IV. Water Resource Management of Kobe City

WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM:

The development of Kobe's municipal water system parallels the city's own history.

The original water supply capacity, in 1900, was 25,000 cubic meters per day, serving 250,000 residents. The present water supply capacity is 900,000 cubic meters per day, serving 1.7 million residents.

Kobe's water supply system is the seventh oldest system in Japan. At the re-opening of the Port of Kobe in 1868, water supply depended on groundwater wells.

In May, 1897 the groundbreaking for the Okuhirano filtration plant was held. In April, 1900 Kobe's first water supply started, with the source of the water being the Nunobiki Dam. These facilities (now modernized) are still in use today.

With the population continuing to increase, the search continued for additional water capacity. In 1936 Kobe joined with other cities and towns to found the Hanshin Waterworks Association, to bring water from the Yodo River.

During World War II the population fell by 380,000 and 60 percent of the buildings were destroyed. The war also interrupted construction of a major project, building a water tunnel 2.7 kilometers long that could carry 200,000 cubic meters per day. The tunnel was finally completed in the 1950's.

In the expansion during the 1950's and 1960's the system moved from human management to tele-control management, allowing monitoring and control of the entire system from central locations. As the system continued to expand it also faced major challenges. Kobe was devastated by a typhoon in August of 1960, suffered torrential rain in 1961, and then an
extraordinary drought in 1962, leading to a water supply restriction for 100 days. This was the last time a restriction has been imposed.

A major goal was to achieve a 100 percent supply rate. Many small-scale waterworks were constructed between 1950 and 1975 in nearby areas. These small works had substandard facilities and water supplies. In the 1960's and 1970's many of these small water systems in the surrounding area were integrated into Kobe's system and upgraded. In 1984, the water supply rate reached 100 percent.

Overview of Kobe

The city's geographic location as a narrow belt of land in between the Rokko mountains and Osaka Bay presents unique difficulties in managing Kobe's water system. The water has to be lifted to many significant elevations. To do this, there are many pumping stations throughout the city, especially to the northwest areas of Kobe, which makes up 70 percent
of the city's geographic area. These many facilities, mainly developed between 1975 and 1985, are among the key factors in raising the cost of delivering Kobe's water, relative to other cities, due to high construction, maintenance, and ongoing operational costs.

Kobe works to secure water resources and efficiently develop facilities based on long-term projections of demand for water. The most current long-term projection for water demand has been reviewed in accordance with the city's master plan for all waterworks. The projected daily demand for water in 2010 is expected to be 903,000 cubic meters per day.

Long-term Water Demand Projection (Units: 1,000people 1,000m3/day)

	1994 actual	2002 actual	2010 Projected
Kobe City population	1,520	1,512	1,700
Maximum daily distribution	727	660	903
Supply capacity	835	900	1,043
Hanshin Water Supply Authority	619	672	788
Hyogo Prefecture	16	28	55
Kobe City source	200	200	200

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, in January 1995, killed more than 6,000 people and created damages of 10 trillion yen. Control systems, dams, filtration plants, supply lines, conduits and pipes, and water department offices were all damaged. The worst damage was to pipelines in reclaimed areas. A goal was set to restore the system to operational status in four weeks. For the first three days water was supplied for life-saving purposes only. In the days and weeks that followed water was supplied for cooking, sanitation, and then other uses.

A 10-year plan was developed to repair all the damage from the earthquake. The plan's final year is in 2005, when recovery will be complete.

The water supply system continues to be upgraded to be more earthquake resistant. This includes using softer materials for pipes, constructing a new supply tunnel 30 to 40 meters underground, using water supply pipes of larger volume, and developing an emergency storage system (presently 34 ponds are complete). Other improvements include reinforcing the Nunobiki Dam, Japan's oldest gravitational concrete dam, and linking Kobe's system another area system. At the same time, aging facilities are constantly being renovated, modernized, and replaced.

