Lake Kasumigaura, located in the southeastern part of Ibaraki Prefecture, is a vast waterscape and part of a diverse natural environment. Along with the towering Mt. Tsukuba on its northwestern side, it is a beautiful sight to behold representing Ibaraki Prefecture. The lake water is also used for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, and the lake is blessed with an abundance of aquatic resources.
However, more than 900,000 people live in the watershed, and industries such as agriculture and livestock are also popular around the region, nitrogen and phosphorus, which are the causative agents of eutrophication, flow into the lake, thus making it easily polluted. In order to improve the quality of Lake Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefectural Government has established a Water Quality Conservation Plan, and is promoting domestic wastewater management. The government also seeks to reduce pollutant loads via agricultural land- and livestock-related countermeasures as well as investigative research, environmental learning, and awareness raising activities. Furthermore, in order to implement the plan fully, the Kasumigaura Water Quality Conservation Ordinance was enacted to regulate that the people in the basin ensure water conservation in all aspects of everyday life and production. The government also introduced a local tax called ‘Forest and Lake Environment Conservation Tax,’ and uses it as a financial resource to accelerate the efforts.