In Japan, when building a house or building in the area where the sewer networks are not in place, a Packaged Aerated Wastewater Treatment Plant (PAWTP – ‘Johkasou’ in Japan), the standard on-site system in Japan, must be installed in order to treat all the wastewater generated in the house or building before discharging it to the public water bodies. All the processes of manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and desludging of the PAWTP are standardized and regulated, and the mechanisms for monitoring of its compliance with these standards and regulations are in place, which makes Japan’s on-site system accountable.

The maintenance works of the PAWTP must be conducted by the PAWTP maintenance vendors, which are registered with the local government and can deploy the certified PAWTP operators to the maintenance work. Currently, the PAWTP operators are conducting the maintenance works of 7.5 million units of PAWTPs nationwide by actually visiting the house or building pursuant to the frequency set forth in the relevant regulations. But it is uncertain whether this can continue in the future, considering the current issue of depopulation in Japan, and the envisaged difficulty in securing the required human resources.

Accordingly, the technologies for remote monitoring of the performance of wastewater treatment plants are being developed in Japan.

Hiyoshi Corporation, one of the registered and certified PAWTP maintenance vendors, developed a remote monitoring system of wastewater treatment plants such as sewage treatment plants and PAWTPs using the digital technology. Hiyoshi Corporation has already conducted remote monitoring of more than 276 sites using these systems in Japan.

Hiyoshi Corporation’s activities are not just limited to Japan. Hiyoshi Corporation established Hiyoshi India Ecological Services Pvt. Ltd in India and provides maintenance services to industries using the remote monitoring systems through digital technologies developed by the company under Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Support Program for Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Overseas Business Development.