2013
(Posted Oct. 2013)
Environmental Management at the Plant
Mr. Takeshi Sasazawa: I would like to ask you one question in regard to environmental management activities carried out by the plant, that you explained earlier. Looking at the data from the Saku Water Supply Authority, it appears your plant's water consumption has declined significantly. Are you using well water?
Mr. Kazunari Shimizu: In the past, we drew water from a local well, but there was a concern it could cause land subsidence and other problems, so we no longer use it. Currently, for everything but drinking water, we use spring water from a spring inside the plant grounds. The spring has an output of about 1,000 tons of water per day. In the past, when the spring wasn't used, it caused flooding in the residential areas around the plant during heavy rains, so we came up with a system a few years ago to reuse the water.
Mr. Masayuki Imanaka: The Development Bank of Japan has an environmental management assessment system to rate companies with superior programs, and in 2012, we received the highest rating, "A". We were among a handful of private companies that received this ranking. That makes us proud of the fact that we have sound environmental programs.
