TSMC Leverages Mt. Aso Water
TSMC's Kumamoto factory leverages Mt. Aso's pure water for chip production, while Japan's ambassador stressed CUSMA access for Canadian auto investment. Separately, Ogun State, Nigeria urged reporting unsafe factories neglecting worker safety and environmental standards via OEPA hotline — getting 380 likes from concerned citizens.
The groundwater supplying TSMC's plant is the exclusive source of drinking water for about one million people in Kumamoto and 10 other municipalities. The city of Kumamoto, with 740,000 residents, is the only city of its size in Japan that relies entirely on groundwater for its tap water. The first TSMC plant is projected to use up to 8,500 tons of groundwater daily, while a second plant currently under construction will bring the combined annual total to an estimated 8 million metric tons. In response to local concerns about depletion, TSMC's subsidiary JASM recycles about 75% of the water it uses and works with local farmers to flood rice paddies in winter, a method to replenish the groundwater. Lingering concerns among residents include potential contamination from unregulated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used in chip manufacturing, evoking memories of past industrial pollution disasters in Japan like Minamata disease. The prefectural government has been conducting water quality tests since August 202
