Limits should be placed on the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous in waste water that pours into Tokyo and Osaka bays as well as the Inland Sea, according to a report released Wednesday by an Environment Agency advisory committee on water quality.
To improve water quality in the three bodies of water, the committee recommended that the 13 prefectures adjacent to them devise and implement regulatory standards limiting the amount of the two chemicals in effluent water.
Agency officials said new standards should be added to the traditional water quality index -- COD, or chemical oxygen demand -- in a effort to boost water quality.
Phosphorus and nitrogen act as nutrients for algae and can result in algal outbreaks, such as red tides, which reduce animal diversity and kill fish.
Companies, farms and factories that release more than 50 cu. meters of water per day will be subject to the new standards and obligated to report levels of phosphorous and nitrogen in their waste water.