Polluted with PFOA

Kibichuo Town Mayoral Election Starts / What To Do About PFOA Contamination? [Kibichuo, Okayama Edition-18]

2025.01.15 12:42 Nanami Nakagawa

The mayoral election for Kibichuo Town was announced on September 24, 2024. Less than a year after the discovery of high levels of PFOA contamination in the town’s water supply, incumbent Masanori Yamamoto, who has served as the town’s top leader, has announced his candidacy.

The PFOA contamination issue has yet to be resolved. As the residents’ representative responsible for their health and property, as well as the person in control of the town-owned “property ward” that was the source of the contamination, the mayor has a responsibility to fix the situation and prevent it from happening again.

Does he have a clear policy? I headed to the election speech venue.

“I have received praise”

There are two candidates in the mayoral election: incumbent Masanori Yamamoto, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term as mayor, and newcomer Takahiro Moriyasu.

At 9 a.m., a ceremony to start the election campaign for Yamamoto was held in the town. About 90 residents gathered to support him. Members of the Diet, prefectural assembly members, and leaders of neighboring municipalities also participated.

While listing his future policies and aspirations, Yamamoto began by saying, “There is one thing I absolutely must tell you all about here: the Enjo water problem that occurred in October of last year.”

The first thing he said was his own assessment.

“Thanks to the cooperation of many people, we were able to find a new water source and start supplying water in an incredibly short period of just one month (after discovering the contamination).”

Yamamoto then introduced the voices of residents that he had heard.

“I have received praise from local people, with comments like, ‘That was very quick, well done.'”

I do not agree that a month is a short period of time. For a whole month, the residents have been struggling day after day to secure drinking water, an essential part of life.

The town’s water trucks were only available from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and many residents were unable to collect water during those hours due to work commitments. Despite requests to the town to extend the water supply hours, no improvement was made, so residents resorted to buying bottled water or drinking existing tap water, knowing that it was only a small amount of contamination. This continued for a month.

Yamamoto also said they had “discovered a new water source.” However, they have not reclaimed their water rights. Because the town was no longer allowed to use the “Kawahira Dam,” where they had water rights, they are now purchasing water from the manager of the “Hiyama Dam,” which is used for agricultural water, and distributing it to the residents. How long do they intend to run this system?

The topic that left him at a loss for words during his speech

Yamamoto also spoke about future measures.

“From now on, we need to stand by the local community and address health issues and so on.”

While talking about PFOA contamination, Yamamoto was at a loss for words at one point.

He started talking about the sources of pollution:

“The cause of contamination…”, but swallowed his words and changed his expression.

“The cause… It is important that we thoroughly investigate.”

Investigating the cause means finding out why contamination occurred in order to prevent it from recurring.

To do this, it is essential to identify the “disposer” of PFOA-containing activated carbon.

PFOA is a toxic substance that is required to be “eliminated” by international treaties, and its manufacture and import were later prohibited by domestic law. Typically, the “disposer” is responsible for disposing of the activated carbon that contains PFOA. Despite this, the “disposer” handed it over to Man-ei Industry. The careless handling of the activated carbon by Man-ei Industry is another issue, but it would never have entered the town if the “disposer” had handled it themselves.

However, in the 11 months since the contamination was discovered, the “disposer” has yet to come forward. As the mayor of the town, responsible for the health and property of the residents, he must identify the “disposer” and demand that measures be taken to prevent a recurrence.

Nevertheless, Yamamoto did not comment further on the investigation into the cause and moved on to the next topic.

“I have not dared to ask.”

Yamamoto has not been proactive in identifying the “disposer” until now.

Seven months ago, on February 21, 2024, Tansa’s editor-in-chief Makoto Watanabe and I interviewed Yamamoto in the mayor’s office at the town hall. When asked who the “disposer” was who handed over the activated carbon to Man-ei Industry, Yamamoto replied:

“That was probably pursued by the prefecture or something.”

“As the mayor, you’re not aware of this?”

“I don’t know. Not at all. I have asked about it, but they never told me.”

“Who did you ask about it?”

“To Man-ei.”

