numbers of migratory birds and species to lake that shows the environmental condition of thelake is favorable. From this, it is ensure that community participation is the most importantcomponent of endeavor which is to be taken for improvement of the Inle Lake.
Keywords: environmental degradation, conservation, deforestation, community participation.

Introduction
Inle Lake, one of the biggest inland lakes, is situated in southern Shan State and about 880 m
above mean sea level. The weather is warm in summer with the average maximum
temperature of 36.6°C in April and the average minimum temperature at 2.8°C in the coldest
month of December, January and February. It has an average annual rainfall of 800~900mm.
It has long been famous for pleasant climate, attractive landscape and unique lifestyle andhandicrafts thus making it a prime tourist resort. And also lake is important natural resourcesof Myanmar because it is the original water resources of Baluchaung which is the main streamof Mobye Dam for Lawpita Hydro-power plant located in Kaya state. In fact that Baluchaungis the only outlet of the lake and connected to Mobye Hydro-power reservoir, about 96 m
from Inle in far South direction. It is of paramount importance to the nation as it, if fully
operated can provide 224 Mega watts which is a major fraction in the electricity use of thecountry.

Inhabitants
People have been residing in the Inle region since time immemorial owing to its favorable
condition for civilization. There are 15 village tracts constituted by over 10,000 householdswith a population of 55,000 in the lake and 20 village tracts consisting of more than 10,000
household with about 90,000 people in the vicinity of the lake. The races of Pa-O, Danu,
Taungyo, Intha, Shan and Bamar reside in the Inle lake region and among them Intha(meaning the people who live in the lake) is the major ethnic group. Despite freedom for215

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

religion, the majority of the people practice Buddhism in harmony with a few in otherregions. Intha possess a unique culture of rowing boat by leg and growing vegetables on
floating farms. Moreover, hydroponics cultivation or floating agriculture is a major land use
in this area. The farmers who practice floating farms, is an eminent organization representing
about 85% of the work force.

Floating agriculture
Floating cultivation is successful traditional technologies and practice of the Intha peoples.
Floating islands are formed from coarse grasses, reeds, sedges, and other aquatic vegetation,some of which grow submerged while others have floating runners with aerial parts well
above the water surface. The dead parts of aquatic and marsh plants become entangled
together and are bounded by bog mosses and algae into expanses of fen which float freely.
There are swan into blocks 2 m wide and up to 180 m long. The remainder of the decaying
aerial portion is burnt out. Black silt from the bottom of the lake is carried by flat boats andspread over it to the extent the bed is not sunk but still floating. Then floating islands are
towed into position and anchored with bamboo poles.
The floating islands thus become a growing medium for planting fruits, flowers, vegetables,
and other cash crops from which a lot of income is derived by the Intha. The floating islands
can be used up to about 15 years or as long as the submerged mattress can hold its buoyancy.
The sunken mass of decayed material has to be taken out of the lake bottom and put back on
the land. However, the practice of farming on floating cultivation also encroaches into thediminishing area of the lake, since over time, the floating beds become solid ground and it is
one of the adverse effects.

Environmental problems
Inle Lake is suffering from the environmental effect due to increased population. Moreover,large scale deforestation and shifting cultivation practiced are threatening severely theenvironmental stability of the entire watershed area of Inle Lake. The surrounding hills havealso been stripped bare of trees harvested for their firewood. Deforestation and more intense
agriculture on its western and northern watershed areas have brought in increasing amount ofsilt and nutrients into the shallow lake. As consequence, sedimentation and siltation has been
seriously affecting the surface area of the lake and which has shrunk within living memory.
Thus technical measures are needed to environmental degradation with respect todeforestation, water pollution, disposal of solid garbage and lake sedimentation.
Deforestation
The direct causes of deforestation are depending on factors such as the expansion of shifting
cultivation, livestock production and fuel wood harvesting, transformation of forest area into
permanent croplands and so on. Timber harvesting, grazing and fires can also severely
degrade the forest. But the indirect cause of deforestation is population pressure in the lake aswell as surrounding area of the lake.
Because of 90 % of the villagers live in the lake and all the needed fuel wood comes fromnearby forest. When population pressure was low, the availability of fuel wood was not a
problem. However, it has become a new major problem due to increasing population of thevillage. Furthermore, construction of houses in the lake consumes a great deal required216

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanamount of timber twice as much as in ordinary construction of houses on the land. For thatplace, wooden boat is essential for transportation and fishery. Even children have to go toschool by boat. And also lake is still surrounded by hilly regions whereas the slash burn andshifting cultivation is one of the most important factors which lead to be severe watersheddeterioration.
In brief, dependency on forest resource of the villagers is gradually growing bigger andavailability of fuel wood and timber are becoming critical in the lake area and its
surroundings. By these aspects on deforestation around the watershed area of the Inle Lake
which directly effect on increasing rate of annual sedimentation and comparably the bed levelis gradually raised.
Water and sanitation status
For decades inhabitants of the Inle Lake have been using the water from the lake as their solesource of domestic water supply and at the same time disposing all their domestic waste into
the lake without encountering extensive health hazards. In some place drinking water isfetched near the vicinity of one’s own house and in other special sports is located by thevillagers which are reserved for fetching drinking water only.
The use of rain water during the rainy season has neither been the habit nor regarded as anecessity, even up to the present time in some places. Since water is easily available inabundance from the lake and the inhabitants have never experienced adverse health situationby using lake water, it is natural that usage of lake water is acceptable to all living in the lakearea. Nowadays, with the construction of rainwater collecting tanks and infiltration wells the
inhabitants have begun to use of rain water.
The water pollution is caused by pesticides and fertilizers from the floating tomato gardens
scattered across the surface of the lake. At previous time, farmers used to rely on natural
fertilizers. With the advance of technology comes the extensive usage of chemical fertilizers
for increasing the agricultural products and pesticides for the protection of vegetation frompests. This fact, coupled with the increase in population and the disposal of all human wastes
into the lake has began to exert a general strain on the assimilation capacity of the lake water.
Eventually pollution of the lake water has been detected by random evaluation of the lakewater quality.
In the last decades, most of the latrines are directly discharge into the open body of water. The
disposal of human wastes into the lake is considered to be one of the major contributors to theenvironmental problem of the area. So, the government tried to introduce experimental
latrines by the assistance of (WATSAN) of Community Water Supply and Sanitation projectwith the aim of addressing a specific problem of pollution in the lake.
5.3 Disposal of Solid Garbage
Inle is not only the famous sightseeing place for the local peoples but also major attractive
place for foreigners. Most the tourism groups come from all over the world, so, it should bepreserved sound environment. Therefore, disposal of solid waste (e.g, Garbage from kitchen,plastic bags and etc.) is also a noticeable issue in the Lake. And also Phaung Daw U pagoda
festival is very famous in the country and which run concurrently in September in every year.
At that time, the visitors come from all over the country and local communities of Inle Lakealso. In this place, all commutes and several markets are held on water. By these factors,

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disposal of solid garbage also should be control to protect the contamination of lake water. In
here, the participation of local people and all visitors are very important to disseminate direct
disposal of solid garbage and all waste for protection of water contamination.
5.4 Lake Sedimentation
Studies of sediment transportation and accumulation are of vital importance to environment
degradation of lake. In facts, the transport of sediment in lake is important for pollution,
channel navigation, reservoir filling, hydro electric equipment longevity, fish habitant andavifauna habitant.
Former dimensions of lake are 60 km in length and 13 km in width, having a water surface
area 266 sq-km. Nowadays, the length of the lake is about 18 km, the width is 6 km and thewater surface in the raining season is about 150 sq-km and 100 sq-km in the dry season. Thereare 29 streams flowing into the lake, originate on the North, East and West mountain ranges.
The total catchments area of the basin is about 3682.94 sq-km and average annual inflow to
the lake is about (1.13 km³). The storage capacity of the lake is about (0.34 km³) and theremaining (0.79 km³) flows to the Mobye reservoir.
Main factors affecting situations and reduction of water area are (1) sediments entering thelake by flowing along streams and gullies from surrounding mountainous area, (2) forest fires
caused by the uncontrolled burning used in shifting cultivation,(3) increase in surface run off
velocity and forms gullies, (4) uncontrolled aquatic plant in lake bed and take surface, (5)enlargement of village and floating gardens in the lake area and (6) silted up and polluted byvillage wastes.

Rehabilitation and improvement of Inle lake
Inle lake is one of the best tourist attraction place for its beauty in having scenic villages,
floating island and famous pagoda festivals. The customs and culture of its ethnic people
especially the famous Inle lake leg Rower are world renowned. To date the sedimentation in
the lake has proceeded alarmingly. The average of the annual sediment in flow is about 476
m3/sq km/yr. According to last 10 year records, the lake bed was silted up about 2m within
this duration.
The situation is recognized in time, the Government of the Union of Myanmar has being
undertaken to develop on effective system for environmental conservation efforts at thenational level. Government formed the working committee for long term maintenance of theInle Lake in 1992. With the guidance of the working committee Irrigation Department, Forest
Department and Myanmar Agriculture Service are jointly performed co-operatively in therespective works as follows.
- To protect the sedimentation from the stream flowing into the lake.
- To clear out the weeds and floating island, in the lake.
- To control the enlargement of village and floating gardens.
- To protect and maintain the existing forests and trees planting in the catchments area
and watershed.
- To maintain the water resources for Lawpita hydropower station.
Irrigation department has taken steps to check the acceleration of the silting of the lake. This
works includes construction of sediment control dams, check dams, silt catching weirs along218

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanthe streams and gullies for protection of sediments coming down to the lake. It is also needed
to form high level of small island by means of dredging in waterways and the areas of highsediment and disposal of slush on low land area. This watershed management in conjunction
with reforestation including watershed management carried out by the Forest department. The
eradication of slash and burn cultivation practice and contribution of such knowledge effect tocontrol soil erosion.

