EIGENJI, Japan (Asia Water Wire) - Despite winning a landmark court ruling in December, residents of Higashi-Omi village, some 500 kilometres west of Tokyo, brave heavy snow and freezing winds to attend meetings and devise strategies to protect their beloved Echigawa river from the planned construction of a dam.    ‘'There is no time to rest. We are determined to succeed,'' says Kiyoshi Noda, a member of the local council of Ichihara district in Higashi-Omi village,Shiga prefecture. Noda is the leader of a movement against the dam project that the Osaka high court ordered shelved on Dec. 8 due to environmental concerns.    Residents say that vigilance is necessary because on Dec. 20, the government challenged the Osaka court ruling before the Supreme Court. The Osaka high court had concluded that the farm ministry had drawn up the dam project without making proper geological surveys as required by law.    According to the government, the 1994 decision to build the dam can no longer be changed because the existing dam, in use since 1973, cannot meet the demands of farmers in Higashi Omi and four other towns.

Kiyoshi Noda is flanked by Kazuko and Shigeichi Fukao in front of their snow covered rice field in Ichihara-cho.

   It is unusual in Japan for courts to intervene and stop government projects.

   The 90-metre-high dam is expected to be built in an upstream portion of the Echigawa river. Its reservoir would have a storage capacity of 25.7 million cubic metres, enough to meet projected irrigation shortages, officials say.

  Noda and other local residents, who include fishermen and those involved in the tourism business, have fought the dam project for 11 years. "Our commitment never wavers," says Noda, who has lived all his life along the river.

   He is joined by hundreds of others in demanding clarity on several issues such as alleged disregard for the financial burden that the 400 million dollar Eigenji project will bring to locals.

   ‘'Ministry officials came home and explained that the dam would benefit our farm lands,'' says Shigeichi Fukao, 65, a rice and vegetable farmer in Mitsuya village.

   ‘'They told me the dam would provide us with a lot of water for farming and that the costs would not negate the benefits,” Fukao explains. “But then, I thought to myself, I really do not need that much water. The current water pumps installed in the area that carry water from the existing dam is sufficient. ‘'

   Fukao and his wife, Kazuko, belong to families that have been farmers in Mitsuya for generations. The 55 farming households in the village share five pumps. Their water bills, charged by the local council that runs the existing dam, run to around 200 dollars per month.

   Fukao says he is worried about the future as he and his wife grow old. Already, he laments, he government has started paying less in rice subsidies as international pressure mounts liberalise Japan's protected rice market.

   ‘'With the future so uncertain, why should we be forced to pay more for a dam that would serve no actual purpose? For the first time, we joined Noda and other activists to stop the dam,'' he explains.

   Takeji Fujiwara, one of the five lawyers who appeared for the 40 residents who filed the lawsuit, says their unexpected victory in the Osaka high court signifies the rise of community strength in a society traditionally dominated by the powerful state bureaucracy.

   ‘'By challenging the government position over a dam and winning, and by proving that the bureaucracy was wrong, the Higashi-Omi community has shown the power of people,'' he says.

   The Osaka judge ruled that some of the topographical surveys and drilling studies compiled by officials for the construction of the dam had grave errors. The judge set aside a ruling by a lower court, which said it is not legally possible to stop a project once approved by the government.

   Noda recalled that he had been employed as a worker in the project where the first dam was built in 1974, and believed the explanation given by officials who said the construction was necessary to supply water to farmers.

   ‘'Almost 30 years later, when the second project was announced, I said no. I had realised the downside of such expensive dams,'' he says.

   Fujiwara says that the anti-dam case was symbolic of growing public discontent with Japan's post-war emphasis on building expensive public-works projects in rural areas, traditionally a means to gain political votes and benefit big corporations.