So I told him that Koyoshi, head of the Resident Affairs Division, which is responsible for investigating the cause of the incident, had told Tansa in an interview, “In our investigation of Man-ei Industry, we were told that they were three major companies.'” Furthermore, Koyoshi knows the specific names of the “three companies.”

Why does the town’s resident affairs division chief know about this, but the mayor is not aware of it?

When asked about this, Yamamoto replied, “I have not dared to ask about it.” “Once it becomes clearer, it will be necessary anyway.”

Quickly closing the window of the campaign car

As the head of the local government, why doesn’t he rush to identify the “disposer”?

To whom they will claim for the restitution of the town-owned “property ward” that was contaminated, the water rights that were taken away, and the other damages brought on by the contamination? Man-ei Industry does not bear sole responsibility for this problem. The same situation will happen somewhere else if they only hold Man-ei Industry accountable and do nothing to stop it from happening again. This will create a precedent that will shield PFOA manufacturers and users from accountability as “disposers.” This might result in PFOA being disposed of carelessly.

After the ceremony, I interviewed Yamamoto directly.

After briefly greeting his supporters, Yamamoto climbed into the passenger seat of the campaign car. He is going to spend the day touring various places in the town.

The passenger window was slightly open, so I asked Yamamoto a question.

“Are you going to properly identify the company that delivered the PFOA-containing activated carbon to Man-ei Industry?”

As Yamamoto opened the window, he replied, “That’s not possible, not yet. It’s not something we are supposed to do.”

“No, no, as the mayor’s responsibility. You’re the head of the property ward and also the mayor.”

While I was replying, Yamamoto closed the car window, but the back seat window was open.

I asked again, “Will you not identify?”

Yamamoto replied, “No, no, in the future.”

“Are you going to do it in the future?” I asked, but Yamamoto ignored me. The car started moving.

Mayor Masanori Yamamoto (Photo by Makoto Watanabe on September 24, 2024)

The incumbent’s opponent 

His rival candidate, Takahiro Moriyasu, is an independent newcomer. He was born in Okayama City and moved to Kibichuo Town in 2020. He usually runs a music agency.

He said he decided to run because he wanted to make tackling the PFOA contamination issue a top priority.

I headed to the venue where Moriyasu was giving his speech.

I asked Moriyasu, who insists that the PFOA contamination issue should be given top priority about specific measures.

The first thing he mentioned was to conduct blood tests.

“The blood tests are something that everyone in the town wants, so I will carry them out as soon as possible. Currently, people under 15 are required to take them a little later, but I want everyone to take them from the start.”

“Even after the blood tests were carried out, anxiety inevitably remains. I think it is necessary for the administration to apologize for what happened and think about how to directly empathize with everyone’s feelings going forward. I am considering health monitoring and, as an idea, the issuance of disaster victim certificates.”

So, what about finding the cause?

When asked, “Are you willing to identify the ‘disposer’ who provided PFOA-containing activated carbon to Man-ei Industry?” Moriyasu immediately replied, “Of course.”

He then mentioned measures to prevent recurrence.

“At the same time, although the root cause of the incident was the activated carbon, I believe that it was a major sin that the residents were not informed of this error within the administration, and that it was a man-made disaster. A review of the administrative system will be one of my major initiatives.”

In 2020, three years before the PFOA contamination was discovered, a water quality survey at the Enjo Water Purification Plant, into which water from the Kawahira Dam flows, found 800 ng/L of PFOA, 16 times the national guideline, in a town’s water quality test. Nonetheless, the town reported “800 ng/L” as “less than 1 ng/L.” The following year, a high concentration of 1,200 ng/L was recorded, but the town did not report this to the prefecture and did not take any measures. The water continued to be supplied as tap water. The following year, a prefectural official noticed a high concentration of 1,400 ng/L, which led to the current situation.

Moriyasu said, “It’s not a matter of who is at fault, but rather I want to check the administrative system and make sure something like this never happens again.”

Just to be sure, I asked about the responsibility of the “disposers.”

“Once you identify the ‘disposers,’ will you pursue accountability to prevent recurrence?”

“Of course, yes.”

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on September 24, 2024. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

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