National Effluent Standards
The national effluent standards are uniformly applied in Japan. They are made up of two categories: the standards for protecting human health (27 items including cadmium and cyanide) and the standards for protecting the living environment (15 items).
Notes:
For some specified establishes, provisional effluent standards are applied.
Prefectures may set stricter effluent standards than the national effluent
standards.
Uniform National Effluent Standards (Last updated: November 1, 2011)
Items related to the protection of human health
| Toxic Substances | Permissible Limits |
| cadmium and its compounds | 0.1 mg/l |
| cyanide compounds | 1 mg/l |
| organic phosphorus compounds (parathion, methyl parathion, methyl demeton and EPN only) | 1 mg/l |
| lead and its compounds | 0.1 mg/l |
| sexivalent chrome compounds | 0.5 mg/l |
| arsenic and its compounds | 0.1 mg/l |
| total mercury | 0.005 mg/l |
| alkyl mercury compounds | Not detectable |
| PCBs | 0.003 mg/l |
| trichloroethylene | 0.3 mg/l |
| tetrachloroethylene | 0.1 mg/l |
| dichloromethane | 0.2 mg/l |
| carbon tetrachloride | 0.02 mg/l |
| 1, 2-dichloro ethane | 0.04 mg/l |
| 1, 1-dichloro ethylene | 1mg/l |
| cis-1, 2-dichloro ethylene | 0.4 mg/l |
| 1, 1, 1-trichloro ethane | 3 mg/l |
| 1, 1, 2-trichloro ethane | 0.06 mg/l |
| 1, 3-dichloropropene | 0.02 mg/l |
| thiram | 0.06 mg/l |
| simazine | 0.03 mg/l |
| thiobencarb | 0.2 mg/l |
| benzene | 0.1 mg/l |
| selenium and its compounds | 0.1 mg/l |
| boron and its compounds |
Non-coastal areas 10 mg/l Coastal areas 230 mg/l |
| fluorine and its compounds |
Non-coastal areas 8 mg/l Coastal areas15 mg/l |
| ammonia, ammonium compounds, nitrate and nitrite compounds | 100 mg/l (Total of ammonia,-N multiplied by 0.4, nitrate-N and nitrite-N) |
Items related to the protection of the living environment
| Living Environment Items | Permissible Limits |
| hydrogen ion activity (pH) |
Non-coastal areas 5-8-8.6 Coastal areas 5.0-9.0 |
| Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) |
160 mg/l (Daily Average 120 mg/l) |
| Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) |
160 mg/l (Daily Average 120 mg/l) |
| suspended solids (SS) |
200 mg/l (Daily Average 150 mg/l) |
| n-hexane extracts (mineral oil) | 5 mg/l |
| n-hexane extracts (animal and vegetable fats) | 30 mg/l |
| phenols | 5 mg/l |
| copper | 3 mg/l |
| zinc | 2 mg/l |
| dissolved iron | 10 mg/l |
| dissolved manganese | 10mg/l |
| chromium | 2 mg/l |
| number of coliform groups | Daily Average 3000/cm3 |
| nitrogen | 120
mg/l (Daily Average 60 mg/l) |
| phosphorus | 16
mg/l (Daily Average 8 mg/l) |