The workshop participants saw three of these small, completely automated plants that serve the scattered rural households and small villages. This is part of the effort to bring all households into the central sewerage system. Virtually 100% of the central urban residents are connected to the system, but as many as 60% of households in some rural areas are still on their own septic system. As with the larger Tarumi plant, building these smaller plants begins with neighborhood discussions, often expressing resistance to the idea of a central treatment plant replacing the septic tanks people have known for generations. Once the plants are in place, however, residents overwhelmingly approve of them with their new flush toilet systems and absence of their own sometimes smelly tanks. Citizens have also approved of the general condition of these units, which look very much like farm houses with flowers and greenery. There are 26 of these small rural area treatment projects scattered throughout Kobe’s rural hinterland. The smallest serves 50 households, the largest 460 households. The average plant size serves 175 households; in all some 4552 households with 22,710 people are served by this type of rural system. 

The system is now being extended to the entire area of the city. When it is completed in 2010, 100% of the city’s households, rural and urban, will be connected to the central sanitation system.

(left-right) The small automated rural system's country-house
style building; the water treatment mechanism beneath; the outdoor natural deodorizer