New Framework of Water Supply and Sewerage Business Tasks and Prospects for Future Business Activities in Water Supply and Sewerage Field SAKAMOTO Hiromichi New Framework of Water Supply and Sewerage Businesses Including Privatization SHINOHARA Tetsuya / KADOISHI Shinichi / SHINOZAKI Tsutomu The water supply and sewerage businesses, needless to say, support social infrastructure. There is a strong requirement for water, sewerage, and environmental plants and systems, which form the core of these businesses, to be safe, stable, and reliable. On the other hand, cost reduction and administrative rationalization are major social requirements, and privatization is being studied as the best means of achieving these objectives. The water supply and sewerage businesses in Japan have been operated under public management for more than 100 years, but recently the tendency toward privatization has been slowly growing. Toshiba has been occupying an important position in the market for motor-application systems and supervisory control systems for water supply and sewerage. To provide new types of services in this business field as it opens up to private enterprises, Toshiba has begun to change into an all-round service company. Trend and Impacts of ISO/TC224 International Standardization of "Service Activities Relating to Drinking Water Supply and Sewerage" HOMMA Juichi / YUKAWA Atsushi The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established technical committee TC224 in 2002 to promote standardization work for "service activities relating to drinking water supply and sewerage," with the aim of publishing ISO standards in July 2006. These standards will deal with fundamental factors regarding the above-mentioned service activities. The standards will be considered as guidelines, and will cover guidelines on system management, quality criteria for services, performance indicators, and so on in relation to the service activities. In particular, the performance indicators will influence the management of related organizations, and business activities concerning operation and maintenance (O&M) work. The standards will also influence business activities involving the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and governmental procurement based on the World Trade Organization (WTO) treaty. Toshiba O&M Services to Establish Best Partnership with Water Supply and Sewerage Business Proprietors MINAMOTO Takeshi / YAMAKAWA Masahiro / SHOJI Masahiro Various ways of privatizing facility management and operation in the water supply and sewerage business have begun to be studied and applied on a practical level. This is because the management and operation of such facilities are affected to some extent by the deterioration in the financial position of local governments due to the economic recession in Japan, the amendment of relevant laws, and also the international situation such as the movement toward standardization by technical committee TC224 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Toshiba has accumulated considerable know-how in water supply and sewerage plant construction as well as after-sales service capabilities as a result of more than 30 years of experience in this field. Based on our know-how and capabilities, we are promoting operation and maintenance (O&M) services to match changing social needs by establishing a best partnership with water supply and sewerage business proprietors from the viewpoint of a private company. Equipment Maintenance Management and Information Technologies NISHIYAMA Kazuyoshi In waterworks and sewerage system plants, efficient maintenance management of existing plant equipment has become important rather than expanding plant capacities. The management of equipment maintenance is a difficult task, because it is necessary to have the know-how of a skilled engineer for operations as well as an understanding of the various conditions of the complex equipment involved. Information technology is expected to be an effective means of improving productivity, by formularizing the know-how of skilled engineers as well as analyzing and evaluating equipment conditions for maintenance work. Toshiba provides a total solution of computerization for efficient equipment maintenance management, consisting of planning, analysis, definition of requirements, system development, and operation service. Advanced Water Quality Control System for Filtration Plants KURIHARA Shioko / INOMATA Yoshinori / MENJU Takashi Requirements for drinking water quality have recently been expanding and water quality control in filtration plants has become more stringent in order to ensure the supply of safe and good-quality water. Toshiba has developed an advanced water quality control system to help operators address these challenges, and applied it to a plant. This system features a coagulant dose feedback control system using a streaming current detector and a decision support system for chlorine dose control parameters. Control Technologies for Sewage Treatment Systems under Institutional Reforms YAMAMOTO Katsuya / OBARA Takumi / ASHIKAGA Nobuyuki In recent years, under an environment of institutional reforms such maintenance performance orders, sewage works divisions have been taking a progressive approach to the utilization of private capital. Sewage works become more efficient by sharing risks with companies related to their works. For this to be properly realized, however, the need has arisen for risk management to be implemented not only by the conventional static planning approach but also by a dynamic approach. Toshiba has been developing system control technologies based on the modeling of biological processes and a hierarchical control structure with an economic performance index. These technologies are suitable for operating sewage treatment plant systems with risk management and reduced costs. Mobile Sludge Dryer System for Wide Area Treatment to Cope with Mergers of Municipalities MORIKAWA Akira / HAYASHI Koji Toshiba has been developing mobile sludge dryer systems that are capable of drying the sludge of small sewage treatment facilities. Recently, we have developed a larger system than the conventional types. This system permits the mobile treatment of sludge and does not emit unpleasant odors. The dry sludge can be fermented and used as fertilizer. |