Received an order from Miyako Irabu Agricultural Water Management Office, Okinawa General Bureau for the 3rd water intake pumps and related manufacturing and installation work for Nakahara Underground Dam [Orders Received in August 2024]

Miyako Island is located approximately 300 km southwest of Okinawa Island, and its emerald green sea, known as Miyako Blue, is said to be the most beautiful in the East. Marine sports, numerous spectacular scenic spots, unique flora and fauna, beautiful traditional crafts, exclusive island cuisine, and other attractions are drawing visitors, and the number of tourists visiting Miyako Island has been increasing every year.

Miyako Island, which has a subtropical oceanic climate, has an annual average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, making it hot and humid, but has been known since ancient times as an island with scarce water resources. Although the island receives a certain amount of annual precipitation from the rainy season and typhoons, the thick layer of Ryukyu limestone beneath the surface red soil has low water retention capacity and without any rivers or lakes, most of the rainfall runs off into the sea.

Due to these natural conditions, Miyako Island and the adjacent Irabu Island and Kurima Island have suffered from chronic droughts. As a countermeasure, construction of underground dams has been carried out since 1989 as a project of the Agricultural Land Development Agency. An underground dam is a water storage facility that holds back groundwater by building a wall underground, storing water in the Ryukyu limestone voids to raise the groundwater level, and uses that water for irrigation and daily life. The construction of underground dams has made it possible to secure irrigation water, but due to changes in farming systems over time, water demand has increased in recent years, making it difficult to provide a sufficient supply with the existing underground dam capacity alone. As the water shortage is becoming more serious on the adjacent Irabu Island, new underground dams including the Nakahara Underground Dam are currently being constructed in the Miyako Irabu area.

The newly ordered work involves the installation of deep well submersible pumps in the underground dam to supply irrigation water to the areas on Irabu Island and Miyako Island. The additional pump equipment will help farmers on these islands improve work efficiency and support the expansion of the high-value-added crops that are the specialties of the area, such as sugarcane, leaf tobacco, and mangoes. This will help improve agricultural productivity and develop the local economy, and thus the prosperity of Miyako Island.