Water Supply, Sewage Networks: Stable Financial Foundations Essential to Maintaining Services

Editorial

14:59 JST, October 23, 2024

Water supply and sewage systems are essential infrastructure for everyday life. To ensure that they can continue to be operated stably in the future, it is necessary to strengthen their financial foundations.

Under the current circumstances, the water supply and sewage systems operated by prefectures and municipalities are in a dire state due to deteriorating financial situations. In addition to the decreased amount of water usage because of the decline in rural populations and the spread of water saving efforts, the renewal of equipment such as water pipes built during the period of rapid economic growth is also becoming a burden.

In the wake of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, deteriorating water pipes were damaged, which was a factor behind the prolonged water supply outages. There is an urgent need to make water pipes across the nation more earthquake-resistant. However, the percentage of completed earthquake-resistance work for major water pipes was only around 42% for the water supply and around 56% for sewage as of end of fiscal 2022.

If the supply of water and disposal of sewage become unstable, this will cause major problems not only in times of a disaster, but also in everyday life. It is necessary to stabilize financial foundations and make services sustainable.

In October, Kobe increased water service fees by an average of 14%. The city did so because the revenue from water fees, which was ¥34.5 billion in fiscal 2000, decreased to ¥28.9 billion in fiscal 2022, and a deficit is expected next year.

The number of local governments whose water services are running in the red is larger in areas with a high rate of population decline. It has also been pointed out that there is a shortage of human resources due to reduced personnel costs, and that specialist skills are not being passed on.

One of the most effective ways to improve financial standing is cooperation over wide areas among neighboring municipalities.

If several municipalities together place orders for work, then cost reductions will ensue. Sharing facilities such as water treatment plants will also make it possible to reduce costs compared to updating individual facilities.

Water service fees differ between local governments. There are persistent concerns that some municipalities will be forced to raise their fees if they work in cooperation with other local governments.

However, there are also cases, such as one in Kagawa Prefecture, in which water services were integrated throughout nearly the entire prefecture by freezing the various fees of each municipality for 10 years.

In addition, Miyagi Prefecture outsourced the operation of water and sewage services and related businesses to a private company in fiscal 2022. The prefectural government estimates over ¥30 billion of cost cuts over 20 years.

It is important to draw up a vision for the future of the water supply and sewage services that is tailored to the local situation and to gain understanding from local residents. The central government and prefectural governments should be actively involved in promoting cooperation between municipalities and in working to coordinate conflicting interests.

Starting from this fiscal year, water supply systems have been placed under the jurisdiction of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, which already has had sewage systems under its jurisdiction. It is important for the ministry to work to provide financial and technical support for water supply and sewage services.

The rate of access to tap water in Japan is almost 100%. Japan is one of the few countries that can supply clean water that is drinkable straight from the tap. The question is how Japan can maintain this important infrastructure that supports people’s lives.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 23, 2024)