Community participation in Environmental conservation
Inle Lake is renowned for its natural beauty and unique culture as national treasure and amajor tourist attraction. The lake is also home to about 150,000 people (2005), many from thenative Intha group who have lived along its shore for centuries. Since last decades, Intha
people, their home land is facing with some problems and which tends to environmental
degradation of the lake. In here it is important to control the growing population living on andaround the lake. The most recent statistics show that the population concentration is 90 people
per square km around the lake and 385people per square km on the water. Population control
will thus be given as main priority in drafting a proper conservation plan of the lake.
Controlling pollution in the lake is another conservation challenge. Hydroponics agriculture is
economically and ecologically important for inhabitants. Commercial orientation of thisagriculture may, however lead to the use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, which cancause detrimental effects on aquatic biota. Residual effect of various chemicals is alsohazardous for people’s health. In here, public awareness and education are importantconcerning with the proper use and small scale control of fertilizer and pesticide for thecultivation.
Water treatment is still used by natural purification process. Most of the people are still using
untreated lake water because they traditionally believe that water hyacinth and floating island
are still enough to get purified water. Therefore, it needs to be systematic control andadvanced method for improvement of such process of natural purification.
For water supply, the inhabitants of the lake area have tried to accept the use of rainwater andwater from infiltration wells. To fulfill their required amount of that water more rainwatercollecting tanks and infiltration wells will be constructed. This matter has often been brought
up by making discussion about water supply with community.
For sedimentation control, the forest department under the Ministry of Forestry is responsible
for the rehabilitation and conservation of forest in the watershed and soil and water
conservation efforts were made since 1979-80. There has a plant for to protect and conserve
the remaining natural forest in the watersheds and to establish community forests in thewatersheds.
For this situation, regular mass meeting is held among community for the purpose ofcollecting the firewood from gentle slopes and plains and rotationally using coppice as
standard method. The community have new adopted this method and established community
forest plantations. Moreover, these are tall and rough grasses in some area and thus it is highly
prone to forest fires in summers. Local community and outsiders are strictly prohibited fromsetting and using fire around these areas. During the summer, local community groups keep
themselves alert to prevent forest fire and put it out if it happens.

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However, most farmers and local peoples have poor knowledge. Thus, watershed degradation
can often be closely related to the educational study of the residents. In recent years, theseveral conservation projects undertaken for the reduction of environmental degradation inInle lake. Even though, the government agencies conducted for the assessing ofenvironmental conservation on lake, the community participation and their awareness is mostimportant. Local people must know the consequences of deforestation, land conservation,unsustainable upland agriculture, uncontrolled burning and poor soil management practice.
They should learn to make sure that Inle lake must be in good hands for the sake of future
generations. And also government agencies should share knowledge about environmental
performance assessment techniques with local people and they should know that the people
who live on the lake suffer the effect of damages.

Environmental conservation in current situation
The development of the Inle Lake conservation activities can be justified in accordance withenvironmental scheme as a performance indicator of the implementation process. According
to water quality test results, heavy metal contamination is negligible in lake water ant it can besaid that chemically portable. However, in Biological test data, Coliform organism is someamount dissolved. Especially, PH value of water quality is changed from (7.81~9.03) to(6.84~8.49) which is acceptable range. Anyway, more extensive studies are needed because
the lake is thought to be the most changing site in country as a result of both the tourism
boom and increasing agricultural activities.
During 1993~1998, Inle-region faced with environmental degradation as drought problem inwhich annual rainfall intensity is very low. In 1997 and 1998, annual rainfall intensity is lessthan 600mm. Some years after implementing of the cooperative activities, annual rainfall
intensity significantly raise 1150mm in average. For this situation, the water body of lake canjudge by navigability of lake. During the pagoda festival, Phaung Daw U Buddha statue moveall round area by big boat. Nowadays, although some part of the area shrunk due tosedimentation but navigation is still good which mean that holding water body of lake isefficiently.
From the environmental survey results, there are large numbers of migratory birds and species
to lake that shows the environmental condition of the lake is favorable. Due to these
condition, the environmental degradation in and out of Inle region being partially recoveredby all round aspect of activities. These should be extended in a holistic approach,professionally, equally distributed as long term plan.

Conclusion
Inle is a huge and beautiful lake which has not only contained a marvelous microcosm ofaquatic life but also surrounded by a harmonious blend of national races. Among of thesegroups, Intha people are major race who are non-indigenous and living in 17 stilled villagesaround the lake. They have migrated from Dawei, in southern part of Myanmar, in the late
13th century. So, the protection and conservation of sustainable development of Inle lake isextremely important for one and unique ethic in the country. The lake is home to the Intha
people, who have developed a unique way of living style country. Transportation on the lake
is traditionally by small boats, or by larger boats fitted with outboard motors. Hence, withoutwater or it change into plenty of marsh soil, the transportation would be vanished in this area.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanIn Inle region, reforestation, rehabilitation development of food security, income generationand environmental conservation activities stretch to some part of the area. But the tremendous
amount of volume of work activities and fund requirement cannot be met only by agovernment agency or single organization. The crisis has led to an unprecedented effort bymultiple governments’ agencies to save the lake. Moreover, the establishment of culturally
and naturally sound environment in Inle lake, the collaboration and cooperation of local
people activities, contribution of their knowledge and their intensive supporting are very
important. The government agencies as well as NGOs & other expertise should persuade thepractice of local people to understand for the protection and prevention of their home land
from the environmental damage.
Small water resources should be developed in compliance with the watershed management
concepts and protected by the religious acts for sustainable conservation of all-round aspects
in lake. Finally, to maintain the long term existence of lake together with Lawpita hydropower station full capacity production, it is responsible for all local living in and out of thelake region and also all Myanmar nationality and all who had set foot to Inle region, to all
who love Inle and its traditions. There are so many ways and means such as raising fund,giving new idea, technical know-how support, equipment and lastly their heart supportingwhatever they can to get the successful environmental conservation of Inle Lake.

References
U Saw Christopher Maung. (1996). Environmental Sanitation in Inle Lake.
U Saw Christopher Maung. (1999).Action Research in the improvement of water supply
and sanitation systems in the water logged areas.
Sit Bo, Ohn Winn & Ngew Sint. (1999).Strengthening farmers organizations for watershedmanagement in Myanmar.
Director Office, Southern Shan State.(2003).Report in long term maintenance of Inle Lake.
Khin Hninn Phyu.(2005).Lake threatened by environmental damages, The Myanmar Times.
Ba Saing.(2005).Population threatens Inle Lake, The Myanmar Times.

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Citizens’ Activities Toward Restoration of Lake Biwa

Junko Kusakabe
Akanoi-Biwako environmental Citizens’ Initiatives
211-6 furutaka moriyama-city, shiga : junchocomilk@mx.scn.tv

Abstract
We celebrated our Tenth Anniversary of Establishment last year. Before the establishment in
Shiga prefecture there were citizens’ movements against using detergent. These movements
lead to the establishment of our organization, Akanoi-Biwako Environmental Citizens’
Initiatives or AKANOI. During 10 years our activities have covered a lot of topics and ourknowledge about environment have increased. The basics of our activities is survey of water
quality and based on the results we plan programs or events to let people know the state ofLake Biwa and rivers and pay much attention to them, which are enlightenment programs
such as Akanoi-Bay Exploring Study Tour, River Watching and things like that. Making amodel river activity is, in a way, to maintain rivers in an ideal state or in its natural form withhope that there people can enjoy playing in rivers. Recently many university students gain
many valuable experiences in their internship with AKANOI, Which is environmental
education of sorts, we think. And for us members getting them is also favorable as ouractivities become activated. We need to collaborate with universities, enterprises andgovernment to expand our activities.

Briefing of Lake Biwa
Our activity field is Akanoi-Bay basin
which is located on the south-easternbank of Lake Biwa which is in thecentral part of Japan. Lake Biwa is thebiggest lake in Japan and is theworld’s third oldest lake. Thanks to its
long history, Lake Biwa is rich inbiodiversity, offering more than 600
species, including 57 endemic ones.
The lake provides water to some 14
million people in the Kinki region.
The lake is also a scenic spot, with
about 30 million people visiting thelake every year.

  Red zone is our activities field
Figure 1. Lake Biwa’s position.

