Environment

[Road Once Traveled] Japanese City Extends a Helping Hand through Water

One Saitama city is putting Japan’s past experience to work by dispatching officials and tackling the challenges in a clean water project in Laos.

Published

2 years ago

August 19, 2022

Mika Sugiura

A city official from Saitama puts Japan’s past experience to work in Laos.

Turn on a faucet in Japan at any hour of the day or night, and you will get water that can be drunk straight from the tap. This is the rule rather than the exception, but it is not the norm in many other parts of the world.

“Seeing how pleased people were with running water reminded me once again of how important water supply is,” recalls Keisuke Sonoda, an employee at the Saitama City Waterworks Bureau.

Sonoda has supported waterworks projects in Laos as the Chief Advisor for the Project for Improvement of Management Capacity of Water Supply Sector for about three years since 2018, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Classes for children on water supply (photo courtesy of Keisuke Sonoda)

Saitama City has supported Laos on waterworks projects dating back 30 years to 1992. Ever since the city was approached to take part in a national government research project designed to support the waterworks sector in Laos, Saitama has been dispatching its experts.

Read the rest of this article here to learn more about Sonoda’s work in Laos, including a discussion of the challenges and potential solutions. And find more great articles on the environment and the challenges of achieving the SDGs, on our new website Japan 2 Earth, sparking a transition on the environment and SDGs.