Even in an era with advanced scientific and medical technologies, pandemics affect entire human populations.

Around the 14th century, agricultural development in many European countries saw urban populations rise. However, due to the lack of sewage works, urban sanitation worsened, leading to the outbreak of the Black Death pandemic. In response, construction of sewage works began in Paris and London, and rainwater and sewage came to be carried through pipelines into rivers and other waters. With no treatment facilities, though, this sewage flowed directly into rivers and seas and contaminated water sources. Later, learning lessons from the major cholera outbreak in the 19th century, work began in London on a modern sewage system. Elsewhere in Europe, awareness of the need to improve public hygiene and protect the environment grew, and the construction of modern sewage systems began in earnest.^*1

In the 1900s, Europe became one of the first places to benefit from a sewage treatment facility, and wastewater quality standards were put in place. These standards became increasingly stringent as industry developed.
Against this backdrop, Kubota developed a microorganism-based wastewater treatment system. This technology ensured that water could be treated before being released into rivers and other bodies of water. Today, this technology combines biological treatment with submerged membranes,^*2 and contributes to improved wastewater quality in small-scale sewage treatments systems, industrial wastewater treatment systems, and large-scale public sewage treatment plants.

Treating used water and returning it to nature is important not only for public health, but for environmental conservation, too. This process is becoming ever more essential to the lives of people across the world, from those in developing nations undergoing modernization to those in advanced nations. From Japan, Kubota has expanded its water purification technologies, including its submerged membrane technology, to Europe, the US, and Asia. The company continues to transcend borders in its efforts to tackle the world’s water issues.