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Background of NPO’s establishment along with citizens’ movement
During ‘70s to ‘80s, fresh red tide and blue-green algaefrequently occurred because of lake eutrophication which
was caused by phosphorous of detergent. Shiga prefecture
enacted the “Ordinance for Prevention of Eutrophication of
Lake Biwa” and built the sewage system. People felt thesense of crisis toward these phenomena. In 1970
housewives initiated the Soap Movement, a campaign
Figure 2. Gathering to encouraging people to use natural soap instead ofpromote usage of natural soap. detergent. The movement was so powerful that Shiga
Prefecture Congress declared the Eutrophication Control
Ordinance in 1977 and enacted it next year. All detergent
disappeared from shelves of stores in Shiga prefecture andmembers of women’s organization continued to walkaround to tell the merit of natural soap. Although a slight
improvement had been observed in the water quality, COD(chemical oxygen demand) and TN (total nitrogen) werestill increasing gradually. Red tide and blue-green algae
had continued to occur. In the meantime an organization,
which became parent organization of our organization,
Figure 3. Inacing ordinance.
AKANOI, was set up to promote activities, but civil
activities such as promoting use of natural soap burned
down somehow. People felt the need to raise environmental consciousness among people. In
1987 about two hundred sixty thousand people stood hand in hand along lakeshore of Lake
Biwa to face Lake Biwa. Tremendous huge circle of people was made along the Lake Biwa
lakeshore, which meant so much environmental consciousness was paid to Lake Biwa. But
rivers and the lake had been very contaminated and they had given off a terrible smell due tothe rapid urbanization, industrialization, and growth of population, in other words lake
eutrophication progressed due to much influx of phosphorous. Having felt the sense of crisis,
in 1996 the organization noted above established present organization, “Akanoi” to restore
Lake Biwa with help of government. We set our aim to improve water quality and restore arich ecosystem of Lake Biwa. Our specific goals are to get back fireflies and seta shijimi
shell, both of which were abundantly observed in our area before and were symbols of clean
natural environment.

Partners and Collaboration
We have about 350 individual members and 110 organization members which include
community association and companies. We are also working closely with the local
government., Moriyama city. Annual budget of this year is about thirty million yen including
about 7 million trust money from national government. Especially this year we haveundertaken big two projects sponsored by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport andMinistry of the Environment. We are so proud that it shows a high appreciation of ouractivities. Our body consists of two functional groups, Research and Conservation group and
Educational group, and management of Firefly-Wood Reference Library and three projectgroups. Each member is supposed to join at least one of the groups. We have now 15 directors
and hold a board of directors once a month to decide course of action.

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Board ofDirectors

Research andImprovement
activities
group

Educationaland Publicity
Activities
group

Management ofFirefly-wood
Reference
Library

Project
Sponsored by
MLIT

Project
Sponsored by
MOE

Project ofFirefly
Park & walk

Figure 4. Organization chart.
Leading activities of AKANOI
1) Water quality survey and monitoring
When we established our organization we thought that it wasmost important to know the state of Lake Biwa as the basis ofplanning our activities. Since then we have made a survey ofwater quality five times a year at 100 points along 8 rivers inMoriyama city which follow into Lake Biwa by using easy-touse simple test kit so as to handle easily for everyone. We haveprocessed a large amount of data using GIS software with help ofspecialists and put them on web or our homepage to share themwith people. This year we have just gathered data of these 5
years and made the third issue book. Through the survey wehave found that water quality has become better in terms of
Total Phosphorus and Total Nitrogen but in terms of COD wehave not found any improvement. Unfortunately we don’tknow the reason.

Figure 5. Survey ofwater quality

2) Environmental Education
In olden days our dairy life had a close connection with rivers,
such as we washed dishes in rivers and we drank river water. Figure 6. Water environment
So we had always payed much attention to rivers not to make a map.
mess of rivers. But compared with thosedays we have now little chances to getclose to rivers, which means our interestin rivers wane off. To raise publicconcern about rivers we have several
educational program with a belief that
we restore Lake Biwa by cleaning
Figure 8.
neighborhood rivers which flow into
Identification of
Figure 7. Study tour on the plant.
Lake BIwa.
boat.

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A. Akanoi-Bay Exploring Study Tour
Every Marine Day we hold Akanoi-Bay Exploring Study Tour for especially children to havea chance to go out to the Bay on the boat and to see Lake Biwa directly. On the boat they
make a survey of water, collect living things and soil, take pictures and so on. Returning to thelakeside they make survey on the samples with the help of specialists and share the result withothers and make discussion. They also enjoy having gift from Lake Biwa, fish dishes andtraditional dishes and do craft with materials of nature. We think that we need to get out of
nature and have a good time, which leads to think environment. Every year over 100 people
join this study tour and they have a good time in nature.

Figure 9. River
watching.

B. River Watching
The purposes of this event are to see rivers very close andunderstand the state of rivers from upstream todownstream. Participants walk alongside rivers fromupstream to downstream, making survey of water,collecting living things and cleaning up rivers. On thisoccasion participants can learn the state of near-at-handrivers closely and understand the role of rivers. Also they
notice the difference of the state of rivers between
upstream and downstream.

C. Making a model river
Every third Saturday morning we gather at Meta River to maintain the river. This activity
started about 6 years ago aiming that we make a model river in Moriyama city. At that timethe river was very rough with grassy bank and heap of waste. At first we designed the riverafter having discussion about the ideal rivers for people. Thanks to our efforts, the river is
now a good place to have a good time and children can have a good time there with fishing,㩷
playing in the water and collecting insect at bank. We hope that this river area is a safe place
to play for children and anybody can go there and play there and relax in nature. Recently we
can see many fireflies flying there at early summer night. This is because good environment
for living things to live there comes back, we think.
D.Firefly Park and Walk Project
At one time Moriyama was famous for Genji firefly. But
destruction of environment led to their extinction.
However, recently, thanks to the efforts made by ourmembers and the support from Moriyama city, many
fireflies have come back to Moriyama. And many people
from another prefecture have come to Moriyama to see
fireflies flying. Four years ago we planed a project,
Figure 10. Firefly Bus.
“Moriyama firefly Park and Walk” with aims to control
the traffic around firefly viewing spots so that people canwatch fireflies comfortably, while giving due consideration to thepeace and quiet of the people living in the neighborhood andinvigorating Moriyama city.
Another aspect in terms of environmental education
For these years we have accepted university students as interns.
Although they have their own purpose to learn as intern at

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Figure 11. Work by
students.

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanAKANOI, it is a good chance for them to learn environment totally, which means internshipprogram is a sort of environmental education for them. Some take part in water survey
activity, some take part in planning events, some take part in analyzing questionnaire and soon. Their internship term is about 6 months or shorter than that. But after their term is over,some still continue to join our activities and become regular member of AKANOI. Theirroles are very important for us, such as they give us a new idea, they are so powerful to plan
events, they are good at playing with children, they are good at operating PC and so on. For
both side this internship program is very attractive in terms of environmental education andcooperation of labor.

Challenges for the future1) Expanding partnership with wider concerned bodies
Recent projects sponsored by other businesses need some skill and much labor to accomplish.
Our own capacity has limit, so we must cooperate with other organization which has someskill or labor that we don’t have. In other words, partnership expands our activities.
2) Giving way to the emergence of school education as yearly program
We are requested to teach children water environment at school. In future taking advantage ofour knowledge and experience we hope to expand this opportunity to enter school
environmental education curriculum because giving children time to think environment
throughout years is very important. So as to do that, we need to plan school annual curriculum
making the most of our experience in the field.
3) Forming a group consisting of children
It is important for children to get close to water in their childhood, which lead them to pay
mach attention to water or water environment when they grow up. To let them have a chance
to get close water on an ongoing basis and to promote independent efforts, we hope to form a
new group consisting of children.
We have a lot to be thankful for celebrating our tenth anniversary, and members’ voluntary
activities with eagerness are most important of them all to continue our work. We would liketo continue our work thinking highly of members’ will and keeping up with the need of thetimes and we hope our activities will expand to other places.

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Water and Risk Society: Water Management and Historical Understandingof Water in Japan

Mika M. Merviö
Professor of International Politics, Kibi International University, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Ishima-chô2-18-27, Okayama 700-0016, Japanmm@tintti.net

Abstract
My paper is based on applying the theories of social risk to water management and historical
understanding of water in Japan. I illustrate the emergence of sophisticated systems of hygiene
and sanitation that contributed to public health as well as provide examples of water
management – well before historians usually are talking about modern environmental policy.
For instance, the Edo period Japanese with its large-scale water systems minimised health risks,
contributed to public health and avoided wasting and polluting environment and scarce natural
resources. Without the early successes of these policies Japanese society would not have beenable to increase its population so rapidly or maintain such large and dynamic urban
concentrations as it did. Against the risk society discourse the key question is whether and when
Japanese societies developed reflexive relationship with environmental risks and, in particular,
an awareness of the need to save and manage water resources.

Introduction
The discourse of social risk owes much to the contributions of such German authors as Ulrich
Beck and Niklas Luhmann (see e.g. Beck, 1992, Luhmann, 1991). The English language
research was quick to follow with many authors further applying the theoretical framework andvocabulary in their work (see e.g. Lupton 1999). The key point in this discourse is the idea thatmodernity changed the thinking of people on environment, science and technology by making
them aware of the risks involved in their decision-making. Much of the discourse has taken for
granted the assumption that modern reflexivity is more or less a byproduct of Westernisation.
Furthermore, Niklas Luhmann in his analysis of the roots of the concept of risk does mention a
few examples of early cases of risk concepts among non-Christian civilizations, such as
divination practices, but ends up dismissing non-European cases as ones without fully
developed decision-making awareness (Entscheidungsbewußtsein) (Luhmann, 1991: 16-17).
The Eurocentric origins of risk narrative or history, focusing on maritime insurance practices,
have become widely accepted in English language literature, most likely because of lack of
critical voices challenging its limitations. Instead, alternative narratives of risk histories could
easily be located in different cultural spheres, with direct links to modern societies and theemergence of ever-deeper awareness of relationships between decision-making and risks insuch fields as environment, science and technology. In particular, Japan, and, to some extent,other East Asian societies provide good examples of surprisingly early cases, where people
have demonstrated rather “modern” forms of reflexivity in their relationship withenvironmental management, to the degree that there may be good reason to re-examine whether
modern reflexivity and awareness of risk is as “Western” a phenomenon as many researchers
seem to believe and whether the whole idea of “modernity” could also be problematic in thecase of many non-Western societies. In Korea Journal’s theme number on risk society Beckapprovingly noted that Korean cases all added to the understanding that the analysis of risksociety crosses cultural borders and continents Beck (1998: 196-206). In this volume some227

