Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref. – Residents in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, are worried about well water problems after a major earthquake hit the prefecture in July. While water outages have been resolved, many wells are drying up or producing cloudy water in Yatsushiro, where the quake registered a seismic intensity of up to upper 6, the second-highest level on the Japanese shindo scale. The prefectural government, in cooperation with the central government, has established a well water response team for the emergency restoration of wells.
However, disaster-affected residents have voiced concern, with one saying, “We don’t know how long it will last.” Yatsushiro has abundant groundwater originating from the Kuma River, and many residents pump water from wells for daily use. The city’s public water supply coverage rate is only 52.1%, leaving nearly half of local households reliant on well water as an essential lifeline. According to the prefectural government, damage to wells has been confirmed in about 4,500 households, with about 3,500 reports of problems such as wells failing to produce water.
As of Sept. 15, the response team had completed 1,374 on-site investigations. In cases where cleaning was feasible, mud and sand were removed, but only 61 wells showed improvement. Ryozo Inui, 83, said that his home well began producing less water after the earthquake.
His wife, Tomiko, 81, said, “I don’t know if water will come out even if we dig the well again, and it will cost money.” An 82-year-old resident said, “Water that looked like a mixture of sand and sludge came up from the well.” As his well water remains gray and cloudy with fine sand, he uses a public bath and a laundromat. Earlier this month, the prefectural government announced that well restoration would be made eligible for assistance under the disaster relief law, with up to ¥757,000 ($4,800) available per household. If a well shared by four or fewer households is redrilled, the maximum amount will be multiplied by the number of households.
The National Water Well Association of Japan, which includes well drillers, noted that redrilling a well costs at least several million yen. While contractors from across Japan are supporting the effort, an official said, “We’re struggling to keep up with the demand.” The prefectural government also sees the shortage of contractors as a challenge and began recruiting contractors capable of drilling wells mainly in Yatsushiro on Friday.
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