Japan’s waterworks industry is based on the principles of municipal management and financial independence. However, as the country’s population continues to fall as a result of its declining birthrate and aging population, water rate revenues are decreasing due to the popularization of water-saving devices and reduced water consumption. Furthermore, utility staff are getting older with nobody to fill their shoes, creating a shortage of human resources. All of these factors would make it difficult to maintain and operate a water infrastructure in the 21st century through the efforts of local governments alone.

Japan must secure funds and human resources if it is to cope under these circumstances, necessitating public-private partnerships that can utilize private sector funds as well as experience and wisdom. This means increasing the number of opportunities for dialogue and proposals between municipalities and companies in the private sector, and sharing and acquiring information and know-how to improve the situation of waterworks services, with the expectation of economic growth through the expansion of business opportunities in the private sector.

Since around 2002, public-private partnerships have been promoted as a means of updating aging facilities, including not only waterworks but also sewerage systems, with the aim of establishing a new type of maintenance and management. There are a variety of methods, depending on the situation of the municipality and what is to be outsourced to the private sector, such as Design Build Operate (DBO),^*2 in which the public sector raises funds and outsources design, construction, and operation to the private sector, and PFI (Private Finance Initiative), in which the private sectors funds and know-how are utilized. All of these methods seek to leverage the technical capabilities and know-how of the private sector in the design, construction, maintenance, management and operation of public facilities, etc. In these cases, the private sector takes the lead in providing efficient and effective public services. Kubota has built a system that can respond to these demands with the products and services that it has provided as a comprehensive water-related manufacturer, as well as with all of Kubota’s capabilities and know-how in the area of management and operation.

In 2017, we participated in the Osaka City Ebie Sewage Treatment Plant Reconstruction and Renewal PFI Project, Japan’s first PFI project for sewage water treatment facilities. The project is expected to become a model case for the next generation of sewage treatment plants as a PFI project that involves design, construction, maintenance, and management operations. In 2020, we participated in the construction of the Sakane Water Purification Plant and the Mitsuishi No.1 Pressure Pump Station in Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture, under the DBO system, which combines the design, construction, and operational control of water supply facilities into a single project. This is also the first DBO project in Japan for waterworks facilities that includes the introduction of ultraviolet treatment facilities to strengthen measures against Cryptosporidium^*3 and other substances which have adverse effects on the human body. As the need for private-sector cooperation in water supply and sewerage systems in general increases in the future, Kubota will contribute to the stable and efficient operation of water supply and sewerage systems by utilizing its past experience to ensure rational design, quality in construction and installation, and deepening cooperation in operation.