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Korean authors were struggling to define alternative Korean model of modernisation to better
locate Korea on the rather Eurocentric map of previous risk society literature (see e.g. Kim Dae
Hwan, 1998: 28-45). In Japan, there have been no attempts to identify alternative forms ofreflexivity in the historic relationship with environmental management, although Japan has its
share of writings on risk society, ranging from ones focusing on risk management and risk
perception (see e.g. Ikeda and Sakai, and Tawada, 2004 and Nakayachi, 2003) to those which
get close to Beckian and Luhmann’s conceptions (see e.g. Yamaguchi, 2002 and Komatsu,
2003).
In the case reacting to new hazards and threats Japanese researchers and publishers often makegreat efforts to be the first to satisfy the need to have popularised knowledge of risks that often
require quite a detailed understanding of natural science research results. For instance, soonafter the SARS epidemic Japanese researchers rushed to publish books on the topic. Similarly,
the BSE and environmental hormones are subjects of good quality natural science discourses inJapan with many good publications. However, such books have so far failed to apply theconcept of risk (or come up with their own concepts) and use it to analyse the workings ofJapanese society. In particular, publications mapping the social risk and environmental risk aspart of it are scarce in Japan. As for the Japanese consciousness of the new age of risk,
undoubtedly most people still have a sense of increased anxiety and lack of predictability in asociety, which has persisted through years of economic stagnation and restructuring (risutora)
while the realities of globalisation (including the new role of China) have changed theunderstanding of the Japanese place in the world. Furthermore, such issues as the war in Iraq,
mad cow disease and avian influenza have all vividly demonstrated that Japan is not as much anisland as was long thought. However, social risk discourse in Japan is still nowhere to be seen
and much of the security debate is focused on very traditional security risks such as the military
threat posed by North Korea. A special problem in Japan has been that Ulrich Beck’s
Risikogesellschaft (1986) was translated in 1988 by Azuma Ren under the title Kikenshakai(danger society) and because of this very unfortunate mistranslation the Japanese academic
community (or at least a significant part of it) has largely missed the main point in German andEnglish language risk society discourses when it has equated risk with danger(s).
However, the Japanese risk society and the Japanese risk society discourses are two separate
things. My research shows how water management in Japan has long history and surely
contains good examples of well-developed awareness of complex relationships thatcharacterise water management. Without such awareness the scale and sophistication of water
management practices in Japanese society would be difficult to explain. However, using thetheoretical tools of the social risk discourse provides an opportunity to analyse the significanceof water management and environmental awareness in Japanese society, as well as identify
problem areas in modern environmental practices in Japan, in particular, those with linkages
with water management.

Methods
My paper uses the social risk discourse as the theoretical starting point. The analysis ofJapanese historical and contemporary water management practices is based on written
documents and research literature. In other words, research on water history in Japan can rely
far more on historical written documents and go back far longer than in most other parts of theworld. The analysis on contemporary situation of water issues in Northeast Asia is supported by
my recent book chapter, which contains more data and details (Merviö, 2007).

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Social risk and the narratives of Japanese history of water
The premodern Japanese household in most cases was relatively poor, but in terms of hygiene
and sanitation Japan was well ahead of all the European countries in the 19th century, after
industrialisation had already had abundant time to change such societies as Britain. The
population density of Japan reached high levels relatively early, and people had to pay attention
to hygiene in a country where climatic conditions could easily pollute the water. One practical
way to ensure the safety of drinking water has been, and continues to be, drinking water in theform of tea. Water has also contributed to public health in Japan by being used for bathing. In
addition, the bodily wastes of people and animals had been taken into good use for centuries as
fertiliser and therefore they did not contaminate water resources. The water distribution andsanitation systems of such major Japanese cities as Edo and Kyôto during the Edo period had noparallel in the rest of the world. When the city of Edo (later, Tôkyô) was selected as the capital
Shôgun Tokugawa Ieyasu realised that major works were needed to secure an adequate watersupply. He ordered Ôkubo Tôgorô Tadayuki to build a system, which has then served the city
for centuries and has for its part made it possible that Tôkyô is today the largest city on earth(Merviö, 2001: 2-3 and Steele, 2000: 39-50). The old Edo system was so effective that when it
was modernised at the end of the 19th century the only major work was in replacing the wooden
pipes with metal ones (Hanley 1997: 107-109. For the history of the Tama River and Tôkyô
water system, see Steele 2000: 39-50). In addition to a rapidly increasing number of privatefamily bathing facilities, the city of Edo had some 600 public baths in operation at the
beginning of the 19th century and most people seem to have had good access to them, while, forinstance, most contemporary European city populations had very poor bathing facilities (cf.
Hanley, 1997: 97-101).
The examples from the Edo period in Japan illustrate how a country that by definition was
supposed to be premodern and due to its security concerns even limited foreign contacts to aminimum, was still able to design effective large-scale systems that effectively minimised
health risks, contributed to public health and avoided wasting and polluting environment andscarce natural resources. The key policy element was an optimal use of water and other natural
resources in the long run rather than maximum use in the short run. Without the early successesof these policies Japanese society would not have been able to increase its population so rapidly
or maintain such large and dynamic urban concentrations as it did. Modern Japan for a longtime turned its back on its premodern roots and the wisdom of many earlier achievements did
get lost in many cases. However, designing sustainable life-styles and “managing the risks” ofour times may in Japan produce solutions that, for instance, in the optimal use of water
resources come remarkably close to some of the premodern practices. One of the mostimportant lesson from Edo history is that social infrastructure can serve people well andminimise a whole range of risks. Japanese early investments in massive water engineering
projects both in urban and rural settings speak volumes about awareness of the link between
efficient water management, hygiene and welfare of people. For instance, the wisdom of bothpre-modern and modern Japanese bathing culture is seldom fully understood by thoseobservers, who are brought in cultures, where it had been inconceivable to invest to heavily on
providing as good bathing facilities to huge populations. Bathing culture has never constituted amajor environmental concern in Japan (or been perceived as a waste of water resources). In
modern Japan sometimes these teachings seem to be lost since locally neglect in investment in
the social infrastructure has resulted also in Japan in imbalances, distortions and anomalies.
Japan has its share of incidents demonstrated how local decision-makers have compromised thesafety of water management especially when agricultural or industrial use of water has polluted229

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanor strained the water resources. Similarly the local authorities may have a temptation to savecosts by resorting to cheap and easy solutions with basic water management infrastructure. In
the Japanese case the (immediate) public health concerns have been addressed much more
effectively than environmental concerns and occasionally it looks like some of the oldpioneering systems were built to be far more sustainable than some of the present ones. While
many modern Japanese cities and houses have no effective municipal sewage systems (and are
far behind both the more advanced premodern Japanese models and modern European cities)
Japan has all too many bridges and roads that lead nowhere and other public projects whose
official purposes and financial calculations defy logic (cf. Hanley, 1997: 176-198). All in all,the Japanese model of water management may be interpreted both as a pioneer, because its
remarkably “modern” solutions at times when nothing in the similar scale was built elsewhere,or as an enigma since after all the emphasis placed on modern science and very detailed
administrative guidance and control of the central government the present situation of local
water management is characterised by huge diversity, in terms of quality of water andenvironmental sustainability, as well as cost.
Inspite of its less than perfect record in public works, Japan still provides a good example how
a society can effectively organise itself to deal with the issue of water pollution andmanagement of water resources. After rapid modernisation from the Meiji Period on, industrial
pollution quickly became a major problem in Japan. The pollution caused by Ashio Copper
Mine became nation-widely known already in the 1880s (see e.g. Nimura, 1997). However, thestate was slow to act and was generally seen to favour industry at the expense of public healthand environmental protection. Things started to change only in the 1970s when environmental
protection had become a major political issue after Minamata mercury scandal and other highprofile pollution cases had made it impossible to ignore the consequences of industrial
pollution. The ruling party LDP changed its attitude and soon the parliament passed laws thatset strict standards for both water and air quality. In both areas progress was quick and today
these achievements stand as the biggest successes of Japanese environmental policy. Japan is
also helped with its abundant water resources and topography (for Japanese modern water
management, Okada & Peterson, 2000).
From the point of view of risk society discourse, the effective response of Japanese government
to deal with the issue of water pollution tells about the benefits of having an effective central
government working in close cooperation with industry, with easy access to most modern
science and technology. The reason for changes in political attitude rests in increased awarenessof health risks among public and authorities, alike. Japanese environmental legislation has fromthe beginning to present days focused on protecting humans from environmental risks and“balancing“ the interests of industry and environmental protection. It is not that Japanesepeople were totally unaware of these risks from Meiji period to the 1970s, but the economic
growth and profits were simply put ahead of public health and environmental values. Whilemodernisation has contributed to the destroying of environment, many old ideas on the spiritualand health benefits of good environment have continued to live on. Many Japanese people go to
great lengths to find the purest water for drinking and bathing and the history of Japanese visualarts can easily be used to demonstrate the sensitivity to aesthetic values of water in its different
forms and as a key element of natural environment. However, it is clear that Japanese
government is not keen to protect environment for biocentric reasons and that also among theJapanese public the support for non-anthropocentric environmental protection is limited.
Despite all of this, especially in the area of water management Japanese record is in its own
class in East Asia and may serve as the best available model for many other Asian countries.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Conclusions
My research shows that the narratives of water history in Japan contain elements demonstratingthat different forms of reflexivity and awareness of complex relationships between water
system management and social/environmental risk were present very early. Japanese society issuitable for studying this kind of risk awareness for the following reasons: 1) good availabilityof historical sources, 2) long history of large-scale water works, including both urban and rural
works of water engineering, 3) the fact that Japanese society has modernised with different
social models than its Asian neighbours and all European societies, 4) that as a non-European
society with highest level of technology and science (including environmental sciences) Japanis particularly suitable for testing whether the reflexive modernisation is as Western aphenomenon as the social risk discourse has claimed. My results indicate that Japan, China andKorea have all developed their own alternative ways of experiencing social risk, each learningfrom their historical experiences and that Japan clearly marks a specific case. My examples inthis article deal with water management, but I am confident that there would be other social andenvironmental issues where similar results could be obtained. My research also shows that
there are major differences in the history of water management in various locations within
Japan and also between Japan and its neighbours. The Japanese historic water management
solutions and policies are very diverse, reflecting differences in popular attitudes andpolitical/administrative systems, and even persons in charge of these policies/systems. The
Japanese history of water management also can be used to demonstrate that presence ofproblems in water management does not necessarily mean that there is low awareness of theseriousness of the problems, as, for instance, the dangers as well as the water engineering
challenges of flood prevention have been well-understood for centuries and only in recent
decades the number of human casualties has been brought to remarkably low levels (compared
to both history and the present situation in the neighbouring countries). Both the understandingof problems and chosen responses are tied to the historical narrative. Reflexive modernity does
not mean that earlier civilizations were as short of developed decision-making awareness as hasoften been claimed in the social risk discourse.

