Asahi Dam (Gifu) - Compensation

Compensation

At the time construction began on Asahi Dam, there were no special compensation plans for affected residents—like the Act on Special Measures concerning Measures Related to Water Resources Areas, or the Three Power Source Development Laws that exist today—and any compensation plans were largely dependant on businesses negotiating invididual contracts with the government. Asahi Dam and Akigami Dam were bundled together as one project, and construction couldn’t start until compensation negotiations for both the Hida River basin and the Akigami River basin were finalized. Asahi Dam was originally designed to be 72 meters tall, but in 1951 that figure was revised to 87 meters; in Ōno District’s Takane Village (which became Takayama City’s Takane City) in Gifu Prefecture, an additional 33 residences would be submerged as a result of the height increase, which drew unanimous protests from residents there. Land brokers also raised the prices on all the affected land.

Negotiations that began in August, 1948 continued until the dam was almost completed in autumn of 1953, and during those 5 years, Chubu Electric Power set standard compensation values for each residence based on valuations from fixed-asset taxes, and used those valuations as the basis for negotiations. Concurrently, compensation was paid to farmers in Takane Village, known for its warabi (bracken) powder production. Negotiations were completed with all residents, also owing largely to movement allowance programs under which residents received land and housing of roughly equal value to what they would lose. Compensation, movement allowances and land purchases were also approved for those whose houses would not be submerged, but whose livelihoods would nevertheless be adversely affected by the creation of the dam.

Residents of the affected areas, including those in certain areas of Takayama City, Kiyomi Village (currently Takayama City) in Ōno District, Kō City (currently Hida City) in Yoshiki District, Takasu Village (currently Gujō City) in Gujō District and Hirukawa Village (currently Ena City) in Ena District all left the area. Residents thus gave up their homes for the continuation of the Hida River Integrated Watershed Development Plan.

Purpose

After work had begun on Asahi Dam, the governmental cabinet-level Economic Stabilization Board came up with the Kiso Regional Comprehensive Development Plan and the Kiso River Drainage Basin Planning Program, which called for changes in Asahi Dam’s planned purpose. At the time, Japan’s rivers had been poorly maintained due to factors like deforestation and the diversion of resources for the war, and the yearly water damage that Japan sustained along with shortages in food and electricity were combining to prohibit economic recovery. In 1949, the Economic Stabilization Board came up with flood control and flood regulation plans to increase safety along the Kiso River water system, based on the “River Improvement Plan”. After the passage of the 1950 Comprehensive National Land Development Act, they followed up with the Kiso Regional Comprehensive Development Plan, which was focused on flood prevention, agricultural irrigation and hydroelectricity generation.

The plans called for giving priority to “multi-purpose dams” along the Kiso River, Nagara River, Ibi River and Hida River. The construction plans for Maruyama Dam along the Kiso River that Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. had taken over after the breakup of Japan Electric Generation and Transmission Company were thus altered to make it a multi-purpose dam, ordered by the Ministry of Construction’s Chūbu Regional Development Bureau (now the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). Likewise, Chūbu Electric Power’s construction plans for Asahi Dam were altered on recommendation from the Ministry of Construction’s Chūbu Regional Development Bureau to create a multi-purpose dam. Updated plans raised height of the dam to 92.0 meters, increased the gross reservoir capacity by more than 9 million tons to 34,400,000 tons, and also lowered the electrical generation capabilities to 19,000 kilowatts, reapportioning some storage water for flood control and irrigation along the Nōbi Plain.

However, this plan did not factor in Akigami Dam, and ran counter to the underlying idea of the Hida River Integrated Watershed Development Plan. Plans were once again redrawn, abandoning the multi-purposing of Asahi Dam and reverting to original plans of building the dam solely for hydroelectricity generation. In December 1953, Asahi Dam and Akigami Dam were completed, and Asahi Power Plant began operation. Ten years had passed since the plan’s inception, and seven years since the plan was announced. The average temperature during the winter in the area at which the dam is located is −10 °C, which among other things made laying concrete difficult; 27 workers died due to work-related injuries during construction of the dam. This made Asahi Dam the deadliest of all the projects under the Hida River Integrated Watershed Development Plan. A 16-kilometer large-scale cable ropeway constructed to transport supplies to the construction site was reused by Hokuriku Electric Power Company in the construction of Arimine Dam on the Wada River (along the Jyōganji River water system) in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, and again reused by Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. in the construction of Nagawado Dam on the Sai River in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture.

Asahi Dam normally generates 6,700 kilowatts, up to a maximum of 20,500 kilowatts, via the downstream Asahi Power Plant. Asahi Dam’s water storage and the Akigami Dam reservoir work in concert so that during the dry summer and winter seasons a stable supply of water is sent downstream to other hydroelectricity generation plants, generating 119,420,000 kilowatts per year. Asahi Dam’s primary purpose is hydroelectricity generation, and the water that goes through it normally isn’t used for agricultural irrigation or tap water, but it is used at times to meet water requirements in the Tōkai area, which sees frequent droughts. From May to June 1967 during a drought termed a “rainless rainy season”, Chūbu Electric Power—receiving a request from the Ministry of Construction—worked with Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. to divert water from Asahi Dam and other dams and discharge dam water as an emergency measure for providing agricultural irrigation and tap water. Naturally, this lowers the electricity output of the dam, and is normally not done. As a more recent example of this kind of reapportioning, in 2005, drought conditions along the Yoshino River lowered water supply in Shikoku and emptied Sameura Dam, leading Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc. to take similar measures.