Fears of water shortage spreading across Japan

Fears of a water shortage are spreading across the country as the Japanese archipelago has had little rain since last winter.

Restrictions have been placed on using water on Shikoku Island, where water shortages are particularly serious, while some schools in Kagawa Prefecture on the island have switched from rice to bread in school lunches to save water.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has already set up a water shortage countermeasures task force.

The level of water in the Sameura Dam in Kochi Prefecture had declined to 31.6 percent of its capacity by midnight on Wednesday, as compared with the normal level of 86.5 percent for this season.

The intake of water from the Sameura Dam for use in Tokushima Prefecture has been reduced by 17.4 percent and that for neighboring Kagawa Prefecture has been cut by half.

There has been little rain even through the rainy season started earlier this month in mainland Japan.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry that manages dams across the country has warned that the water level of the Sameura Dam will be zero as early as July 1 if there is no rain before then.

Hardest hit is Kagawa Prefecture where there is less rainfall than any other area of Shikoku and because it has no major river. Public elementary and junior high schools in seven cities and four towns in the prefecture have stopped using their swimming pools. They have also switched from rice to bread in their school lunches to save water.

Besides Shikoku, restrictions on water use had been place at three dams in western and central Honshu by Monday.

The water shortage is attributed to little rain in winter and spring. In particular, areas along the Sea of Japan coast had the least rain and snow since observations started in the 1961-62 winter because of the warm weather over winter. In particular, the amount of snow in the Hokuriku area including Fukui, Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures was 9 percent of normal levels.
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