Governors and mayors of government ordinance-designated cities request factories and business establishments to report the quality of their effluents or inspect them, as required under the Water Pollution Control Law. The purpose of this monitoring is to determine the compliance with the effluent standards. Administrative actions, such as improvement orders are taken against factories and business establishments on the basis of this monitoring.

Further, the Water Pollution Control Law requires those discharging effluents from business establishments within areas, designed by the Standard for Areawide Total Load Control, to measure their total pollution load discharges and record them.

Article 14 of the Water Pollution Control Law requires that private sector entrepreneurs measure and record the quality of effluents from their factories and business establishments.

Quality Standards variables related to Health
Water samples should be collected and analyzed for health related concerns at least l day each month and 4 times a day on the day of sampling. All of the health parameters should be surveyed at least l day a month, and as for the rest of the days monitored, surveys are implemented only on the items that surveys thought to be required on the basis of the pollution status of the ambient water and effluents, as appropriate.

Quality Standard variables related to the Living Environment
Variables specified by the effluent standards for environmental protection should be surveyed in effluent quality monitoring surveys to determine if factories and business establishments are in compliance with these standards. Frequent surveys and intensive samplings are required for factories and business establishments having high potential for pollution or suspected to be violating effluent standards.

In surveys to establish effluent standards, actual discharges of effluents from the factories and business establishments should be considered. Receiving water samples should be collected and analyzed at least 4 days a year for effluent standard variables.

Surveys should be conducted after consideration of the factory and business establishment categories, their operational procedures, and their seasonal variations. However, in principle, effluent quality surveys should be synchronized with ambient water quality monitoring surveys since they are inseparable from each other.

Water samples should be collected at the outlets of the factories and business establishments. If that is not possible, the samples should be collected at the facilities final effluent treatment plant outlet, where equivalent samples can be obtained. Water samples should also be collected in front of the intake to the wastewater treatment plat, when conducting effluent standard surveys.

Items stipulated in the effluent standards

Items needed for setting effluent standards

Ascertain compliance with effluent standards. Survey frequency may be increased at factories and business establishments that can violate the standards or have a significant impact on water pollution in the public water area.

4 or more times/year

Conduct surveys in conjunction with environmental water quality surveys, after taking into consideration the category of factories and business establishments, their operating conditions and seasonal variations.

At effluent outlets, or at the final outlet from the wastewater treatment facility if effluents cannot be collected there.

Samples should be taken three or more times during operating hours on a single day, however, fewer samples can be taken if there is little variation.

Analyze samples at every time of collection. For the effluent standard setting surveys, composite or whole-day samples can be taken.

4-5 L for health items, 0.5-1 L for living environment items.

Record the date and time of sample collection, sample volume, and biota observed near the site.
Measure or observe the water temperature, color, odor and transparency on the site.

Methods stipulated in the public notification by the Environment Agency in 1974.
Items not addressed in the environmental standards or the public notification should be analyzed using scientifically established methods, such as JIS K 0102, Standards Methods for the Examination of Water or Wastewater Examination Method.