In this paper we paid attention to the water shortage after the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu Earthquake. Based on questionnaires and field surveys, we investigated how the earthquake victims actually used the water and the feasibility of using the river water as a drinking water.
We did a survey for 22 families and 5 hospitals who have suffered the earthquake. The volume of the water consumed for medical purpose and in daily life such as drinking water were investigated. By carrying out this survey we clarified the amount of water consumption when water supply broke down.
We also reviewed the past earthquakes in respect of the water usage and found that the diverse water resources were fully effective as water supplies during devastation. The volume of water and the quality of the river in this district were investigated after this earthquake. These water resources were clean enough to be used for a daily use during a devastation.
We also discussed the quality of water space in this district and considered water space improvement for the future.

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Wastewater treatment and biomass production by purple nonsulfur bacteria under illumination and anaerobic condition is expected to be accompanied with less green-house gas emission than conventional biological wastewater treatment. In this paper, we quantified mineralization rates of 8 kinds of fatty acid by purple nonsulfur bacteria, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Longer-chained substrate than n-butyrate gave negative mineralization rates which meant uptake of CO₂. No emission and no uptake of CO₂ was observed during decomposition of intracellular poly-3-hydroxybutyrate. Optimum pretreatment of wastewater was investigated.

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The effect of different kinds of suspended matters and their grain size on the adhesion onto the substrate of Porphyra yezoensis conchospores were investigated. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The inhibition effect of the adhesion of conchospores were depended on the size of the suspended clays, and the large particles were more effective in the inhibition than the small ones at the same concentration. (2) Five kinds of clay inhibited adhesion of conchospores in their low concentration. (3) The suspended organic matters had the smaller influence on the adhesion of conchospores than the clay particles.

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In the previous paper, we have developed an enduse-type energy model which can evaluate relation between carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption technologies. We improved this model amid enabled it to analyze the effect of introducing various reduction policies, such as imposing carbon tax and granting subsidy. Under various policy options, we projected carbon dioxide emission to 2010 in Japan. Based on the projection, it could be able to reduce the emission in 2000 to 1990 emission level if carbon tax rate is 30, 000 yen per carbon ton. And, if the revenues from the carbon tax would recycle as subsidy, that the tax rate was reduced to 3, 000 yen per carbon ton.

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The anaerobic degradations of palmitic acid was investigated by the batch experiments at 35°C and 55°C. Palmitic acid degradation rate and the maximun loading rate under thermophilic condition were 1.4 and 1.8 times higher than that under mesophilic condition, respectively. Although in thermophilic palmitic acid degradation rate was higher than that in mesophilic, acetate degradation rate was almost the same. Then methane production rate was same at mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The number of hydrogen utilizing methanogenic bacteria in mesophilic and thermophilic sludge were 4.9×10⁶MPN/mL and 1.7×10⁸MPN/mL, respectively.

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The rapid economic growth in Asian countries is causing increasing urbanization in major urban areas and it is severely degrading the condition of the natural environment. The objective of this study is to develop the method to evaluate the urbanization quantitatively using satellite data. The urban index UI, which is estimated using Landsat TM data, is proposed and clear relations of UI with building density, population density, energy consumption, etc, are examined for the case study of Colombo City in Sri Lanka. Quantitative evaluation of the relation between urbanization and the vegetation condition which represents the natural environment in urban areas, is discussed using UI and NDVI.

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Facilities of the wastewater treatment plant are standing on more severe corrosion condition than anotherpublicfacilities. A major cause for this corrosion is a biological corrosion for sulfur bacteria. The studyon biologicalcorrosion and deterioration has been started, so there is few study on long range corrosion test of wastewater treatments' materials. We are testing for four years in the anaerobic tank of anaerobic-aerobic filters treatmentplant, that is the most corrosive plant for sulfur bacteria of another one. The density of hydrogen sulfide in this tank is always 90ppm-150ppm then materials of this plant are exposed to the severe biological corrosion condition. This paper said whether corrosion-resistances materials of SS, SUS, FRP, PE, PP and PVC are adaptable materials of the sewage treatment plant or not.

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We invented a multichannel data logger and a new thermal sensor as a trial, because we want to measure the thermal environment around a tree, over a long time, continuously, and variously. We think that this sensor will be used as a kind of air temperature sensors in a cloudy day. With this logger and sensors, we could understand the micro-meteorological control by a tree.

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