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JAPAN: Villagers Ready To Fight Gov’t Over New Dam

Suvendrini Kakuchi - Asia Water Wire*

EIGENJI, Dec 27 2005 (IPS) - Despite winning a landmark court ruling, residents of Higashi-Omi, Shiga prefecture, 500 km west of Tokyo, brave heavy snow and freezing winds to attend meetings and devise strategies to protect their beloved Echigawa river from a planned dam.

‘’There is no time to rest. We are determined to succeed,” says Kiyoshi Noda, a member of the local council of Ichihara village in Higashi-Omi and leader of a movement against plans for a dam that the Osaka high court ordered shelved on Dec. 8 due to environmental concerns.

Continued vigilance is considered necessary because the government, on Dec 20, appealed in the supreme court against the Osaka court ruling, which had concluded that the farm ministry had drawn up the dam project without making proper geological surveys as required by law.

According to the government, the decision to build the dam, taken in 1994, cannot be changed because the existing dam, in use since 1973, cannot meet the demands of farmers in Higashi Omi and four other towns. It is unusual in Japan for courts to intervene and stop government projects.

The planned 90-metre-high dam in an upstream portion of the Echigawa river would create a reservoir with storage capacity of 25.7 million cu. metres capable of meeting projected irrigation shortages.

Noda and other local residents, who include fishermen and those involved in the tourism business, have fought for 11 years against the planned dam, and are determined to suceed. “Our commitment never wavers,” says Noda who has lived all his life along the river.

He is joined by hundreds of others in demanding clarity on several issues such as alleged disregard for the financial burden- around 400 million US dollars for the Eigenji dam- that would fall on the local people after the dam is constructed.

‘’Ministry officials came home and explained that the dam would benefit our farm lands,” said Shigeichi Fukao, 65, a rice and vegetable farmer living in Mitsuya village.

Fukao said he disagreed with the officials. ‘’They told me the dam would provide us with a lot of water for farming and the costs would not negate the benefits. But then, I thought to myself, I really do not need that much water. The current water pumps installed in the area that carry water from the existing dam is sufficient. ‘’

Fukao and his wife, Kazuko, have been farmers in Mitsuya cho for many generations. There are five pumps shared by the 55 farming households in the village. Their water bills run to around 200 US dollars per month, charged by the local council that runs the existing dam.

Fukao says he is worried about the future as he and his wife grow old and the government has started paying less in rice subsidies as international pressure to liberalise Japan’s protected rice market mounts.

‘’With the future so uncertain, why should we be forced to pay more for a dam that would serve no actual purpose. For the first time we joined Noda and other activists to stop the dam,” he explained.

Takeji Fujiwara, one of the five lawyers who appeared for the 40 residents who filed the lawsuit, says their unexpected victory in the Osaka high court signifies the rise of community strength in a society where the bureaucracy continues to dominate.

‘’By challenging the government position over a dam and winning and by proving that the bureaucracy was wrong, the Higashi-Omi community has shown the power of people,” he said.

The Osaka judge ruled that some of the topographical surveys and drilling studies compiled by officials for the construction of the dam had grave errors and set aside a ruling by a lower court that said it is not legally possible to stop a project once approved by the government.

Noda recalled that he was employed as a worker when the first dam was built in 1974 and believed the explanation then given by officials who said the construction was necessary to supply water to farmers.

‘’Almost 30 years later, when the second project was announced, I said no. I had realised the downside of such expensive dams,” he said.

The anti-dam case, according to Fujiwara was symbolic of growing public discontent with Japan’s postwar emphasis on building expensive public works projects in rural areas to gain political votes and benefit corporations.

‘’Japanese economic development must respect the wishes of the people and winning the lawsuit against the government has boosted our fight to protect our lives from harmful construction projects,” Fujiwara said.

* This story was done for the Asia Water Wire