Asia-Pacific Water Forum

Mission UCHIMIZU

Mission Uchimizu, which started Y2003 became the national movement in Japan with the participation of 7.7 million citizens. Uchimizu, spraying water to purify the "place" prior to welcoming the guest, is the traditional Japanese culture back to the Edo period. It has also the effect of cooling down summer heat and laying the dusts on the street.

The objective of the Mission Uchimizu is to address the issues of global warming as well as heat-island phenomenon which is becoming serious problem in the big cities like Tokyo. It is because that sprayed water could lower the temperature by evaporation.

The most important rule for Uchimizu is NOT to use "tap water" for this purpose. By applying this rule, we expect the citizens to reconsider the way of domestic water use.

The Japanese use 300 litters of water every day while there are more than 1.1 billions people who do not access to 20 litters of safe drinking water. 30 % of those who joined the Uchimizu mission said that they started to store water from bath, rain and air-conditioning equipment in order to use it for Uchimizu. This comment shows that it is possible for us to start thinking the efficient usage waste water by looking back the traditional recycling knowledge of the people in the Edo period who saw splits in all things.

Water used for the mission Uchimizu is treated water, so it became a good example of collaboration between the citizens and the local government, which is in charge of waste water management.

URL http://www.uchimizu.jp/

（Texts prepared by Shigenori Asai, and a photo by Mission Uchimizu Headquaters）