References
Beck U. (1992). Risk Society. Towards a New Modernity. Sage, London.
Beck U. (1998). The Challenge of World Risk Society. In Korea Journal Vol 38, No. 4, 1998.
Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Seoul, 196-206.
Hanley S. B. (1997). Everyday Things in Premodern Japan. The Hidden Legacy of Material
Culture. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London.
Ikeda S. and Sakai Y. and Tawada M. (2004). Gendai shakai no yuragi to risuku. Keisô shobô,
Tôkyô (in Japanese).
Kim D. (1998). Rush-To Growth, Economic Crisis, limping Modernization, and a Dual-Risk
Society. In Korea Journal Vol 38, No. 1, 1998. Korean National Commission for UNESCO,
Seoul, 28-45.
Komatsu T. (2003). Risuku ron no rûman. Keisô shobô, Tôkyô (in Japanese)..
Luhmann N. (1991). Soziologie des Risikos. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York (Identicalreprint in 2003).
Lupton D. 1999. Risk. Routledge London and New York.
Merviö M. (2001). Construction of Meanings for ‘Water’ in Japanese Culture and Politics.
Paper presented at ‘The International Water History Association’ (IWHA) 2nd Conference,
10th -12th August 2001, University of Bergen, Norway.

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Merviö M. (2007). Water Security in Northeast Asia: Coping with Global Water Issues. In, The
Environmental Dimension of Asian Security. Conflict and Cooperation over Energy,
Resources, and Pollution. Hyun I. and Schreurs M. (Eds) United States Institute of Peace Press,
Washington D.C.
Nakayachi K. (2003). Kankyô risuku shinrigaku. Nakanishiya shuppan, Kyôto (in Japanese).
Nimura K. (1997). The Ashio Riot 1907. A Social History of Mining in Japan. Durham & Duke
University Press, London.
Okada M. and Peterson S. A. (2000). Water Pollution Control Policy and Management: The
Japanese Experience. Gyôsei, Tôkyô.
Steele M. W. (2000). The History of the Tama River: Water and Rocks in Modern Japanese
Economic Growth. In Asian Cultural Studies, Vol 26, March 2000, International Christian
University, Tôkyô, 39-50.
Yamaguchi S. (2002). Gendai shakai no yuragi to risuku. Shin’yôsha, Tôkyô (in Japanese).

232International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

People-Centered Approaches in Sustaining Water, Food and Environmental Sanitationin the Philippines: A Review
Carlos M. Pascual1, Catherine P. Abadilla2, Fairie Anne P. Acedebo3
1

Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture and Forestry
Assoc. Processor, Department of Home Technology, College of Agriculture and Forestry
3
Research Assistant, Collaborative Program on Food Processing and Product Development
Mariano Marcos State University, Batac City 2906, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
cmpascual123@yahoo.com
2

Abstract
Clean water, food safety and sanitation are integral components of the strategies for reducing poverty
and achieving Millennium Development Goals in developing countries, like the Philippines. With
increasing waterborne and foodborne diseases coupled with health risk of local and imported foodproducts and water demand among competing users, there is a need to adopt a more integrated,holistic people-centered approaches and management of our water resources, food products andsanitation. Such systems approaches provide ways of representing and sharing various perspectives
and understandings of the same issue by a variety of people’s preferences. This calls for systems
approaches which integrate data, information and tools to support policy decision making which
requires a radical change in professional’s attitudes from service provision towards participatory
service creation and sustainability. Centering of people as the decision maker on integrated systems
approaches resource management, the potential health benefits of reduced pathogenic and toxic
chemical contamination of water, food products and the importance of community participation will
ensure sustainability of water, food supply and environmental sanitation. Thus, this paper presents
case studies for critical state-of-the-art review of complex issues, challenges on water, food andenvironmental sanitation in the Philippines.

Introduction
There are three serious issues to get across about the water, food and sanitation situation in thePhilippines: (1) widespread water scarcity and multiplicity in water governance; (2) the existingwater systems are not much geared for the urban as well as rural poor; and (3) the food safety,
sanitation and sewerage requirements have been grossly neglected (FDC, 2004). The emergence ofmodern environmental hazards (e.g., improperly disposed hazardous substances from industries andhouseholds, vehicular and industrial emissions) and the persistence of traditional hazards such lack ofaccess to fundamental resources such as safe water, safe food products, sanitation and housing,
Filipinos face the burden of both communicable diseases, which are closely linked with traditional
hazards, and non-communicable diseases, which are associated with modern hazards (World Bank,
2003). Under these circumstances, impoverished communities that have yet to acquire the basic needs
essential for healthy living like water, food, shelter and sanitation facilities experience greaterdifficulties and risks. The big challenge is how the government acts on water-borne, food-borne
diseases and sanitation problems? This calls for systems’ approach which integrates voluminous
database, complex issues, and analytical modeling methods such as artificial intelligence, decision
analysis, optimization, risk analysis, modeling, transdisciplinary, etc. to support decision making forsustainability. Thus, this paper presents a critical state-of-the-art review of complex issues,challenges on water, foods and sanitation. Case studies research method was used in this paper. A
process which was specifically chosen and conducted in order to increase overall understanding of
the research problem, maximize the content in the gathered data from the field, internet search,
interviews to key informants and finally enhance the quality of the data analysis. This research study
is focused on qualitative data, through interviews and observations, and quantitative data, where233

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japancause and effect is sought to produce generalizations. A few case studies on people-centered systems
approaches on water, food safety and environmental sanitation are presented to exchange views,
experiences, share information and search for knowledge. To be relevant to the theme of this paper,
this will highlight the people’s preference on access of clean/safe water, food safety and sanitation
facilities to attain a more sustainable and healthy water environment among stakeholders. This paper
is focused on qualitative data, through interviews and observations and quantitative data, where
causes and effects are sought to produce generalizations. Some case studies on people’s preferences
on water refilling stations and sanitation as well as cGMP and HACCP on food product development
are presented and discussed in the succeeding sub-sections.

Water Supply and Sanitation
Households with access to safe drinking water have increased for both urban and rural households(NDHS, 2003). The proportion of households within 15 minutes from water supply facilities
increased from 86.2 percent in 1998 to 89 percent in 2003. The proportion of households with watersupply coming from safe sources also increased from 81.7 percent in 1998 to 89.3 percent in 2003.
Piped water supply into dwelling, plot or yard has increased from 36.8 percent in 1998 to 39.6 percent
in 2003. In urban towns outside Metro Manila, piped water supply coverage leaped from 77.6 percent
in 1998 to 88.1 percent in 2000.Within Metro Manila, the result of privatization of the water
distribution system has been encouraging as the service coverage by the two concessionaires
increased from 67 percent in 1997 to 90 percent in 2001. There is also the issue of drinking water
quality and sustainability of water resources. The principal source of water in most towns outside
Metro Manila is groundwater. The unabated water extraction from the ground has resulted in the
rapid decline of quality due to pollution and saline intrusion of groundwater and the unsustainable
depletion of this resource. Coupled with access to safe drinking water is the issue of access to sanitary
toilet facilities. The percentage of population with access to sanitation facilities has increased from 81
percent in 1998 to 85 percent in 2003 (NDHS, 2003). Households with access to sanitary toilet
facilities have increased for both urban and rural areas. Household coverage for public seweragesystem has not improved in the past 20 years. Water and sanitation sector has focused predominantly
on service provision of domestic drinking water and improved sanitation.
Outside Metro Manila, sewerage services are almost non-existent. There are only three publicsewerage systems that operate and provide limited residential coverage. This has left urban
population with few options for safe excreta disposal. Urban households have responded by building
their own sanitation facilities like septic tanks. However, there is general non-compliance in the useof effluent disposal systems required by national regulations. In terms of households with access tosafe water supply, the provinces with the highest coverage are Southern Leyte, Rizal, Pangasinan,
Cavite and Surigao del Norte while those with the lowest coverage are Zamboanga Sibugay, Sulu,
Masbate, Batangas and Pampanga (Fig. 1). Coverage of households with sanitary toilet facility ishighest in the provinces of Batanes, Agusan del Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan and Siquijor while
coverage is lowest in the provinces of Sulu, Zamboanga Sibugay, Pampanga, Masbate and Western
Samar (Fig. 1). The only region that has achieved more than 90 percent coverage of households withsanitary toilet is the Ilocos Region. On the other hand, three regions have achieved an average of morethan 90 percent coverage of households with access to safe water supply, namely, CAR, Ilocos andNorthern Mindanao (FHSIS, 2002). There are knowledge, policy, capacity and financing gaps thatmust be addressed to lessen the constraints and improve water and sanitation services. Investments
and political support are not tied with the needed reforms. There is a need for government subsidy
targeting the poor since water and sanitation services are not actually reaching them. For the past
years, the government has engaged the private sector more aggressively in financing water andsanitation projects. As a result, indiscriminate disposal of inadequately treated effluent and untreated234International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

