1.Comfortable Life with Piped Water and
Trend of Population Served Water Usage

Water supply in Japan has been rapidly developed and as a result, in FY 2001 (March 31, 2002), 96.7 per cent of total population benefit from piped fresh water, whereas 4.2 million people in Japan have no access to it. In order to make this population enjoy a healthy and comfortable life, efforts have to be made to provide these people with piped water. In FY 2001, the annual consumption of fresh water was about 17 billion m³ (Fig.1).

Fig.1 Trend of Annual Water Consumption

As mentioned earlier at present, 122.98 million or 96.7 per cent of Japan's total population are served with piped water. Water supply utilities are expected to supply clean and safe water without interruption in comformity with the drinking water quality standards stipulated in the Water Works Law. Improvements and expansion of water supply must be implemented to cope with the increasing demand for water as a result of improvements in living standards and growth of urban activities and to extend the convenience of water supply to a population of 4.2 million still unserved yet.