Water transfer from agriculture to urban domestic users: a case study of the Tone River Basin, Japan

Agricultural water reorganization measures (AWRM) is an approach that has been adopted in Japan for more than 30 years to capture excess water from agriculture for other uses by relying on the modernization of existing irrigation infrastructures. This paper reviews the history and processes of four such permanent water transfers by AWRM in the Tone River Basin, specifically those conducted in the Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The benefit of AWRM for the agricultural sector is the lowering of rehabilitation costs by sharing part of it with the city sector. AWRM does not require saving water at the on-farm level. Instead, the labor requirement of farmers is reduced by the rehabilitation and installation of pipelines. The benefit to the city is the lower cost, when compared with costs for the development of new water resources, and the relatively short duration of the project, which are important factors in an environment of the rapid increase in domestic water demand.