Water reuse in Japan

Even though Japan has mean annual precipitation of 1,714 mm and hundreds of dams and reservoirs constructed. frequent and severe droughts have occurre d in wide regions of the country. Because of rapid economic growth and conc entrations of population in urban areas. water demands in large cities have stressed reliability of water supply systems and necessitated the developm ent of new water resources with considerable economic and environmental cos ts. To alleviate these situations, wastewater reclamation and reuse have be en implemented widely in major cities. This paper summarizes the current st atus of water reuse in Japan and discusses dominant uses of reclaimed water , emphasizing non-potable urban applications such as toilet flushing, indus trial reuse, and environmental water.