Disposal Site Plan Shakes Odawara Valley -- Industrial Waste Treatment Plant and Residents' Defense - Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, August 1994

Disposal Site Plan Shakes Odawara Valley -- Industrial Waste Treatment Plant and Residents' Defense - Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, August 1994

I still remember the day of the briefing session. A plan to build an industrial waste treatment plant had suddenly surfaced in the quiet valley town of Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. As a local resident, I went to the meeting.

The contractor took the podium and began to explain the safety of the treatment plant. When I asked about the risk of groundwater contamination, he replied, "We are monitoring the groundwater and there is no problem. I couldn't help but shout at those words. But isn't it too late after contamination has occurred? I did not yell at him. I just asked quietly but clearly. I felt the air in the hall tense up.

This site was originally the site of a former golf course developed during the bubble era. After the project was abandoned and the forestry industry declined, the landowners chose to invite a disposal site as a new way to utilize the land. However, for us, the well water we use every day is the source of our life. We could not easily agree to a plan that would put it at risk.

I heard that sit-in protests had begun in the town of Kuzuu and that the contractor in Sendai had pulled out of the project due to opposition from residents. Similar voices were being raised across the country. Our protest is not an appeal to the system or the law. It was just a very natural question and concern that arose from our daily lives.