The Ministry of the Environment has been subsidizing the expenditures required to carry out regular observation which survey water quality in public waters. These subsidies are provided to prefectural governors and mayors of designated cities to implement their regular observation of water quality as mandated by the Water Pollution Control Law.

Water Quality Monitoring Systems

The public waters covered by this survey include those to which the category types of environmental quality standards are applied. The Ministry of the Environment has also subsidized prefectures and designated cities to install automatic water quality monitoring systems. As of the end of fiscal year 1999, such systems had been installed in 157 places. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has implemented a similar program for class I river from the river management point of view. As of the end of fiscal year 1999, automatic water quality monitoring systems maintained by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had been installed in 152 places in 68 river basin systems.

Water Pollution Control Law

• Effluent Pollution Control and Standards
• Application of Effluent Water Quality Standards and Designation of Specified Facilities
• Enforcement of Effluent Water Quality Standards
• Regulation of Total Maximum Daily Loading
• Promotion of Countermeasures against Domestic Effluents
• Water Quality Monitoring for Public Waters
• Countermeasures Against Groundwater Pollution
• Roles of Local Government in Water Quality Control
• Referneces : Effluent Water Quality Standards for the Sewage System