Japan’s Circular Economy Vision Under the Action Plan | Chapter 14Measures to Conserve and Restore Water, Soil, Marine, and Air Environments

Under the Basic Act on Water Cycles, awareness-raising activities are conducted to maintain and restore sound water cycles and water environments. The Basic Plan on Water Cycles, approved by the Cabinet in August 2024, sets out a policy to promote stable water supplies through alternatives and redundancy, restructuring of water supply and sewerage systems through facility reorganization and public-private collaboration, and integrated water management at the river-basin level.

The measures cover water quality, groundwater and land subsidence, water supply, lakes and reservoirs, enclosed coastal waters, soil, oceans, air, and the living environment. In addition to operating systems such as environmental quality standards and effluent regulations, they combine continuous monitoring, research, infrastructure development, disaster response, local activities, and collaboration with Asia, aiming simultaneously to prevent health damage and conserve ecosystems.

For water environments, knowledge on bottom-layer dissolved oxygen, pathogens, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, chemical substances, and other matters is accumulated and management is expanded to reflect climate change and ecosystem changes. For air environments, in addition to protecting health, the co-benefits of reducing short-lived climate pollutants and addressing climate change are also considered.

For citizens, safer tap water and reduced health risks from water and air pollution, asbestos, and other hazards are expected. Opportunities to increase interest in environmental conservation will also expand through participation in waterfront activities and stargazing.

Businesses are required to curb emissions and undertake voluntary initiatives concerning effluent, VOCs, mercury, chemical substances, plastics, and other materials. The Ministry of the Environment will advance model projects for improving water environments, resource circulation across the entire plastic life cycle, use of digital technologies, and support for overseas deployment of environmental technologies.

Communities and local governments will play an expanded role in connecting diverse actors for lake and coastal conservation, groundwater contamination measures, marine litter collection, asbestos information development, and accident and disaster response. Policy implementation will promote real-time monitoring, analytical quality management, and the digitization of administrative procedures.

For water quality management, the national government and prefectures continuously monitor public water bodies and groundwater, including radioactive substances. For wastewater from factories and business establishments, domestic wastewater, and nonpoint pollution sources such as urban and agricultural land, they advance effluent regulations, total pollutant load reduction, pesticide-use regulations, and the development of sewerage systems, agricultural community wastewater treatment facilities, and septic tanks, while reviewing provisional effluent standards as necessary. For groundwater, they advance controls on the underground infiltration of hazardous substances, structural standards and inspections for storage facilities, and reductions in nitrate nitrogen and other loads. While curbing groundwater extraction, they will consider the use of ground-source and groundwater heat and revisions to technical standards.

For water supply, integrated risk management from water source to tap and reviews of water quality standards are carried out to prepare for PFAS, water quality incidents, and contamination caused by natural disasters. For PFAS, efforts such as assessing actual conditions are advanced for 8 substances designated as water-supply items for further study. For lakes and reservoirs, regulations and sewerage development are advanced under plans for 11 designated lakes and reservoirs, while Lake Biwa implements water quality improvement and measures against invasive flora and fauna. In Tokyo Bay, Ise Bay, and the Seto Inland Sea, water environment management tailored more closely to conditions in individual sea areas is considered, while conserving, restoring, and creating natural coastlines, seagrass beds, tidal flats, and ecosystem-compatible port structures, as well as sand capping and backfilling of dredged depressions.

For soil, investigations and countermeasures under the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act are advanced, including responses to dioxins and contamination of agricultural land. For marine litter, efforts advance the assessment of outflow volumes and distribution, inventory estimation, research on ecosystem impacts, support for collection and treatment by local governments and others, collection of drifting litter by marine environment maintenance vessels, harmonization of international monitoring methods, and use of databases. For marine pollution, permit-based disposal at sea, reviews of equipment for treating harmful ballast water, and oil-spill control are implemented, while operational guidelines for sub-seabed CCS are developed.

For air, measures for stationary and mobile emission sources, reassessment of PM2.5 environmental quality standards, measures for photochemical oxidants and VOCs, and consideration of vehicle exhaust emission regulations are advanced. The provision of preliminary figures through Soramame-kun, monitoring of transboundary pollution and radioactive substances, and agile monitoring including AI are promoted. Investigations, regulation, and technical support are also provided for hazardous substances such as asbestos, mercury, and ethylene oxide, as well as noise and vibration, offensive odors, and light pollution. Across environmental media, appropriate fertilization, use of fertilizer and sewage-sludge resources, avoidance of emissions of nitrogen oxides and other substances, and operational management of sewage treatment plants are advanced, while digitizing environmental management procedures, improving analytical quality management, and strengthening local-government coordination during disasters.