Abstract
Water quality of canals in villages was measured in order to study the relationship between water quality and multi-purpose water use. Four villages were selected for the subject of study from the Kohoku area, Shiga Prefecture.
Domestic wastewater is diluted with canal water in three villages, where domestic wastewater gets into canals. Water was purified in the other village, where wastewater treatment plant operates.
Questionnaires show that water of canals is mainly used for mad washing, fire prevention and removing snow in every village, but that there were differences in the frequency of water use among villages. Many people also pointed out that the problems of water quality and sanitation is the factor of obstructing water use.
As a result of comparing measured water quality with some standards, water quality of low frequency villages is worse than water quality standards. Therefore, it can be said that water quality has large influence on multi-purpose water use.