Anti- seismic joint pipe which accommodates itself
to great displacement at the time of an earthquake

Today the system has three reservoirs, six purification plants, 48 pumping stations, 123 distribution reservoirs, and 4,725 kilometers of water pipes. The system leakage rate is five percent, and the recovery rate (amount of water flowing into sewage treatment plants vs. fresh water supplied) is 91 percent.

There are fewer than 100 houses which still use private well water. They are not charged for water supply (but are charged for sewage treatment).

A great deal of work and expense goes into ensuring that the water that goes to residents is safe and of high quality. The water is subjected to an advanced water treatment, which combines ozone and activated carbon treatment processes with a conventional treatment system. The quality of water is monitored around the clock by automatic water quality system equipment. There are 94 different standards assessed in measuring water quality. They include 46 items related to water quality and 13 items on water taste.

Among the factors used in assessing water quality are color, pH value, the amount of organic matter, the hardness/softness of the water, and the amount of iron, manganese, anionic surfactant, trihalomethanes, and lead.

A major effort is made to keep residents' water bills down, by promoting efficient management and reducing costs.

Also, there is a concerted effort made toward increasing public awareness and knowledge of water issues and services. These include a homepage of the City of Kobe web site that has a great deal of information on water and living, a public relations magazine that is issued quarterly ("Water and Living"), 50 citizen advisors who give their ideas and suggestions about water services, tours of water supply facilities and lectures from staff, and various videos and books available for loan. Also, there is a Water Science Museum. It is located in the beautifully restored facility at Okuhirano, a building designed in the German Renaissance style.

Water Science Museum

Water systems throughout Japan are facing big changes. It is key that the waterworks supply system in Kobe be managed as a business.

Major objectives to help accomplish this have been laid out. They include communicating waterworks policies and other information to residents, presenting numerical targets for waterworks efficiency to residents, and setting goals to help achieve these objectives. The target period for achieving these goals is fiscal 2005.

One factor that significantly affects the management situation is a periodic change in the contribution payable to the Hanshin Water Supply Authority, the source of most of Kobe's water. The changes, typically revisions for supply charge increases, require continuing cost reductions and management efficiencies in Kobe's waterworks management, as raising prices to customers is not in accordance with the goals stated above.

The most recent revisions in the contributions payable to the Hanshin Water Supply Authority were:

April 1992 - 21.68 percent supply charge increase
October 1996 - 23.4 percent supply charge increase
April 2001 - 12.10 percent supply charge increase

The water required by users has been relatively stable for the last eight years. Though there has been an increase in the number of households, there has been a decrease in the amount of water consumed per household. This is due to factors such as fewer children per household, smaller family size, an aging population, and widespread water-saving consciousness and use of water-saving devices. There have also been changes in water users' perceptions in recent years, due to the changing social and economic environment. These include greater frequency of dining out, increased use of car washes at service stations, and widespread use of disposable products.

Because of recession and deflation, it is not socially acceptable to raise water charge rates. Waterworks management will introduce the accounting systems used by private companies, to help promote the introduction of private business management techniques. This could include measures such as expansion of services that may be subcontracted to a third party.

The Kobe City Waterworks Bureau has reviewed activities that might be suitable for contracting to private sector businesses, and in fact has outsourced some maintenance and computer processing functions. Another area that could be considered for future similar outsourcing is water meter inspection and recording.

The efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency have already been productive. The goals set by management for the fiscal years 2000 through 2004 were met and exceeded after three years (through fiscal year 2002). Material costs, targeted for a 20 percent reduction, were reduced 22.1 percent. Personnel was targeted to reduce by 50 persons, and the fiscal year 2003 budget is based on 52 fewer persons. Investment expenses were targeted to be reduced by 10 percent, and are actually down 23.6 percent.

	Cost Target	Actual Results
Material Personnel Investment	down 20% 50 persons less down 10%	down 22.1% 52 persons less (FY 2003 budget) down 23.6%