Activities (FY2021)

* YWBA: Yokohama Water Business Association

Murata Keisokuki Co., Ltd., a YWBA member company, received approval from JICA’s SDGs business support program for small and medium-sized enterprises. The title of the project is “SDGs Business Verification Survey with the Private Sector for Da Nang Industrial Wastewater Management Project in Vietnam.”
The project will provide real-time monitoring service utilizing the environmental monitoring system developed by Murata, which will lead to the improvement of industrial wastewater management.
Murata exhibited together with the City of Yokohama at Vietwater 2019, which is an annual water-related event held in Vietnam. On top of that, the company joined the Da Nang Urban Development Forum, where it made presentations on its technology that can provide solutions to urban issues in Da Nang. Murata is promoting overseas expansion in cooperation with other Yokohama-based companies.

Based on a friendly exchange agreement between cities of Yokohama and Shanghai, The Yokohama Waterworks Bureau (YWWB) and Shanghai Water Authority (SWA) have developed their partnership over the course of nearly 40 years. In most years, mutual visits or training programs in Yokohama have been conducted on a yearly basis. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, since 2020 the YWWB and SWA held online seminars instead. At the seminar in 2021, the participants had an active discussion after the presentations on issues and initiatives related to water purification systems in both Yokohama and Shanghai. The seminar was open to member companies, and eight participants from seven companies joined as observers.

WASA-F and the YWWB signed an MOU on technical exchange in October 2019, on the request of WASA-F, which had evaluated the activities of YWWB through a previous Yokohama Water Company project. Exchange between the two local governments leads to the promotion of activities by YWBA member companies.
In September 2021, the YWWB hosted an online seminar, inviting not only WASA-F but also Water and Sanitation Agency Lahore (WASA-L), which is the capital of Punjab province where WASA-F is located. The participants had a discussion on four themes: design drawing management, usage fees/customer management, safe water supply plans, and water demand forecasts.
Five people from five YWBA member companies observed the seminar. Also, three companies made presentations to a total of twenty-seven executives from WASA-F and WASA-L. Pakistani private companies also participated in the seminar and joined the discussion.

The YWWB has been accepting trainees from Africa for the past several years, a program that was inspired by the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in Yokohama in May 2008. Since 2009, the YWWB has hosted training courses for waterworks engineers from African countries every year, in cooperation with JICA and Yokohama Water Co., Ltd. The YWWB has accepted 133 waterworks engineers from 30 African countries by the FY 2019.
The YWWB has provided online training courses consisting of video material and a webinar including Q&A sessions for the trainees since 2020.
In 2021, the online training course was held in September to October. During the course, promotional videos of two YWBA member companies introducing Japanese technology were shown. In addition to the existing contents, a new online live stream of water purification plants was also shown.

The YWWB has participated in the JICA Technical Cooperation Project "Project of Capacity Building on Non-Revenue Water Prevention Measures in Lilongwe City, Republic of Malawi" since June 2019.
The YWWB has dispatched a long-term expert (Chief Advisor) to the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) and strived to improve water supply business in Malawi as “Team Yokohama,” in collaboration with Kyowa Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. and Yokohama Water Co., Ltd., members of the YWBA.
In FY 2021, the YWWB held a technical training course online. It was streamed for four YWBA member companies to observe.
Additionally, the YWWB held a business matching session where two member companies presented their business, technologies, and services to the LWB.

The YWWB gave a lecture on non-revenue water prevention measures to the Republic of South Africa executives, in cooperation with Yokohama Water Co.,Ltd.
This lecture was held for DWS, IBTC, SALGA, and the staff of waterworks bureau in the Republic of South Africa.
Also, this training course was held online by streaming video material and holding a webinar including Q&A sessions for the trainees, and speakers provided a valuable opportunity for South African members to participate in important lectures virtually.
During the training course, promotional videos of three YWBA member companies were streamed.