Detail of Grant Awarded General Researches
| Project |
|---|
Inheritance of the Groundwater in the Tama River Basin and Wider Utilization of the Research Findings by Citizens |
| General Research |
No.203 |
|---|---|
| Principal Investigator |
Takao Udagawa |
| Affiliation | Representative, Groundwater Conservation Project, Water and Greenery Study Group |
| Research Summary |
Four seminars with field trips to four different places in the Nogawa River basin, namely Kokubunji City, Setagaya Ward, Koganei City, and Jindaiji Town, and a wrap-up symposium were held to find out the current situation and issues of the basin, with a view of citizens of the area widely using the groundwater.
The themes of the seminars and symposium were as follows: the utilization of groundwater and spring water in the case of lifeline damages caused by natural disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Setagaya Dam as a protection measure against heavy rainfalls, the collaboration among public-private-academic sectors in the cities with advanced groundwater conservation mechanisms, and ways to pass on the culture related to water and the research.
We conducted field research to examine the current state of the conservation of groundwater or spring outlets in the above areas and shared information with the residents by exchanging opinions.
As an example of monitoring by citizens, the surveys on a few of the spring outlets in the Nogawa River watershed were carried out twice in a year, in spring and autumn, to examine the current conditions as well as the appropriateness of the monitoring methods. In Koganei City and Setagaya Ward, we exchanged information with civil groups in the community.
In an attempt to pass the study on to the younger generation, we provided students from three high schools with the opportunities to report their observation activities so as to exchange information and opinions with citizens.
We conducted questionnaire surveys on groundwater protection measures within the municipalities in the Tama River basin.
As for the educational booklet that we had mentioned in last year's research summary, we were not able to complete the planned publication.
No matter how small it is, sharing of information about each other's activities among citizens, local governments, researchers, teachers and students can facilitate communication and cooperation among them, leading to further conservation efforts for the groundwater and springs.
It is expected that by utilizing our research findings, we shall be able to communicate and collaborate in the preservation of the water resources with other Tama River basin civil groups, with whom we were previously unable to make exchanges.
As we have written in our report summary, more citizens came to understand the state of progress of the groundwater study over the two years. We will make recommendations to local governments or universities for the protection of the materials, which are critically damaged by careless or inappropriate storage. The urgent improvement of the storage methods of such important data is truly required. |
| Collaborators |
Teruo Iida Hiroshi Kamiya Masafumi Kawai Koichi Sayama Terumi Sugaya Minoru Tsuchida Toshio Nakayama Yoshizumi Hosono Keiichi Yamada |
| Full Text | Download (Japanese Only) |
