JS, Japan Sewage Works Agency, was established in 1972, as "Sewage
	Works Center" initially, with the sponsorship of the related ministries,
	prefectures and large municipalities. After 30 years from its establishment,
	on Oct. 1, 2003, JS turned into "Public Corporation Jointly Managed by
	Local Governments". This is a new form of joint local governmental agency
	and a part of the administrative reform that the Government began in
	the late 1990s (Please refer to SBMC Newsletter Vol.1 No.3). After one year
	from organizational change, it is expected that JS will play more important
	role for local governments. Primary tasks of JS, as support organization for
	local government, are planning, design and construction of sewerage
	facilities, technical supports, training of local government staffs, and
	research and technology development, and these tasks are performed
	based on the request from the local government (Figure 1).
	Figure1. Activities of Japan Sewage Works Agency
	Since JS holds large number of qualitative engineers to pursue these
	activities, JS is a trustworthy public organization for prefectures and
	municipalities, which promote sewage works. Especially for small
	municipalities of which population is relatively small, sewered population
	rate is rather low.(Figure 2.) These small public bodies hardly execute
	the sewage works because of the insufficiency of their technical expert.
	However, by the entrustment to JS, small municipalities can initiate the
	sewerage project even when they have no engineering personnel.
	Figure 2 State of Construction of Sewage System Classified by Size of
	Population (2002)

	(1)	Planning, design and construction of key sewerage systems such as
		wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations and trunk sewers
	(2)	Technical advice of operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment
		plants for municipalities
	(3)	Research and technology development on sewerage systems
	(4)	Training of local government staffs involved in the sewerage service
		When municipality starts the sewage projects, firstly basic survey is
		conducted, and basic planning, which contains target area, design
		population and technical consideration on wastewater treatment plants,
		pumping station, and trunk sewers is formulated. After that, city planning
		decision is made, and project planning should be approved by
		Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transfer.
		Local government entrusts surveys,
		basic planning formulation, and
		necessary documentsand and
		consideration for city planning
		decision and project planning for
		approval to JS. Totally 2,087
		municipalities entrusted their
		planning of sewerage project to JS,
		and 80 planning projects are to be
		managed in FY 2004.
			Iijima Wastewater Treatment Plant
		Prior to the construction, appropriate basic and detailed design for
		sewerage facilities is needed, and local government entrusts design
		work to JS. For this design work, project team consisting of project
		manager and professional engineers in various fields is established in JS.
		Project team accomplishes the design work with rational consideration for
		development of new technologies,
		water quality requirements,
		financial conditions and other
		essential elements. Basic and detail
		design projects in totally 2,988 sites
		were entrusted to JS, and 300
		design projects are to be managed
		in FY 2004.
			Arai Wastewater Treatment Plant
		Local government entrusts the construction of important facilities such
		as treatment plants, pumping stations and sewer mains to JS.
		Construction work consists of civil engineering work, building work,
		machinery, and electricity. The construction period is usually three
		or four years. During this period, JS staff conducts supervisory
		construction management, and after severe inspection, which is
		made by expert staff for inspection, constructed facilities are handed
		over to local government. Before hand over, field test for whole
		facilities is conducted. For local governments, which have no
		experience of operation and maintenance for treatment plant, JS
		staff is dispatched to train the municipal staff. After hand over, in
		two years, each facility is inspected twice, and if any failure is found
		within two years, repair work is conducted by JS under specific
		condition. Construction projects in totally 2,388 sites were
		managed by JS, and 500 construction projects are to be managed
		in FY 2004. 423 municipalities (approx. 13.4% of total municipalities)
		entrusted to JS in FY2003. More than 60% of them is municipalities
		with less than 20,000 populations.
		Besides planning, design and construction, JS conducts survey,
		studies and advises on technical and practical issues based on the
		request or inquiry from local government.
	Technical assistance is as follows:
	(1)	Technical assistance for operation and maintenance of wastewater
		treatment plants diagnoses for wastewater treatment plant, water
		quality analyses of heavy metals and toxic substances, analysis of
		activated sludge, etc.
	(2)	Technical assistance for survey and studies
		Typical assistances in this category are studies on reconstruction
		and/or renovation, surveys for wastewater treatment performance,
		formulation of sewage works management plan such as financial
		program for sewerage systems and calculation of appropriate
		amount of user charge, etc.
	(3)	Others
		Review of basic planning, Review of basic and/or detailed design,
		advise for construction method, dispatch of JS staff, etc.
		The research and technology development division of JS implements
		various test studies, promotes the practical use and encourages
		broad use of developed technologies. The range of test studies
		covers the whole fields of sewage works. The main roles of JS R&D
		Division are experiment and research, technology evaluation, and
		encouragement of broad use of newly developedt technology.
		Totally 304 research topics were
		completed, and 30 topics are
		researched in FY 2004. 62 joint
		research projects with private
		companies were completed. For
		more information, please refer to
		SBMC Newsletter Vol.2 No.2 and
		visit following web site.
			Main Office of R&D Division and
			Training Division of JS in Toda City
		http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/200407/Research_and _Techology_Development2.htm
		To promote the sewage works,
		broad-based knowledge and a wide
		range of skills for civil engineering,
		architecture, mechanical engineering,
		electricity, chemical, water quality
		analysis, biology, etc. are needed,
		and high skilled and professional
		engineers for sewage works are
		required. For training and practice
		local government staff, JS provides	Practical Training with Computer
		several training courses and gives
		them fundamental, practical and
		newest knowledge and skills of
		sewage works by lectures, practice,
		laboratory training and so on.
		The training is conducted at the
		Headquarters of Technology
		Development and Training Division
		in Toda City, located northern part
		of Tokyo.	Water Quality Laboratory Training
		The training course consists of 5
		categories, basic planning,
		designing, construction works
		management, maintenance and
		operation for sewerage systems,
		and sewage works management.
		In March 2003, total number of
		trainees since 1972 reached
		42,533.
			Lecture
			Site map