Modeling the effect of improved sewage disposal rates on ecological status for aquatic organisms in Japan.

ABSTRACT: Improving sewage disposal rates is an important policy for maintaining the health of aquatic organisms in river environments. In Japan, the rate is not yet 100 %. Two measures are necessary to eliminate the discharge of untreated greywater: (1) increase the number of households connected to sewage lines in areas with sewage systems, and (2) replace single-type household onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs) with combined-type systems. To estimate the effect of improving the disposal rate on river water quality, we developed a hydrology-based organic pollution assessment model with a gridded spatial resolution of 250 m to estimate the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in rivers in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. We considered three scenarios based on the sewage disposal rate of 70.5 % in 2015.

SUBMITTER: Nakakubo T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10618779 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature