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SBMC Newsletter
From Sewerage Business Management Center
http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/
Vol.4 No.1
27-Apr-06
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This is the 13th Issue of SBMC Newsletter provided by
Sewerage Business Management Centre quarterly.
SBMC Newsletter covers Japan's ODA information in the field of
sewage works and current situation of sewage works in Japan. 
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe or were subscribed in error,
please refer to the instruction below on how to register or unsubscribe.
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The contents of this issue are as follows.
1. 4th WORLD WATER FORUM IN MEXICO
   Local Actions for a Global Challenge
   Water: a Strategic Resource of National Security
2. UTILIZATION OF BIOMASS
   Sewage Sludge, New Energy Resource As Solid Fuel
3. REPORT FROM PARTICIPANTS IN 2005 SEWAGE WORKS ENGINEERING AND
   STORMWATER DRAINAGE TECHNOLOGY JICA TRAINING PROGRAM
   Mr. Alamgir Hasin Ahmed
   from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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1. 4th WORLD WATER FORUM IN MEXICO
   Local Actions for a Global Challenge
   Water: a Strategic Resource of National Security
The 4th World Water Forum was held in Mexico from March 16 to 22,
2006 under the theme of "Local Actions for a Global Challenge". 
Approximately 19,000 representative of governments, international
organizations, private enterprise, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), research institutes and others from about 140 countries
participated.
The World Water Forum is an international conference organized by
the World Water Council (WWC) to discuss global water issues.  It is
held once every three years for about one week including the World
Water Day on March 22.  The 1st World Water Forum was held in 1997
at Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco, and 2nd Form was held in 2000 at 
Hague in Netherlands.  The 3rd forum was held in March 2003 in Japan,
Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka.
<http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/3rd.html>
In the message from the President of Mexico in the Program Brochure,
it was stated that the importance of water and the powerful impact
of water on the well-being of people and on the economic development
of nation is widely recognized, and water is considered as a strategic
resource of national security.
In the forum, about 150 session meetings were conducted in 5 themes,
Water for Growth and Development, Implementing Integrated Water
Resources Management, Water Supply and Sanitation for All, Water
Management for Food and the Environment, and Risk Management.
In the theme of Implementing IWRM, Session on "Wastewater Management
for Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management" was held on
March 18.  This session was organized by the Japan Water Reclamation
Committee which consists of Ministry of Land Infrastructure and
Transport and related organizations.
In this session, Mr. Tadao Ishikawa, Vice-President, Japan Sewage
Works Agency made a Keynote Speech, "Wastewater Reuse for Water
Resources Management", and Panel Discussion was conducted following
the speech.  Participated organizations in this Panel Discussion
were MLIT and Kyoto University from Japan, State of Baja California
in Mexico, Water Environment Federation (WEF) in United States,
and the European Water Association (EWA).
In Panel Discussion, present status regarding treated wastewater
reuse and wastewater treatment management in each region and
country was reported and discussed.
At the end of this session on Wastewater Management for Implementing
Integrated Water Resources Management, Message from the Japan Water
Reclamation Committee for the World Water Forum was announced as follows.
http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/060427/Message_from_Japan_Water_ Reclamation_Committee.pdf
In total, under the forum’s theme of "Local Actions for a Global
Challenge", the Ministerial Declaration was adopted, which proclaimed
the importance of water issues for sustainable development and this
forum’s contribution to further promoting international agreements
and commitments. 
At the 4th World Water Forum, Japan proactively contributed in
terms of raising world awareness of water issues, proposing policies,
sharing information and supporting capacity building while steadily
implementing the outcomes and commitments of the previous forum.
It has been decided that the 5th forum will be held in 2009 in
Istanbul, Republic of Turkey.
Please visit following web page, HTML version of this topic.
http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/060427/4th_World_Water_Forum_in_Mexico.html
Also, please refer to following Web Pages;
<http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/environment/wwf/index.html>
<http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/home.asp>
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2. UTILIZATION OF BIOMASS
   Sewage Sludge, New Energy Resource As Solid Fuel
Biomass, plant and animal matter used to provide power or energy,
is broadly defined in Japan as renewable organic resource generated
from plant and/or animal matter, and there are several kinds of
Biomass such as waste material like livestock waste, sewage sludge,
etc. unused plant like rice straw, remaining material from wood
processing, etc. and crops like sugarcane, sugar beat, etc.  These
kinds of biomass can be utilized as fuel, biomass plastic, biogas,
compost, etc.
