WOTA and Tokushima Prefecture have signed the Shikoku region’s first agreement to build an inter-municipal wide-area mutual assistance platform for water circulation systems.
”To prepare for national-crisis-level disasters, establish a mutual support system for domestic water supply equipment across all 47 prefectures.”
WOTA Corp. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Yosuke Maeda; hereinafter “WOTA”) has signed an agreement with Tokushima Prefecture on the “Wide-area Mutual Aid for Domestic Water Supply Equipment in Times of Disaster.”
This agreement is aimed at realizing the concept of the “Inter-municipal Wide-area Mutual Assistance Platform for Water Circulation Systems” (hereinafter “the Platform”) proposed by WOTA.
During the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake (hereinafter “Noto Peninsula Earthquake”), Tokushima Prefecture consolidated water circulation systems owned by municipalities within the prefecture and transported more than 10 units to the affected areas within one week. This response demonstrated the effectiveness of a prefecture-hub mutual-aid model. Building on this case, WOTA is proposing a wide-area mutual assistance platform to enable mutual support of water circulation systems among municipalities nationwide in preparation for large-scale disasters, including national-crisis-level disasters.
To rapidly secure sanitary environments and daily water supply at evacuation centers and other facilities, WOTA plans to sequentially sign agreements on wide-area mutual assistance for domestic water supply equipment with prefectures across the country and expand the system.
Through this, WOTA aims to establish a system capable of responding rapid, flexible response not only to national-crisis-level disasters* but also to large-scale disasters that can occur anytime and anywhere.
*Definition of national-crisis-level disasters: The Japan Society of Civil Engineers defines nationally catastrophic disasters as “massive disasters capable of severely damaging the nation’s power and causing a long-term decline in the standard of living of its citizens” (Source: “Technical Review Report on Measures for Massive Disasters Causing National Crisis,” June 2018, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Special Committee on Resilience Assurance, Fiscal Year 2017).
〈Overview of the Agreement〉
This agreement aims to establish a mutual support system among prefectures for domestic water supply equipment to ensure hygienic conditions and secure domestic water supply at evacuation centers and other locations during disasters.
The specific cooperation details are as follows:
- Agreement Name:
Agreement on Wide-area Mutual Assistance for Domestic Water Supply Equipment in Times of Disaster - Key Provisions (excerpt):
- Provision of daily water supply equipment (such as “WOTA BOX,” “WOSH,” etc.) from unaffected municipalities to disaster-affected municipalities during disasters
- Reception of support requests and coordination among municipalities by the platform secretariat (WOTA)
- Rapid information sharing among relevant parties during disasters (including disaster status, needs for daily water supply equipment, schedules for installation, operation, and removal of equipment)
- Coordination and promotion of pre-distribution during normal times
〈Background Necessitating This Platform〉
- Importance of Securing Daily Water Supply
During disasters, water infrastructure such as water supply and sewage systems often take a long time to recover. For example, in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, it is estimated that over 100,000 people experienced water outages for more than a month due to damage to major water purification plants and pipelines (estimated by multiplying the number of households without water by the average household size in Ishikawa Prefecture). Under water outage conditions, the difficulty of securing water varies depending on its use. Drinking water can be relatively easily secured through bottled water and similar means. However, daily water usage—such as for bathing, handwashing, toilets, and laundry—requires volumes more than 100 times that of drinking water, along with wastewater treatment and appropriate water facilities, making it difficult to secure. These cannot be easily substituted with everyday goods, and a system to maintain bathing, handwashing, toilets, and laundry under water outage conditions is indispensable. Insufficient daily water supply severely impacts hygiene, health, and quality of life. - Activities During the Noto Peninsula Earthquake
Immediately after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, WOTA launched emergency water supply activities. We provided water circulation system that enables shower bathing and handwashing even when water and sewage systems are down, and supported autonomous operation at evacuation centers and other locations. With the cooperation of the Nippon Foundation and partner companies, and through loans from municipalities nationwide that already owned the water circulation systems, approximately 300 units were deployed across the peninsula, covering about 89% of evacuation centers affected by the prolonged water outage. - Challenges and the Need for Wide-area Mutual Assistance
During the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, it took over a month to establish the system mentioned above. Had a wide-area mutual assistance system among municipalities been established beforehand, rapid deployment from the initial response phase would have been possible. Regarding different daily water uses, laundry can be substituted by cleaning clothes outside the affected area and transporting them, and temporary toilets are relatively well supplied (although challenges remain regarding cleanliness and waste removal). However, showers and handwashing require on-site water supply and wastewater treatment facilities, which were especially scarce immediately after the disaster. Therefore, prioritizing the establishment of a wide-area mutual assistance system focusing first on showers and handwashing is considered necessary. Additionally, there was a case in one prefecture where “water circulation systems” owned by municipalities within the prefecture were aggregated and transported, delivering more than 10 units to the affected area within one week—demonstrating the effectiveness of prefectures serving as hubs for coordination. - Future Risks and Responses
In future scenarios, the anticipated Tokyo inland earthquake could cause water outages about 50 times greater than the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and the Nankai Trough megathrust could cause outages approximately 100 times greater. Securing hygiene and domestic water supply in such cases would exceed the response capacity of individual affected municipalities. Therefore, it is an urgent issue to establish a nationwide mutual support system among municipalities centered on prefectures in preparation for such catastrophic national disasters. To address this challenge, WOTA has conceived this platform to enable nationwide sharing and deployment of the “water circulation system.”
〈Overview of This Platform〉
This platform provides three main functions to rapidly secure sanitary environments and domestic water supply at evacuation centers and other locations in water outage areas, with a view toward responding to national-crisis-level disasters.
- Preparation During Normal Times
To enhance the effectiveness of the mutual support system, we promote the pre-distributed deployment of systems through information sharing and training during normal times, while also establishing a system for aggregation and optimal allocation during disasters. - Aggregation During Disasters
The platform centrally receives requests from disaster-affected prefectures, aggregates “water circulation systems” owned by unaffected municipalities on a prefectural basis, and supports smooth transportation to the affected areas. - Optimal Allocation
In cooperation with the affected prefectures, the platform plans and supports the optimal allocation of “water circulation systems” among municipalities within the same prefecture based on the water demand in the water outage areas.
〈Future Developments〉
WOTA plans to sequentially conclude “Agreements on Wide-area Mutual Assistance for Domestic Water Supply Equipment in Disasters” with prefectures nationwide to promote the national rollout of this platform. Through this, we aim to build a system that enables rapid and flexible responses not only to national-crisis-level disasters but also to large-scale disasters that may occur anytime and anywhere.
[Reference Materials]
- Press Release: “Noto Peninsula Earthquake and ‘Disaster Water Stress’ Report on National-Crisis-Level Disasters (First Report)”
- Press Release: “Noto Peninsula Earthquake and ‘Disaster Water Stress’ Report on National-Crisis-Level Disasters (Second Report)”
[About WOTA Corp.]
WOTA Corp. is a private company committed to solving the structural challenges of global water issues. Since its founding in 2014, the company has developed decentralized water circulation systems and autonomous water treatment control technologies that recycle household wastewater for maximum reuse, tackling issues such as water scarcity, pollution, and uneven distribution.
WOTA has already launched two products that support emergency water use during outages and contribute to improved public hygiene. In addition, the company has developed a household water circulation system that enables daily water use, and has begun providing water services in select regions both in Japan and abroad.