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2026-09-102026 年 8 月 15 日, the "Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China" officially came into effect, becoming the second law in China named as a "Code" and the first unified code in the field of ecological environment. Part Two "Pollution Prevention and Control" sets rigid provisions on centralized urban sewage treatment facilities, harmless sludge disposal, and unconventional water utilization, marking that water pollution prevention and control has moved from "element-by-element legislation" into the stage of "systematic governance."
I. Code Implementation: A Rule-of-Law Milestone from "Fragmented Legislation" to "Systematic Governance"
The "Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China" was voted through by the Fourth Session of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on 2026 年 3 月 12 日, promulgated by Presidential Order No. 70, and came into effect on 2026 年 8 月 15 日 (i.e., "National Ecology Day"). The full text of the Code is divided into five parts, with a total of 1242 articles and approximately 16 万 characters. It incorporates and replaces 10 old laws including the "Environmental Protection Law," "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law," "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law," "Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law," "Solid Waste Law," "Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law," "Marine Environment Protection Law," "Radioactive Pollution Prevention and Control Law," "Environmental Impact Assessment Law," and "Cleaner Production Promotion Law." Special laws such as the Yangtze River Protection Law, Yellow River Protection Law, and Wetland Protection Law continue to apply in parallel.
Part Two "Pollution Prevention and Control" adopts the form of general provisions plus field-specific sub-parts, covering fields such as atmosphere, water, ocean, soil, solid waste, noise, radioactivity, chemical substances, electromagnetic radiation, and light pollution, building full-chain control of "source prevention and control—process supervision—end-of-pipe treatment." Part Three "Ecological Protection," Part Four "Green and Low-Carbon Development" connect with the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy in the form of independent parts for the first time worldwide, and Part Five unifies the rules for linking administrative, civil, and criminal liability.
II. Water Pollution Prevention and Control: Rigid Provisions on Centralized Sewage Treatment Facilities and Sludge Disposal
Part Two, Pollution Prevention and Control, Sub-part Three, Water Pollution Prevention and Control, Chapter Eight of the Code sets out systematic provisions on water pollution prevention and control measures, with many clauses directly related to the engineering practice of urban sewage treatment and Reclaimed Water Reuse:
- Centralized sewage treatment facilities in industrial parks—Industrial parks and other areas shall be equipped with corresponding centralized sewage treatment facilities, install automatic monitoring equipment as required, connect to the monitoring equipment of the competent ecological environment department, and ensure the normal operation of the monitoring equipment.
- Industrial wastewater pretreatment—Those discharging Industrial Wastewater into centralized sewage treatment facilities shall conduct pretreatment in accordance with national regulations and may discharge only after meeting the treatment process requirements of the centralized treatment facilities; Industrial Wastewater containing toxic and harmful water pollutants shall be collected and treated separately to prevent leakage and loss, and shall not be discharged after dilution.
- Industrial policy constraints—It is prohibited to build small production projects that do not conform to national industrial policy in papermaking, leather making, Printing and Dyeing, dyes, coking, sulfur refining, arsenic refining, mercury refining, oil refining, electroplating, pesticides, asbestos, cement, glass, steel, thermal power, and other projects that seriously pollute the water environment, drawing from the source a boundary of "high pollution—low access."
- Sludge tracking records and disposal responsibility—The operating units of centralized urban sewage treatment facilities and the harmless sludge treatment and disposal units shall conduct harmless treatment and disposal of sludge, ensure that the sludge after treatment and disposal meets national standards, track and record the flow direction, use, and amount of sludge, and report to the competent urban drainage department and the competent ecological environment department; it is prohibited to arbitrarily dump, pile up, discard, scatter, spill, or incinerate sludge generated by urban sewage treatment facilities and sludge after treatment and disposal.
- Legal liability—If, in violation of the provisions of this Law, the operating unit of a centralized urban sewage treatment facility or the harmless sludge treatment and disposal unit fails to track and record the flow direction, use, amount, etc. of sludge, or if the sludge after treatment and disposal does not meet national standards, the competent urban drainage department shall order correction and give a warning; if serious consequences are caused, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan shall also be imposed; if correction is refused, a unit with governance capacity shall be designated to conduct treatment on its behalf, and the required costs shall be borne by the violator.
III. Unconventional Water Utilization: Reclaimed Water, Rainwater, and Desalinated Seawater Included in Unified Allocation of Water Resources
The Code makes pioneering provisions at the level of resource conservation and water recycling: the state encourages and supports sewage resource utilization, and local people's governments at or above the county level shall make overall plans and build infrastructure for sewage resource utilization; local people's governments at or above the county level shall, according to local water resource conditions, strengthen sewage treatment and reuse, incorporate unconventional water such as Reclaimed Water, collected rainwater, seawater and desalinated seawater, mine (pit) water, and brackish water into the unified allocation of water resources, and make overall plans and build facilities for the development and utilization of unconventional water. This provision upgrades "unconventional water" from past policy advocacy to a statutory obligation, imposing clearer reuse responsibilities on local governments, park operators, and water service providers.
IV. Impact on TIANYI TECH's Sewage Treatment and Reclaimed Water Reuse Business
TIANYI TECH has long been deeply engaged in the overseas business of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse equipment. After the implementation of the Ecological Environment Code, the company faces new compliance and market opportunities at three levels:
- Upgrading of pretreatment and centralized treatment facilities in industrial parks — The Code imposes rigid requirements on the supporting facilities of centralized treatment in industrial parks, automatic monitoring networking, and pretreatment compliance, which means that a large number of parks need to complete the pretreatment stage, automatic monitoring equipment, and process transformation, forming a stable source of orders for TIANYI TECH's membrane-based pretreatment and online monitoring system equipment.
- Sludge disposal compliance and flow traceability — The Code clearly specifies the tracking records of sludge flow, use, and volume, as well as the compliance requirements for treatment and disposal. Combined with the new national standard GB/T 25031—2026 for sludge brickmaking (implemented on 2027 年 2 月 1 日), which opens up the unfired brick pathway, the market space for the company's combined process of "sludge dewatering + brickmaking auxiliary material pretreatment" is further expanded.
- Unified allocation of unconventional water — The Code incorporates reclaimed water, rainwater, desalinated seawater, mine water, and brackish water into the unified allocation of water resources, imposing higher requirements on local governments for preparing special plans, supporting pipe networks, and operation and maintenance. The company's process packages and O&M services for industrial circulating cooling, municipal miscellaneous use, ecological water replenishment, and reclaimed water projects on islands and in industrial parks will gain a new round of policy-driven momentum.
Source: Xilin Gol League Ecological Environment Bureau's complete interpretation of the "Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China" (2026-09-07), and excerpts of Code provisions from the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Henan Province (2026-09-01).
About TIANYI TECH Co., Ltd.
TIANYI TECH Co., Ltd. is an international water service provider focusing on the R&D of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse equipment, general engineering contracting, and O&M services. Its business covers the full chain of scenarios including advanced treatment and zero liquid discharge of industrial wastewater, centralized treatment of municipal and industrial park wastewater, reclaimed water utilization, seawater desalination pretreatment, and sludge resource utilization. With "TIANYI LIMITED" as its unified brand identity, the company has deeply cultivated markets along the "Belt and Road" in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, providing customers with full-cycle solutions from feasibility study, design, equipment manufacturing, installation and commissioning, to operation trusteeship.