(a)

(b)

Fig. 1. Household access to: (a) safe water; and (b) sanitary facilities by province
in the Philippines
sludge is widespread, with serious consequences for both water quality and public health. Access tosafe water should always be linked with sanitation and personal hygiene as an approach to addressing
water-related diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever, Hepatitis A, skin diseases and dengue
fever, among others. In general, water piped into dwelling has been associated with the lowest
prevalence of disease while households with doubtful sources of water supply have been associatedwith the highest. Likewise, skin diseases and diarrhea are more common among households without
toilets. To many of the developing world, water has a far greater value than just a service. It is a key
resource to reduce the global burden of disease, increase productivity and improve livelihoods. This
is to believe that people are the key to the creation of development. To sustain such development can
only be sustainable if people are central in its sustainability.

Water Refilling Station
The demand at the water refilling stations where water stores that sell purified water is now increasing.
The quality of purified water conforms with the national standards for drinking water and is evenbetter than the quality of water produced by traditional water supply systems in terms of removed
impurities (WPEP, 2000) as cited by Magtibay (2004). Over the years, as the demand for cleaner
water becomes higher, the price of household water purifiers and bottled water has become
prohibitive. Water refilling stations managed by most private entrepreneurs offer a cheaper and moreconvenient solution to the public’s drinking water needs than bottled water or the use of household
filters. At present, more than 10,000 water refilling stations have proliferated nationwide. They sell
purified water of comparable quality with bottled water at a lower price. For example, the current
price per gallon of refilled purified water in Metro Manila ranges from P50 to P120 per 5-gallon
container or about P2.50 to P6.00 per liter while the bottled water is sold at P12.00 to P25.00 per liter.
Household filters, on the other hand, cost P5,000 to P25,000 per unit (1 US $ = P46 in 2007). The
potable water supplied by the providers is then further purified by utilizing a combination of water
treatment equipment, such as sediment filters, carbon filters, water softeners, reverse osmosis
membranes, ultra-violet lamps, and ozone generators. Typical water refilling stations can produce
3,000 to 12,000 liters of purified water per day and such can be operated with a minimum area of atleast 20-25 m2. The main processes in a water refilling station are dictated by raw water quality. The
typical steps are filtration (several stages), softening, and disinfection. The machines that could beinstalled for such processes are the following: (a) multi-media sediment filter-removes sediments

235

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japansuch as rust, sand and particles that are invisible to the naked eye; employs a total of 5 filters; (b) ion
exchanger - replaces hard minerals with soft minerals; (c) activated carbon filter - removes all organic
chemicals, herbicide, pesticide, offensive odor and bad taste; (d) reverse osmosis membrane - theheart of the system and the most expensive unit; removes inorganic minerals, bacteria and viruses
while retaining its oxygen content (Magtibay, 2004). Since the filter size is very small at less than
0.05 micrometer, the product water could have a total dissolved solids of less than 10 ppm. The
filtration process rejects about 50 percent of raw water volume; (e) post-carbon filter - improves thetaste of water; (f) ultraviolet lamp - ensures that the water is free from disease-causing
micro-organisms; and (g) ozone generator – inhibits the growth of bacteria in the product tank andprolongs the shelf life of water. However, such technology on filtration/purification treatment must
be enhanced such as using ultra filtration systems membrane (with smaller pore size of 0.1 microns)
forming a physical barrier to viruses, bacteria, Crypotosporidium, Giardia, and suspended solids.
The efficiency of water purification system in removing impurities is high. Source water and productwater are subject to regular monitoring by the local health office. The national standards for drinking
water contain 54 parameters that must be complied with. Only DOH-accredited laboratories areallowed to conduct water testing and analysis. The frequency of monitoring is as follows: (a)bacteriological quality - at least monthly; (b) physical quality - at least every six (6) months; (c)chemical quality - at least every six (6) months; (d) biological quality - at least once a year; (e)monitoring of radioactive contaminants shall be done only if there is significant input of radiationfrom the surrounding environment (Magtibay, 2004).

Food Products and Water Supply
The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is in its infancy for the water industry but has
provided controls for the safety of foods for over three decades. Developed by the WHO and adopted
internationally, it is the primary risk management system for the food industry (FAO/WHO, 1996).
The seven HACCP principles are: (1) conduct a hazard analysis; (2) determine the Critical Control
Points (CCPs); (3) establish Critical Limits; (4) establish a system to monitor control of the CCP; (5)establish the corrective actions to be taken when monitoring indicates that a particular CCP is notunder control; (6) establish procedures for verification to confirm that the HACCP system is working
effectively; (7) establish documentation concerning all procedures and records appropriate to theseprinciples and their application. Why might HACCP be necessary for our current drinking water
systems, considering such sophisticated treatment technologies are available? In recent years,
developed countries with conventional water treatment systems have still experienced water-borne
disease outbreaks. The diverse range of waterborne hazards can be assessed individually or in somecases groups of microorganisms, or chemicals can be assessed. For instance, groups of bacterial
pathogens transmitted by birds such as Campylobacter and Salmonella spp. might be assessed
together. It is essential that the HACCP team includes representatives with the appropriate
microbiological and chemical expertise to make these assessments (Hellier, 2005).
A GPS-guided survey for about 237 food processors in Ilocos Norte was conducted by MMSU
researchers to assess their food processing and explore to improve their food products packaging anddevelopment for food safety and enhanced their income (Pascual, et al., 2007). At MMSU, initiative
is being done to conduct current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and HACCP on food andwater refilling projects for MMSU and for food processors of vinegar/wine, empanada, local sausage
and other local food products in the community (Table 1). Thus, a mobile packaging facility for liquidand solid will be piloted to improve the packaging of these local food products with cGMP and
HACCP principles to empower small entrepreneurs in the locality.
Thus, the aforementioned people-centered approaches are complemented through the adaptation of
HACCP principles, used successfully in the food industry to safeguard the food supply, as well as on
drinking water systems. The HACCP approach is one model that could be used to help identify the236International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanrisk assessment and management systems required to provide safe drinking water and at what stages
those systems should be put in place (Barry, 1998).

Table 1. Comparison between local, national and international standards on some physical andchemical property values of some food products taken from food processors and water sources at
MMSU, Ilocos Norte, Philippines from July-August 2007.
NATIONAL
STANDARDVALUE1

INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
VALUE

10
zero
zero

n/a
n/a
n/a

Mold and Yeast Count, cfu/g
Salmonella, cfu/g
S. aureus, cfu/g

FOOD
PRODUCT/VALUE
Empanada2
<10
zero
zero

%Vol of Ethyl Alcohol at 200C

Sugarcane
Wine
10.36

7-16

n/a
n/a

Acetic Acid, g/100 mL

Sugarcane
Vinegar
5.70

4.0

n/a

absent
0
<1.8

n/a
n/a
n/a

absent
0
<1.8

n/a
n/a
n/a
Water3
zero
zero
n/a
6.5-8.5n/a250.00250.00500.00n/a

PROPERTY

Salmonella, cfu/g
Staphylococcus, cfu/g
Coliform Count, MPN/g
Salmonella, cfu/g
Staphylococcus, cfu/g
Coliform Count, MPN/g
Total Coliform Count,mpn/100 mL
E. coli Count, mpn/100 mL
Heterotrophic Plate Count, cfu/ml
pH, mg/L
Acidity, mg/l as CaCO3
Chloride, mg/L
Sulfate, mg/L
Total Dissolved Solids, mg/L
Total Hardness, mg/L

Local Sausage
absent0<1.8
Crispy Pork
absent0<1.8
Water<1.1 (negative)<1.1 (negative)
<1.0
7.33
<1
38.77
43.77
473.33350.00

1

<2.2
<2.2
300
6.5-8.5n/a250.00250.00500.00300.00

Based from the Bureau of Food and Drugs and Philippine National Standards,
Philippines; 2Favorite local food meal snacks made from local sausage, egg, grated
mungbean and papaya, enclosed in rice flour and deep-fried in boiling cooking oil. All
properties were measured using standard methods by accredited regional testinglaboratory;
3
Taken from: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#listmcl

