Did you know that Okayama Prefecture is one of the leading kingdoms of irrigation canals in Japan?
Irrigation canals connect to rivers, and eventually that water flows into the sea.
Trash also follows this route and flows into the sea, which is a factor in the marine debris problem in the Seto Inland Sea.
The Umibozu Project believes that "collecting trash from irrigation canals is effective in reducing marine debris," and calls on citizens to participate in trash collection activities around irrigation canals in Kurashiki City, conducting regular trash collection activities.
I joined the activities on August 19, 2023 (Saturday).
What is the Umibozu Project?
What kind of activities does the project named after the sea monster "Umibozu" involve?
Overview of the Umibozu Project
"There is everything on the ocean floor that exists on land"
This remark from a fisherman who cooperated with marine debris surveys sparked the activities.
The organizing body of the Umibozu Project, the Mizushima Regional Environmental Restoration Foundation, has conducted various surveys and research on trash.
From these results, it was determined that to solve the marine debris problem, reducing trash around the irrigation canals that are the source of the debris is necessary, leading to the establishment of this project.
The Umibozu Project calls on citizens to participate in trash collection activities around nearby irrigation canals and conducts these activities regularly.
By visualizing these efforts, the project aims to communicate its results to society and reduce the amount of trash flowing into the Seto Inland Sea.
Since May 2023, the project has been conducting trash collection activities once a month, walking around the irrigation canals in Kurashiki City, scooping up trash with nets, and sometimes entering the river.
Corporate Cooperation in Citizen Activities
TOTO Ltd. established the "TOTO Water Environment Fund" as a project in fiscal year 2005, supporting organizations engaged in environmental activities related to water by involving local residents.
The Umibozu Project was selected as one of the grant recipients for fiscal year 2023.
Employees from TOTO have participated in every event since the first one, and on this day, they also worked hard collecting trash.
Activities at Hakken River in Mizushima, Kurashiki City
I will report on the 4th project conducted on August 19, 2023 (Saturday).
The 4th Field
The 4th event started from the Daikon Washing Place (Higashikawa-cho, Mizushima, Kurashiki City) in the Hakken River basin, cleaning approximately 500 meters of the basin in total.
Although it is called a river, Hakken River serves as a drainage channel for agriculture and industrial wastewater, and is classified as a "special urban sewer."
Residential areas spread along both banks, and it is presumed that a lot of domestic wastewater flows into it, but environmental improvements have progressed, making it a river where the sandy bottom is now visible.
Who Participates?
Participants include students from Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Kojoike High School, the project's logo designer, and TOTO employees, totaling 14 people.
The participating high school students are said to be learning about the environment in a class called Exploratory Activities, and previous participants brought new friends to join.
Such young energy is reassuring!
Into the River
The area where trash was collected was about ankle-deep for adults.
The flow was gentle, and the water was clear.
At first glance, it seemed that there wasn't much trash... but.
Activity Results
From the road, Hakken River did not seem very dirty, but after about an hour of cleaning in the river, what were the results?
The Amount of Trash Collected...
It was cloudy, but as we moved, sweat dripped down, and we sorted and weighed the trash collected during the about one hour of collection activity.
The trash was sorted into 13 categories: "PET bottles," "electrical appliances," "bags and sheets," "cans," "bottles and ceramics," "hard plastics," "rubber products," "natural materials," "metals," "expanded polystyrene," "fabrics," "paper and cardboard," and "others," and the amount collected was recorded.
The last time Hakken River was cleaned was about two months ago.
At that time, 37.65 kg of trash was collected.
This time, there was a reduction of about 10 kg, with a total of 26.45 kg collected.
The project representative, Shiwaku Toshifumi, stated that the results from the last collection are showing.
"If we do not eliminate the source of the trash, it will continue to appear. However, since there is a reduction compared to the last time, it shows that cleaning activities can reduce trash," he said.
He was speaking to the participants about the importance of continuing efforts.
Taking a breath of relief at the achievements, persistence is indeed power.
What a surprise! Collected items
Generally, when sorting collected trash, bags and sheets are the most common, and plastic waste accounts for about 80%.
On this day, as you can see, a large blue sheet was found at the bottom of the river.
Why is a blue sheet here?
Additionally, mobile phones, video tapes, cassette tapes, parts that look like motor components, and watches were collected, raising the question, "Why are these in the river?"
In the past, items such as video recorders, large quantities of cassette tapes, hair dryers, pots, and computers—things that typically shouldn't be discarded or thrown away—have also been collected.
Moreover, particularly troublesome among the collected items are cans and plastic bottles that have cigarette butts thrown into them.
These cannot be recycled.
To all smokers, throwing away cigarettes is absolutely unacceptable.
If you throw them into cans or plastic bottles for drinking water, those cans and bottles cannot be reused, so please stop, I beg you.
From the participants, we heard the following voices:
- “I was surprised by how much trash there was”
- “It is necessary to ask local people to properly dispose of trash, and it would be great if new plastics that are easier to return to nature could be developed”
- “I learned again that trash flows from the river to the sea and pollutes the Seto Inland Sea”
In conclusion
Speaking of Umibozu, there are legends of a monster that lives in the sea and attacks ships.
The Umibozu of Kurashiki City is a kind-hearted monster (project) that regularly conducts trash collection activities around irrigation channels to protect the marine environment as the guardian of the Seto Inland Sea, aiming to reduce the amount of trash flowing into the Seto Inland Sea.
The project representative, Shiwaku Toshifumi (Director/Researcher of the Mizushima Regional Environmental Restoration Foundation), shared the following:
“Collecting trash that has flowed into the sea is difficult.
Therefore, it is necessary to stop it beforehand.
The goal of the Umibozu Project is to increase the number of participants and expand it as a daily activity, even if the amount collected at one time is small, leading to a larger collection volume.
To achieve this, it is a challenge to create a system where local people can easily walk around irrigation channels and scoop up trash they see with nets.
Cans of alcoholic beverages and cigarette butts are often discarded by adults, but this time, high school students and children participating in community activities are picking them up.
Adults need to switch to a world where they do not carelessly throw away such trash.”
When you find cigarette butts, plastic bottles, or empty cans on the roadside, do you just walk past them?
Isn’t what’s lying in front of you trash?
It flows from irrigation channels to the river, and over a long time, it flows unnoticed into the sea, so that one day, the rich sea of the Seto Inland Sea where we live does not disappear.
First, let’s check again before throwing away trash.
Is it okay to throw that trash there? Is that way of disposal acceptable?
Held once a month (on the third Saturday)
The Umibozu Project is held once a month, basically on the third Saturday.
Walk-ins are very welcome; please check the location and meeting point on the Mizushima Foundation website.
Data from the 4th Umibozu Project
| Name | 4th Umibozu Project |
|---|---|
| Date | August 19, 2023, 9:00 AM |
| Location | 4-丁目, Higashikawacho, Mizushima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture (near Daikon washing area) |
| Participation Fee (including tax) | Free |
| Website | Mizushima Regional Environmental Restoration Foundation |
