Innovative Technology and System for Sustainable Water Use

Facts, data, and general information related to water use

April 1, 2011 Updated

• Reading of environmental radioactivity level by prefecture, Time series data (MEXT)

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT) has been monitoring and released environmental radioactivity level in prefectures and around Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP.

• Archive of press releases related to radioactive materials survey in tap water and radioactive contaminants for agricultural and livestock products (MHLW)

Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) discloses press releases on tap water and agricultural and livestock products after March 11 earthquake.

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Dr. Kanae’s project was featured in Asian Water

March 30, 2011 Updated

Dr. Shinjiro Kanae of Tokyo Institute of Technology was interviewed by “Asian Water.”? In this interview, he presented his ongoing CREST research. (From Asian Water homepage click Back Issues button on bottom-right corner and select March 2011 issue.)

INTERVIEW There is a crisis in both ‘blue’ and ‘green’ water ? Sinjiro Kanae, by Marisha Wojciechowska-Shibuya,? In: Asian Water, March 2011, vol.27(2), pp.24-28.

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Announcement of a call for proposal for CREST and PRESTO

March 15, 2011 Updated

JST Basic Research Programs announced a call for proposal for CREST and PRESTO of fiscal year 2011.? For detail please visit here (note: application form and guidance in English will be posted soon).?? This will be the last announcement for this water Research Area.? Request for proposal? (RFP) is shown below.? Proposals are due May 17, noon.

<Request for proposal (RFP) from Research Supervisor, Shinichiro OHGAKI>

Water, along with energy and foodstuffs, is an essential resource that sustains our society. However, among the three items, there is no alternative to water. In addition, rainfall and snowfall, which replenish terrestrial water resources, are unstable and unevenly distributed regionally. Therefore, there is concern about the direct impact of climate change on water resources. While water is essential to the ecosystem, the aquatic ecosystem is vulnerable, and water quantity tends to change; the ecosystem is vulnerable to severe negative consequences from even slight decreases in water quality.

As stated above, water resources are limited both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus, highly advanced technologies and resource management systems are necessary. Such technologies and systems must be durable and withstand the natural disturbances of climate change, fluctuations in demand, restrictions on resources and energy, and other factors.

This research aims to accumulate the knowledge of water technologies and systems in Japan and a wide range of academic fields and industries around the world, while integrating the abundant experience of public enterprises in water management systems. We must propose new technologies and systems that bring innovations to water uses in households and production sites and contribute to mitigate the present and future water problems in Japan and the world. Applicants are requested to submit proposals after carefully reading and understanding the statements in the Strategic Sector “Development of innovative technologies for realizing sustainable water management by mitigating water problems intensified by climate change.”

In the application for fiscal year 2011, we aim to find innovative scientific technologies to realize sustainable water uses and expect proposals for theories, technologies, and systems that are not restricted by conventional methodologies. As this is the third and final year for the application, we hope to see proposals with a more focused research target. Some specific examples of proposals would include the following: research on water quality evaluation concerning the safety of human health (especially scientific technologies related to safety evaluations and social acceptability such as direct drinking of sewage-treated waters); research on water management in densely populated urban areas (especially scientific technologies related to water systems in the design of environmentally friendly cities); research on effective resource uses of inorganic and organic sludge generated through water use; research on resource and energy saving systems as a combination of water use and energy use; and research on the coexistence between water use in society and conservation of the natural ecosystem. We are also going to organize the final outcomes of the entire area, including those research themes already adopted, to ensure that the research projects would be helpful in resolving the problems of water use in the world and in Japan. We hope that teams of individual research themes will also contribute to organizing the research fields.

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Dr. Okabe’s project was featured in Asian Water

February 23, 2011 Updated

Dr. Satoshi Okabe of Hokkaido University was interviewed by “Asian Water.”? In this interview, he presented his ongoing CREST research. (From Asian Water homepage click Back Issues button on bottom-right corner, and select January-February 2011 issue.)

INTERVIEW “Membrane technology is highly applicable to developing countries – Satoshi Okabe,”? by Marisha Wojciechowska-Shibuya,? In: Asian Water, January/February 2011, vol.27(1), pp.17-20.

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The 4th IWA-ASPIRE Conference and Exhibition

January 31, 2011 Updated

The 4^th IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition will take place in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, for five days from October 2 to 6, 2011.? For details, visit the conference homepage.

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