237

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Conclusion
Water, food and sanitation are crucial to life and all forms of socioeconomic and environmental
development that needs sustainability. Safe water, food and sanitation are prerequisite for achieving
the MDGs and for sustaining good health, quality of life and to ensure wealth creation in developing
countries. The capacity of the national, regional and local levels to address water, food and sanitationfor environmental health problems needs to be strengthened. More personnel need to be trained inenvironmental epidemiology, environmental health impact assessment, and environmental
toxicology, economic valuation of environmental health, waste water treatment, food productdevelopment, and food safety. Water refilling stations can be a good source of safe/clean drinking
water in the Philippines. The efficient water purification processes can make the quality of watersuperior to the traditional water systems. However, the risk of contamination is possible if thehandling practices are not closely monitored. To ensure water safety and prevent water-borne andfood-borne diseases, the government should regulate the operation of water refilling stations.
Ultimately, there is a need to improve the microbiological safety of drinking water to provide a
harmonized framework and scientific basis for quantitative microbiological risk assessment ofdrinking water. The experience of HACCP has demonstrated how water authorities can successfully
adopt HACCP and overcome the aspects of water supply systems that differ from the food industry.
HACCP, as a process control oriented management system, can therefore help water and foodauthorities to coordinate the functions of their various water and food quality management systems toprovide assurance of safe products. For this reason, there is an urgent need to promote and enforce themore recent environmental laws and technologies to address access to clean water, safe foods andsanitation for people’s preferences at its fullest.
Reference
Barry, J. (1998). "Developing and Implementing a HACCP-Based Program to Control Cryptosporidium andOther Waterborne Pathogens in the Almeda Creek Watershed:
FAO/WHO. (1996). Codex Alimentarius Commission "Report of the Twenty-Ninth Session of the Codex
Committee on Food Hygiene" (ALINORM 97/13A).
FDC (2004). Water: In People’s Hands: Building Perspectives and Alternatives. Freedom from Debt Coalition.
National Conference on Freshwater, Quezon City, Philippines. 19 - 21 March 2004.
FHSIS (2002). Field Health Service Information System, DOH, Philippines.
Hellier, K. (2005).
Corporation.

Hazard analysis and critical control point for water supplies. Melbourne Water

Magtibay, B.B. (2004). Water refilling station: an alternative source of drinking water supply in thePhilippines. Paper presented during the 30th WEDC International Conference, Vientiane, Lao PDR, 2004.
NDHS. (2003). National Demographic and Health Survey, 1998 and 2003. DOH, Philippines.
Pascual, C.M. C.P. Abadilla, O.P. Agpaoa, and.F.A. P. Acebedo. 2007. Assessment of Food Processing
Industry in Ilocos Norte. A Research Paper presented during the MMSU R&D In-House Review held at UTC,
MMSU on May 31-June 2, 2007.
World Bank. (2003). Philippines Environment Monitor 2003 (Water Quality), Philippines.
WPEP. (2000). “Small Scale Independent Providers, 30 years of experience and Lesson”. Water Supply andSanitation Performance Enhancement Project, World Bank: Philippines.

238

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Urban Wastewater and Sanitation Situation in Vientiane, Lao PDR

Phengkhamla Phonvisai
Pollution Control Division, Department of Environment
Water Resources and Environment Administration
E-mail: phonvisai@hotmail.com

Abstract
Rural to urban migration, tourism and industrial sector growth have significantly contributed
to increased waste production, both liquid and solid. Wastewater treatment needs more
attention in urban environment. In Vientiane, water and sanitation management in the urban
area is experiencing stagnant pollution. Unsanitary conditions and threat of seasonal pollution
in selected spots is likely to occur and increase with the growing urban population. The
sanitation system entails an on–site disposal of human waste without introduction of fullwater-borne sewerage with treatment facility and safe disposal arrangement. The majorities ofhouseholds relies on water flush latrines and are connected to a pit or chamber for containmentof excreta. However, due to the low permeability of the soil and the high groundwater tablearound Vientiane, many soak-a-ways fail to operate effectively resulting in discharge ofsewage from tanks into drainage channels or low lying areas. This results in polluted effluent
overflows, environmental degradation and health hazards.
Keywords: Urban Wastewater Discharge, Sanitation, Environmental Policy, Vientiane Capital
City, Lao PDR

Introduction
Urbanization is one of the most important demographic trends of the twenty-first century, andgrowth has been particularly rapid in low-income countries. The majority of urban growth isassociated with rapid expansion and development of small urban centers. Much growth isunplanned and informal, with community members and informal sector developer taking
advantage of the fact that regulatory capacity of government authorities is weak, particularlyin those areas that are outside official municipal boundaries. Peri-urban areas are characterized
by mixture of land uses associated with a range of urban and peri-urban livelihoods.
Settlements are generally inhabited by communities of different economic status relating toland prices, which are affected by locations in relation to the city, and which are considerably,higher than in rural areas. Many industries locate on the edge of the city because land isrelatively cheap and not subject to stringent development controls. At present, the wastes they
produce rarely receive adequate treatment. Due to the ongoing development, peri-urban areas
are generally in a state of rapid transition that may result in serious social and environmental
tensions.
At the moment, Vientiane has a population of 692,900 people with a density of 176 people per
km2 (ADB, 2000). The population density is increasing at a rate of 4.7% per year (ADB, 2001).
The urban area is divided into 189 villages with a total area of approximately 30 km2.(ADB,
2001b) The core urban population has been estimated to be 180,410 people. The urban area of239

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Vientiane is located between the Mekong River and a hinterland of swamps and ponds. The
wastewater from individual households in Vientiane is discharged into open drains along theroads and into the natural wetlands in and around the city (Cecilia, 2003). Vientiane capital
city (as the largest city) contains almost 1,500 km2 of permanent and seasonal water bodies,floodplains, swamps and marshes. The wetland areas supply a wide range of economicallyvaluable goods and services, including fishery products, farming and natural resource
collection activities, and flood attenuation, maintenance of water quality and supplies, andtreatment of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes (DANIDA, 1998).
Overtime, Urban Vientiane land has been going through tremendous transformations due tosprawls in agricultural cultivation, industrial developments and urbanization. The changes inland use affect the ecosystem in terms of land cover, land quality and capability, weather andclimate, and the extent of land that can be sustained. The development projects include:
Rehabilitation of Sihom Area, UNCDF/UNDP, 1991-19971: The Vientiane Master Plan
identified priority areas afflicted from environmental problems related to poor drainage,
household sanitation, and access to services such as waste management. The priorities of the
project were to improve the living conditions of the population of Sihom area throughrehabilitation and upgrading, improve the sanitation and storm water drainage, and strengthen
the institutional capacity (ADB, 2000).
Wastewater Management of Thatluang Marsh, EU, 1993: Thatuang wastewater management
project was designed to improve wastewater treatment and drainage out of the central
Vientiane area. The project built a system of stabilization ponds at Thatuang Marsh designed
to serve an estimated population of 44,590 for 2005 with a per capita BOD 1 discharge of
45g/capita/day assuming 50% of the pollutant load would reach the treatment plant. (ADB,
2000b)
Vientiane Integrated Urban Development Project, ADB, 1996-2000: The overall objective of
the Vientiane Integrated Urban Development Project was to improve access to basic services
and infrastructure, thus providing benefits of urban environmental health to the population ofVientiane. The project supported the formation of Vientiane Urban Development andManagement Committee (VUDMC) to institutionalize urban planning and strengthen thedevelopment of the control system.
Improvement of Urban Environment in Vientiane, Danida, 2001-2004: The project aimed tocontinue support to the municipal planning with the development of linkages between green
and brown environmental issues and increased village involvement in environmental planning,
implementation and monitoring.

Status of Wastewater and Sanitation in Vientiane
Through the years, the government has set up four water analysis laboratories in different
regions throughout the country. These laboratories cooperate by exchanging information anddividing responsibilities over the water analysis processes in an efficient manner. For example,
1

Biochemical Oxygen Demand240

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanthe management and control of water in the Mekong River and its tributaries are theresponsibility of the water analysis laboratory of the Irrigation Department. The quality ofwater drinking is analyzed and laboratory of the Ministry of Health is responsible for it; water
released from industries is handled by the laboratory of Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Wastewater in urban surroundings in VCC is taken care by the laboratory of Science
Technology and Environment Agency.
For Thatluang wetland, its water quality is a part of the water quality-monitoring project ofMekong Secretariat, in the vicinity of VCC. Main problems found are wastewater and sewage(from the city area) which discharge into the marsh. A part of such water is diluted byirrigation water pumped from the Mekong River to the surrounding rice fields through various
canal systems (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Thatluang Wetland Area, ( for nature wastewater treatment of urban city).
As known, urban centers are always attractive places for both educational institutions andemployment opportunities, and increasing in-migration from rural to urban areas is commonly241

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japanobserved. Currently, Vientiane city lacks effective systems of development control, andtherefore the means to control the future development and its concomitant environmental
degradation are inefficient. The drainage system is shown to be inadequate. Added to that, thecontaminated liquid waste with fecal matter from the latrines is being directly discharged into
the drainage channels or drains with oviform from septic tank effluents. This presents healthrisk, which would increase with the rising urban populations with similar sanitation practices.
It also leads to the contamination of underground water sources such as wells andeutrophication of water bodies leading to a pressure on urban water resources. Increased risks
of water borne and other vector borne epidemics have been perceived. For example,
stormwater drainage is found to be a serious issue in Vientiane city in the year 2000. The
present system suffers from inadequate design and lack of maintenance. Most drains are
clogged with garbage, reflecting the absence of an organized system for solid waste disposal
in the city.
Wastewater Discharge
In Vientiane city, there are three main drainage channel systems including Hong Xeng, Hong
Ke and Hong Khoua Khao. Hong Xeng mainly drains water from Sikhottabong district andsome part of Chanthaboury district, through Nong Duang marsh and Pasak stream. Hong Ke
drain is the main channel, which is connected to Hong Thong and Nong Chanh swamp,
draining water from Chanthaboury and Sisattanak district through the Morning market. Hong
Khoua Khao is a drainage system for draining water from Nong Chanh to Mekong River andfinally to Thatluang wetland through Hong Ke drainage channel (Figure 2).

