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Hiroshima flooding: A case study of well usage and adaptive governance

Society is often vulnerable to disasters, but how humans manage during and after can turn devastation into opportunities for improved resilience.

For instance, private wells are attracting attention as an alternative resource for securing water for daily use and consumption in the event the water supply is cut off after a disaster. However, there are few records on how wells are used in the confusion of disasters, so detailed research is needed to promote the use of emergency wells.

Professor Takahiro Endo of the Graduate School of Sustainable System Sciences at Osaka Metropolitan University conducted a survey on the use of groundwater in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, during water supply disruptions due to the 2018 west Japan floods. The findings were in Water International.

The study examined actual implementation of adaptive governance, where multiple levels of government, nonprofits, and local individuals cooperate in achieving a desired societal outcome.

It was discovered that Hiroshima Prefecture, in agreement with the water quality inspection organization Hiroshima Environment and Health Association, had provided a free water inspection service for well owners after the water outage.

This promoted the initiative to have the inspected wells open to the public. These collaborative efforts made it possible for wells to become available in a short period of time and supplemented the emergency water supply activities of local governments.

"This is a case of emergency water supply policy that makes use of the economic incentive of free water quality testing, which could be a model policy for other local governments considering the introduction of disaster wells," stated Professor Endo.