The Water Environment Department develops comprehensive measures to conserve the water environment, viewing a whole basin, and prevents soil pollution, evaluates the safety of agricultural chemicals, and recovers the soil and ground environments so that the next generations will not suffer from the pollution of soil and groundwater, i.e., negative properties, in the future.

	Objectives : Environmental Quallty Standards for Soil Poltution
	Agricultural Land
	Agricultural Land Soil Pollutlon Prevention Law (enforced in December 1970, with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) Designation of polluted area, Implementation of land improvement work
	Urban Area
	Survey and Countermeasure Guidelines for Soil and Groundwater Contamination (January 1999) Promotion of voluntary activities from business owners and other organization

	Ground Subsidence Prevention
	The Law Concerning the Regulation of Pumping-up of Groundwater for Use in Buildings and Industrial Water Law (enforced in May 1962) Industrial Water Law (enforced in June 1956, with Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) Controls of pumping-up of groundwater Countermeasures under outline of measures formulated for prevention of ground subsidence Promotion of voluntary activities in three basins, Noobi Plain, Chikugo and Saga Plain, and northern area of Kanto Plain

	Agricultural Chemicals Regulation Law (enforced in July 1948, with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) Establishment of standards to withhold registration from the viewpoint of environmental conservation

	Law Concerning Special Measere Against Dioxins (enforced in July 1999) Establishment of environmental quality standards for pollution of water quality (including groundwater) and soil Factory effluents control Promotion of countermeasures against soil pollution Continuous monitoring of water quality (including sediment) and soil