Rainfall Runoff

Rain
Wastewater or Diverted flow

Evaporation----------------------Public Canal Hong Ke

Groundwater flow

Outflow to Thatluang
WetlandFigure 2. Water Balance in the Present Situation.
In Vientiane city, storm water drainage consists of roadside drains leading ultimately to natural
streams or rivers. Drains are generally not adequately interconnected and do not form a
network. Drains are lined in the center area, and covered in front of commercial
establishments. Water in the drainage system is invariably contaminated with fecal matterfrom latrines and E. coli form septic tank effluent, presenting health risks. The absence ofoverall urban drainage plans with a functioning integrated network combined with lack ofclear arrangements for maintenance causes flooding and stagnant water pools over large partsof the urban center. Sanitation system in VCC entails an on-site disposal of human waste
without any introduction of full water-based sewerage with treatment facility and safe disposal
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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

arrangements (STEA, 2001). Such a system continues to have a detrimental impact on the
public health by mixing sewage in the storm drainage system, polluting the natural water
courses in the medium and the long term.
Sanitation and Wastewater Purification
Although the drainage system in Vientiane has improved somewhat as a result of the projects
listed earlier, the situation of sanitation and wastewater purification is still very limited. Since
the completion of the EU project, Wastewater Management of Thatluang Marsh, thestabilization ponds which were built as part of the project have been unused for wastewater
treatment and are now being managed as aquaculture ponds. Similarly, the sewage waste
treatment plant funded by ADB was built in a smaller size than what was originally planned.
Moreover, it was not properly maintained. Due to complaints of smell by local residents, it
was shut down and despite increased hauling cost, sewage is now disposed of at a secondary
waste treatment plant 18 km outside of the city. However, the Danida project Improvement of
the Urban Environment in Vientiane, gives hopes for a positive result of considerable
improvements for urban residents in the core downtown area. The project is in the process ofconstructing communal septic tanks, improving the Nong Chanh Marsh in the center of thetown, and will re-establish the use of the original EU built sewer line and stabilization ponds.
Above all, these improvements are focused on the core downtown area and do not extend toother areas of the city or surrounding city areas.
The amount of industrial wastewater production around the city is little known as well as
about the extent of industrial water pollution. According to the country’s Environmental Law(Provisions on Discharge of Wastewater from Factories, Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts
decree No. 180/H), industries are responsible for the treatment of all wastewater and byproducts produced as a part of the industrial processes (MIH, 1994). The Science Technology
Environment Agency (STEA) is responsible for the assessment and monitoring of wastewater
quality. STEA is currently in the process of developing an environmental monitoring system
for the country as a whole but at this point, very little information is available about theindustrial wastes.
In relation to Sanitation and Wastewater Purification, Thatluang Marsh is currently performing
wastewater treatment services for domestic wastewater that is being drained into it. As statedabove, drainage areas: Urban protection area (A), Commercial area (B), Urban development
area (E), and Resident area (F) drain via primary and tertiary canals to Hong Ke canal and theninto Thatluang marsh (Table 1). The marsh is thus providing wastewater and sanitation
services for household wastewater and sewage drainage. There are two major types of costs
that are associated with artificially replacing the wastewater treatment and water purification
services of Thatluang marsh:
x Construction or improvement of household sanitation facilities in areas that drain directlyin the marsh.
x Extension of the waste treatment plant so that it can deal with increased waste load.
According to the ADB survey in Sanitation, Drainage, and Wastewater Management, there are
1,256 households which directly discharge their sewage into surface water and 501 householdswith no toilet within areas are draining their wastewater into Hong Ke and Thatluang marsh.

243

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, JapanIt should be noted that with high water table and impermeable soils throughout the Vientiane
Municipality, sanitation using cesspools or elevated soak-a-ways are largely inefficient andprovide inadequate services.
Table 1. Sanitation situation and needs in Vientiane and its surrounding area.
Drainage Area Population
Areas in (ha)
VCC

A

214

17,451

B

556

35,572

C

306

17,529D

572

35,214E

728

34,150F

435

15,744

Total that 1,933 102,917
Drain
into
Hong Ke(Source: ADB, 2000)

HH

hh
60 1,775

DirectNo toilet
discharge
tosurface
water
% Hh
% hh
% hh
32 947
7 207
2 59

67 4,001

22 1,314 9

537

2

199

69 1,989

24 692

5

144

1

29

66 3,965

29 1,742 4

240

3

120

63 3,327

30 1,584 4

211

3

158

71 1,713

23 55572

3

72

1,028 2409

Drain %
into

2,959

Hong
Ke
5,971 HongKe
2,882 HongXeng
6,007 NanPasak
5,281 HongKe
2,413 HongKe
16,624 HongKe

SepticTank
Cesspool3

66 10,816 26 4,400 6

Settings of Wastewater and Sanitation Management
The Lao Government strategies on development and maintenance of urban environment
infrastructure are based on achieving sustainable and affordable environmental improvementof its main urban center (STEA, 2001). Implementation priorities relate to specific urban
center needs, which would be identified along with urban hierarchy adopted by thegovernment. The management of water supply requires the government involvement andinstitutional capacity as well as financial resources for its development. Drainage master planfor VCC urban area, covering all catchments, needs to be given high priorities. Such urban
drainage plans with the need for creating and maintaining functioning drainage networks,
including identification of final points of discharge must be emphasized.
Public-Private Participation
In response to the deficiencies of centralized approaches to service delivery, in recent years,
there has been increasing emphasis on the potential benefits of adopting decentralized
approaches to sanitation and wastewater management. These relate to the opportunities for244

International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

stakeholder involvement in decision-making and planning, financial advantages, and benefitsof segregation of wastewater at source and the compatibility with local demands for
wastewater reuse. In general, central elements that shape the institutional setting forenvironmental management include: a) the key actors in the public and private sectors whose
motives and mandates significantly affect the urban water and sanitation; b) management
functions that can be used to address environmental issues in the city, including the
instruments of intervention and mechanism for coordination; and c) existing initiatives that
affect efforts to manage wastewater and sanitation problems.
Wastewater and Sanitation Management Function
Management function consists of policy and other instruments that actors can apply to affectenvironmental quality and mechanisms in coordinating environment-oriented decisions. Urban
governance often adopts policies to deal with wastewater and sanitation management
problems. Based on that, the government will formulate a long-term national wastewater andsanitation strategy to guide any future investment in water and sanitation activity. The mostprevalent tool for environmental management that affects a city is legislation with its
regulations. The sophistication and effectiveness of this tool is low in Laos, since there are
only few environmental standards and an incomplete set of environmental laws. Moreover,lack of enforcement is a pervasive problem. However, the environmental impact assessment(EIA) process is being positively promoted and selectively implemented in Lao PDR.
Planning and Policy Development
The processes of planning and implementation can be addressed in partial aspects ofenvironmental problem, since there are may be an ability to handle wastewater disposal within
the municipality borders. However, water and sanitation disposal often calls for city-wide
solution, metro-level authority to plan, coordinate, and execute a wastewater disposal program.
The planning has generally not been an effective environmental tool, although monitoring
varies according to the city’s level of economic and human resource development. It has been
observed that coordination across different levels of the government has been improving in amore centralized manner although there still exist problems in recent decentralized policies.
In terms of environmental coordination and decision-making processes, intersected
coordination to manage urban environmental affairs has been lacking and has become aproblem in Vientiane city, although the coordinating mechanism given below has been
established for urban development in Vientiane city.
xxx

At the central government level, there is a planning body that is in charge ofsynchronizing interdepartmental coordination for urban activities.
At the city level, there is a community to coordinate sectoral program and projects
from loans (i.e., ADB, Work Bank loans).
For implementation of infrastructure activities, there is a program to coordinate
investment and institutional strengthening (i.e., VUDAA, DCTPC).

Conclusion

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International Forum on Water Environmental Governance in Asia, December 2007, Beppu, Oita, Japan

Sanitation, including wastewater treatment is an important environmental service that isclosely linked to water management. In urban areas, poor management of sanitation systemgenerally contributes to wastewater pollution. In Vientiane city, outfall from poor functioning
central sewage system contaminates water resources. Poor system coverage results in serious
lagoon and stream pollution, as well as soil contamination from open defecation in slum andaround the city. Moreover, urban VCC land has also been going through tremendous
transformations due to sprawls in agricultural development, industrialization and urbanization.
As the urban areas develop with new buildings and infrastructure, the wetlands are becoming
increasingly isolated and their capacity to perform their environmental functions greatly
diminishes. Urban development throughout the city has been growing in an unplanned manneroften resulting in aggravating flooding and drainage problems, partly due to the limited
capacity at the municipal planning level. Moreover, there has been little sustainable built-in
project design resulting in discontinued use of wastewater stabilization ponds and limited useof the waste treatment plant in Thatluang wetland. Access to and affordability of adequate
sanitation is always a problem for the poor, especially in the low-income households.
Combination of poor management and low-level service to the poor that causes inadequate
sanitation has eventually negatively affected health consequences.

Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the assistance of Science Technology and Environment Agency(STEA), Vientiane Urban Development Administration Authority (VUDAA), Science
Technology and Environment Office of Vientiane City (STEO), as well as Saysettha,
Sisathanak, and Hasayfong administration districts.

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