Quake-Hit Yatsushiro Residents Worried about Well Water Issues

Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref., Sept. 28 (Jiji Press)--Residents in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, are worried about well water problems after a major earthquake hit the southwestern Japan prefecture in July.

While water outages have been resolved, many wells are drying up or producing cloudy water in Yatsushiro, where the quake registered a seismic intensity of up to upper 6, the second-highest level on the Japanese scale.

The prefectural government, in cooperation with the central government, has established a well water response team for the emergency restoration of wells. However, disaster-affected residents have voiced concern, with one saying, "We don't know how long it will last."

Yatsushiro has abundant groundwater originating from the Kuma River, and many residents pump water from wells for daily use. The city's public water supply coverage rate is only 52.1 pct, leaving nearly half of local households reliant on well water as an essential lifeline.

According to the prefectural government, damage to wells has been confirmed in about 4,500 households, with about 3,500 reports of problems such as wells failing to produce water. As of Sept. 15, the response team had completed 1,374 on-site investigations. In cases where cleaning was feasible, mud and sand were removed, but only 61 wells showed improvement.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]