Japanese are working hard to de-pollute Kasumigaura Lake

Jaipur, Oct 29 (UNI) The national, prefectural and municipal governments and the residents of the basin areas in Japan's Ibaraki prefecture are working together to restore the water quality of Kasumigaura, the second largest lake in Japan after Lake Biwa.

Increased economic activities in the basin region led to the degradation and pollution of this lake, regarded as natural symbol of the prefecture (state). The chemical oxygen demand (CODmn) which had hovered around 3 to 4 mg/litre level way back in 1950s and 1960s had gone up to 10.6mg /litre in 1979, said an expert from Ibaraki Kasumigaura Environmental Science Center who, along with 60 other members of the Japanese delegation, is here to participate in the 12th World Lake Conference.

To handle the deterioration in the lake water quality, Ibaraki prefecture not only established regulations and laws but also evoked awareness among the denizens of the lake's basin areas.

Water quality targets were set, personal sewerage system in basin and public sewerage systems, waste water treatment facilities and livestock wastewater processing measures were strengthened.

Besides this, Prefectural Government worked to educate and raise the residents awareness for esuring their cooperation in improvement of lake's water quality. In order to remove Nitrogen and Phosphorus that accumulated in the bottom of the lake the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had been systematically dredging the bottom sediment, the expert said.

These combined measures yielded results and the COD level came down to 8 mg/l. The ongoing campaign was aiming at reducing it further to 7mg/l by 2010 and to 5mg/l by 2020, he added.

The Japanese delegation is led by Ibaraki Prefecture Governor Hoshimoto, who is well known for encouraging reasearchers and people for conservation of water resources through worldwide award of Kasumigaura prizes.

UNI