Kumamoto City Wins Grand Prize in UN 'Water for Life' Best Practices Award

Kumamoto City was awarded the Grand Prize for Best Water Management Practices at the UN's "Water for Life" Award Ceremony held in Hague, Holland, on March 22, 2013. Kumamoto City was the first applicant from Japan to be granted the award.

The city has been implementing a rice paddy flooding project, and garnered acclaim particularly for its inter-municipality cooperation aimed at preserving regional groundwater in Kumamoto. Kumamoto's long history of watershed forest preservation work and the Kumamoto Groundwater Foundation also exhibited how Kumamoto people have gone beyond administrative boundaries to work hand in hand for the region's groundwater protection, which gave them high marks.

With water preservation becoming a pressing global issue, Kumamoto City intends to introduce its groundwater preservation scheme to the international community.