Xinhua News Agency | China Water Environment Group: Reclaimed Water Builds the “Second Water Source” for Cities and Injects Sustainable Power into Water - Saving Society

From March 22 to 28 is the 38th “China Water Week,” themed “Promoting High - quality Water Resource Development and Ensuring China’s Water Security.” In February 2025, the Ministry of Water Resources officially released China’s first special report in the water - saving field, the “China Water - saving Report 2023.” The report shows that the scale of unconventional water use continues to increase, with a national unconventional water use volume of 21.23 billion cubic meters in 2023. Reclaimed water has become a stable and reliable second water source for some cities.

Reusable water is the key to solving the problem of water resource shortage. In China Water Environment Group, its projects in 22 provinces have contributed a total of 6.5 billion tons of reclaimed water resources to the world over a decade. This helps to ease the contradiction between water supply and demand, improve the quality of water ecological environment, and promote a comprehensive green transition of economic and social development.

In the Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei water - stressed area, the three major reclaimed water plants in Tongzhou, Zhangjiawan, and Hedong in Beijing treat about 110 million tons of sewage annually, with a 100% reclaimed water reuse rate. In Guizhou, where karst topography causes engineering - related water shortage, 24 distributed and submerged reclaimed water plants are laid out along the upper and middle reaches of the Nanming River, providing 500 million tons of ecological water replenishment annually. In the coastal water - scarce city of Ningbo, the reclaimed water from Zhuangqiao Purified Water Plant is widely used for smart car washing, greening irrigation, and road maintenance... These scenarios reflect the multi - dimensional pattern of China Water Environment Group in promoting the use of reclaimed water.

The use of reclaimed water is an important way to relieve urban water shortage. “Reclaimed water is not simply the reuse of sewage, but the construction of a city’s ‘second water source’ through systematic planning,” said Hou Feng, chairman of China Water Environment Group. The distributed and submerged reclaimed water ecosystem, which took more than ten years to research, regards urban sewage as a stable second water resource, second green energy source, and second land resource. The distributed and submerged reclaimed water plants laid out in 22 provinces across the country form a multi - scenario water - use network covering production, ecology, and daily life through a “nearby collection, on - site treatment, and nearby reuse” model.

Between the Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake in Dali, the lakeside paddy fields are picturesque, praised by netizens as a “dreamy scroll encountering the Tyndall effect.” The “new water source” in the irrigation channels comes from the six submerged reclaimed water plants surrounding Erhai Lake. By centrally treating the sewage collected around Erhai Lake and converting it into reclaimed water, the water quality meets the first - class A discharge standard. It is used for irrigating more than 10,700 acres of farmland and greening the surrounding mountains.

Such reclaimed water production is cyclically staged in the “underground water cube” of China Water Environment Group every day. The first submerged reclaimed water plant in Tianfu New Area, Chengdu, features an ecological sports park integrating a science popularization hall and a wetland on the ground, and a 100,000 - ton - per - day reclaimed water plant underground. Compared with traditional sewage treatment plants, it saves on pipeline networks, protective land, and other aspects, reducing the total investment by about 30%. The reclaimed water can provide ecological water replenishment for Lu Xi River and Xinglong Lake annually and supply water for municipal, greening, firefighting, and other uses in Tianfu New Area, achieving 100% utilization of water resources, land resources, and green energy.

“Submerged reclaimed water plants, by building factories in a decentralized manner, greatly save on the huge investment in sewage collection and reclaimed water reuse pipeline networks and water - diversion costs compared with the traditional ‘large - scale interception and drainage’ model. They provide more convenient usage scenarios for reclaimed water reuse,” Hou Feng introduced.

With the implementation of policies such as the “14th Five - Year Plan for the Construction of a Water - saving Society” and the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Resource - oriented Utilization of Sewage,” the reclaimed water industry has entered a golden period of development. Data from the National Development and Reform Commission shows that by 2025, the reuse rate of reclaimed water in water - scarce cities at or above the prefecture level nationwide will reach more than 25%, and the Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei region will reach more than 35%.

Every 1 cubic meter of reclaimed water reused is equivalent to saving 1 cubic meter of clean water and reducing about 0.86 kilograms of carbon emissions. China’s urban sewage discharge volume is about 75 billion cubic meters, with great potential for utilization. In the past, urban sewage was treated as a pollutant. Now and in the future, sewage, as a stable water resource, will continuously inject an increasing amount into the urban water resource account.

Under the “dual - carbon” background, the recycling and reuse of reclaimed water is more valuable and significant. It can not only reduce the discharge of water pollutants but also lower the carbon emissions of pollution control and water resource development and utilization. It is an effective measure for coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

At the end of 2024, Bishui Reclaimed Water Plant of China Water Environment Group was selected as one of the first national green benchmark sewage treatment plants for its advantages in “promoting the resource - oriented utilization of sewage and sludge” and “comprehensive utilization of renewable energy.”

When water - saving becomes a nationwide action, industry participants reshape the urban water cycle with reclaimed water. China Water Environment Group continuously enhances the water resource carrying capacity with scientific and technological innovation. It brings every drop of water to life and injects continuous “green water power” into the construction of a beautiful China.