As biomass is carbon neutral, meaning that the same amount of
carbon dioxide emitted by burning it was absorbed by plants that
went into producing it, utilization of biomass is effective for
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and prevention of global
warming. 
For this reason, in 2002, Biomass Comprehensive Strategy in Japan
was decided by the cabinet.  Basic policy for application and
utilization of Biomass was set up, and lots of activities have been
conducted in diverse ways.
In Kyoto Protocol ratified in 2005, goals for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions for each participating country were established, and
Japan Government has decided policies for prevention of global warming.
One of policies regarding Kyoto Protocol was Renewable Portfolio
Standard Law which was established in 2003 for power utilities.
By this law, each power utility should utilize specific amount of
new energy source such as wind power, solar energy, biomass, and
geothermal energy for electric power generation, and the biomass
utilization will be promoted.
In other business field such as iron and steel industry, paper
manufacture, and oil trade which lots of fossil fuel is consumed,
several studies for utilization of biomass fuel were also conducted
for reducing greenhouse gas emission and fuel quantity consumed.
In the field of sewage works, more approach for utilization of
biomass is also expected for prevention of global warming and
creation of a recycling society.
Under these circumstances, the project utilizing the sewage sludge
as a biomass fuel is now widely being studied.  This project is to
make a solid fuel from drying or carbonization sewage sludge, and
utilize it as a fuel in coal thermal power plant after mixing with
coal.
In this sewage sludge biomass fuel project, municipalities, which
promote sewage works, can expect several advantages such as
increase of sewage sludge recycling rate, reduction of the final
disposal sludge amount, and reduction of green house gas generated
from incineration of sewage sludge.
Also, for thermal power plant, CO2 emission and fossil fuel
consumption can be reduced and the utilization of new energy using
biomass can be promoted.  Especially, recently, the price of fossil
fuel has been increasing.
The form of sewage sludge, which can be used in coal boiler as fuel,
is mainly classified in two types, sludge carbonization and dried
sludge, and Japan Sewage Works Agency has conducted several research
concerning Solid Fuel from sewage sludge.
1) Sludge Carbonization
Sludge carbonization is a technology for producing carbonized sludge
composed of "carbon + minerals" that retains the carbon content by
thermal decomposition of low or zero oxygen, while in the case of
incineration, carbon in the sludge is completely burnt with oxygen
in incinerator.
Japan Sewage Works Agency and private company have conducted joint
research on developing carbonization furnace and obtained lots of
patents.  The generated carbonized sludge is odor-free and its calorie
is about 3,000kcal/kg.  The temperature in carbonization furnace is
about 800 degrees Celsius. 
As the calorific power will increase when the sludge is carbonized
under low temperature, fuel manufacturing system using carbonized
sludge under low temperature is now being developed.  The development
objectives are optimization of energy balance, assurance of safety
of produced carbonized sludge regarding self-heating, etc.
2) Pelletization Solid Fuel System Using Dried Sludge
Dried sludge has more calorific value than carbonized sludge, and
final product of dried sludge is large in quantity compared with
carbonized sludge.  Then, pelletization solid fuel system using dried
sludge can retain much more energy which is contained in sludge than
carbonized sludge.
Japan Sewage Works Agency has been developing the system for
improvement of odor and assurance of safety of produced carbonized
sludge regarding self-heating and conducting a research to make
solid fuel from sludge in Nakaminato WTP in Kitakyusyu City from
2006.  Generated solid fuel is used for practical purposes in coal
fired power generation plant which is constructed in iron mill in
Kitakyusyu City.
