Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has put out a draft national policy for sewerage that makes safety the first test for every spending decision and asks operators to consider scaling back service where efficiency is expected to fall with population decline. The ministry is taking comments from 10 November to 10 December 2026 under Article 2-2 of the Sewerage Law, in a voluntary consultation.
Safety after Yashio
The draft says the aim is a "resilient and sustainable" sewerage system and names the January 2025 road collapse in Yashio, Saitama, as the reason safety comes first. On 28 January 2025 a break in the central trunk line of the Nakagawa basin sewer caused the collapse, and a truck driver who fell into the hole died.
The draft calls for inspections at appropriate frequencies and by appropriate methods, with stronger inspections and safety-assessment diagnoses on pipes where damage risk or the social cost of an accident is high. For lower-risk lines it suggests patrols and rough checks. For pipe interiors the draft says technologies that avoid sending workers inside should be used as a rule.
Fewer new lines, possible retreats
New sewer construction would be limited to areas where the benefit lasts over the medium to long term, given population decline. In areas already served where efficiency is expected to fall, operators are told to choose the treatment method that suits local conditions, with downsizing or merging plants, abolishing or reducing treatment areas, and switching to individual treatment systems among the options. The draft adds that residents should be consulted carefully and maintenance arrangements secured when a switch is considered.
The draft puts the case for scale in numbers. Sewerage operators serving fewer than 50,000 people number more than 1,000, and they average fewer than five staff. It calls for wider cooperation, including merging operations across municipalities, and asks the national government to set a guide for the minimum scale such cooperation needs.
Who pays
The draft says few operators build an asset-maintenance charge, meant to fund future rebuilding, into their fees. It asks operators to set fees with future renewal demand in mind and to check them every three to five years, and to publish revenue and spending outlooks that explain the need to residents.
It also backs public-private partnerships, naming concessions and combined management-and-renewal contracts, and says sludge treatment should consider fertiliser use first, citing food security. It puts sewage treatment coverage at 94% at the end of fiscal 2025.
How to comment
Comments must reach MLIT's water management and land conservation bureau by 10 December, in Japanese, through the e-Gov form, by email or by post. MLIT says it will not reply to individual comments.
The draft leaves its notification number and date blank. It takes effect on the day the act partially amending the Sewerage Law and other laws (Act No. 65 of 2026) comes into force, and the draft does not give that date.