3) Case Example of Sludge Solid Fuel Project
Tokyo Metropolitan Government has moved into action to utilize
carbonized sludge made from generated 300t sludge in Eastern Sludge
Treatment Center managed by TMG, as a fuel in actual coal power plant
of Tokyo Electric Power Co.  This project will start from 2007, and
produced solid fuel will be traded as valuable resource.
Also, Aichi Prefecture starts the joint research on sewage sludge
fuel using carbonization furnace with Cyubu Electric Power Company
from 2008.  In this research, carbonized sludge will be produced in
Kinuura Tobu WTP managed by Aichi pref. and examine the practicality
of carbonized sludge in actual coal power plant.  Japan Sewage Works
Agency will cooperate with this research to make carbonized sludge. 
There are several ways for effective utilization of sewage sludge,
and among them solid fuel from sewage sludge is considered as useful
measures in respect of prevention of global warming and energy saving. 
Also, sewage sludge has an advantage for user that solid fuel can
be constantly produced in WTP and its quality is stable compared with
other biomass.
<http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/050427/Reuse_of_Sewage_Sludge.htm>
Sludge Carbonation System and Pelletization Sludge Solid Fuel
System developed by Japan Sewage Works Agency have converted the
sewage sludge which had been difficult to dispose, into new energy
recourse to prevent global warming and save energy.
To see the illustrated version of this topic, please visit following
web page.
http://www.sbmc.or.jp/english/060427/Utilization_of_Biomass.htm
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3. REPORT FROM PARTICIPANTS IN 2005 SEWAGE WORKS ENGINEERING AND
   STORMWATER DRAINAGE TECHNOLOGY JICA TRAINING PROGRAM
   from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia lies at the furthermost part of southwestern
Asia.  It is bordered to the west by the red sea, to the east by the
Arabian Gulf, United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to the north by Kuwait,
Iraq and Jordan, and to the south by Yemen and Oman.  The kingdom of
Saudi Arabia occupies about four-fifth of the Arab peninsula with a
total area of over 2,250,000 square kilometers. 
Saudi Arabia is not rainy country.  The average annual rainfall in
Saudi Arabia is 120 mm, and it is one of the lowest quantities
comparing with average values in other countries. 
The total population of Saudi Arabia is 21,161,461 inhabitants
(year 2005).  The total produced potable water for domestic uses in
the biggest 10 cities is 4,838,000 m3/ day.  Among them, 2,892,000
m3/day (60%) is produced from 15 desalination plants, and the rest
of amount is produced from groundwater especially in rural areas. 
In Saudi Arabia, there are 32 wastewater treatment plants which treat
approximately 1,500,000 m3/day of wastewater influent.  336,000 m3/day
treated wastewater (22% of total treated wastewater) is reused in
agricultural and industrial purposes.  The rest of amount is discharged
into nearest valley, which is mostly being dry in the interior cities,
and otherwise discharged into the sea at coastal cities.  In addition,
there are 18 wastewater treatment plants under construction.
Most of wastewater treatment systems are available in Saudi Arabia
such as conventional activated sludge process, extended aeration
and stabilization ponds, but extended aeration CARROUSEL SYSTEM is
the most widely used for wastewater treatment in Saudi Arabia.
In general, here in Saudi Arabia, we face a problem, which is
the shortage of water resources.  Mainly, we get fresh water from
groundwater that was highly consumed at the past years, and from
desalination of seawater, which is produced from high cost technology.
Therefore, the Saudi Arabian government was looking for a new resource
of fresh water and irrigation water, and the treated wastewater is
one of the most applicable options, beside the problems may occur
in absence of sanitary services like the bad effect on public health.
Therefore, the government of Saudi Arabia has promoted sewerage
constructions from general budget of the country at the 7th five
years plan (2000 - 2005), and its budget is much more than former
one.  The general plan of the government is to extend the sewage
networks to all residential areas, to construct new wastewater
treatment plants with tertiary (advance) treatment, and to
upgrade all old plant from secondary wastewater treatment to
tertiary treatment to improve the treated wastewater quality
to meet the standard and criteria for reuse purposes.  After
construction of new advanced WTP, and upgrading existing secondary
treatment WTP to advanced treatment Plant, more treated
wastewater will be reused in unrestricted irrigation.
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