[Chinese Mainland] The Regulations on Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment have been amended: taking effect on August 15 in sync with the Ecological Environment Code, with the maximum penalty for illegal sludge disposal raised to 5 million yuan.

Lead Summary: The 93th Executive Meeting of the State Council deliberated and approved the amendment decision, revising Article 24, Article 30, Article 53, and Article 58 of the Regulation on Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment, which has been in force for over a decade. The amendments take effect on 2026年8月15日, concurrently with the Ecological Environment Code. This revision proactively aligns with the Code's institutional framework, addresses regulatory gaps in sludge treatment and disposal, and raises the maximum fine to 500万 yuan for serious cases of unauthorized dumping or incineration of sludge.

Legislative Background: Systematic Alignment Between Administrative Regulations and the Code

Since the Regulation on Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment came into force on 2014年1月1日, it has provided an important administrative regulatory basis for standardizing the planning, construction, operation, maintenance, and supervision of urban drainage and sewage treatment. On 2026年, the Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China was adopted by the National People's Congress. To ensure the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Code, the State Council issued Decree No. 843 to conduct a centralized review of relevant administrative regulations: partial provisions of 12 administrative regulations were amended, and 3 administrative regulations were repealed, effective from 2026年8月15日. The amendment to the Regulation on Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment was completed under this background, with a clear core objective—maintaining the unity of the legal system and advancing urban drainage and sewage treatment from facility construction toward full-chain, whole-process governance.

Four Amendments: From Scope Alignment to Stricter Penalties

This revision covers four key areas: monitoring network connectivity, sludge control, legal liability, and the basis in superior law:

• Alignment with Pollutant Discharge Permit Scope—In Article 24, the description of the entities subject to automatic monitoring network connectivity and data sharing has been changed from "dischargers listed in the directory of key pollutant discharge units" to "dischargers subject to key management under the pollutant discharge permit system," directly aligning the provision with the classified management system for pollutant discharge permits. For dischargers, obtaining a permit to discharge sewage into the drainage network does not exempt them from the obligation to obtain a pollutant discharge permit in accordance with the law and to discharge pollutants as permitted. For regulatory authorities, the information chain linking drainage permits, pollutant discharge permits, automatic monitoring, and supervisory assessment is expected to be connected, avoiding multiple determinations, redundant inspections, and data silos.
• Expansion of Prohibited Sludge Behaviors—Article 30, on the basis of the original prohibition of unauthorized dumping, piling, discarding, and scattering of sludge, adds two new categories of prohibited behaviors: "spreading" and "incineration," better aligning the scope of prohibited behaviors with the actual risk points in full-chain sludge treatment and disposal supervision.
• Substantially Stricter Penalties—Article 53 has been significantly strengthened: for serious cases of unauthorized dumping or incineration of sludge, the maximum fine is raised to 500万 yuan. The previous penalty intensity was clearly disproportionate to the environmental harm caused by irregular sludge disposal, and the strengthened penalties significantly increase the cost of non-compliance.
• Switch of Superior Legal Basis—Article 58 changes the referenced basis from the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China to the Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China, further clarifying the superior legal basis for pollutant discharge permits and penalties for illegal discharge by dischargers, achieving consistency between administrative regulations and the Code in terms of institutional logic and liability system.

Sludge Supervision: From "Emphasis on Water, Neglect of Sludge" to Full-Chain Control

Sludge is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process, and improper treatment and disposal can cause secondary pollution to water bodies, soil, and the atmosphere. Although the original Regulation already required tracking and recording of sludge and its destination, use, and quantity after treatment and disposal, the scope of prohibited behaviors and the allocation of legal liability were relatively limited—one of the institutional reasons for the long-standing "emphasis on water, neglect of sludge" phenomenon in the industry.

The signal sent by this revision is quite clear:

• Regulatory chain extends forward—From sludge generation, storage, and transfer at sewage treatment plants to final disposal, the entire process is brought under regulatory constraints, and previously ambiguously defined behaviors such as spreading and incineration are explicitly prohibited.
• Compliance costs become a rigid constraint—The maximum fine of 500万 yuan, combined with per-instance penalties, significantly increases the compliance responsibilities of sludge generators, transporters, and disposal entities, forcing sewage treatment operators to standardize sludge transfer manifests, destination tracking, and disposal certificate management.
• Echoing the Code's provisions—The Ecological Environment Code already contains specific provisions on legal liability for urban sewage and sludge disposal. The Regulation amendment translates administrative supervision into specific aspects of drainage and sewage treatment, forming a dual-layer regulatory structure of "Code + Regulation."

Industry Impact: Sludge Disposal Market Welcomes Compliance-Driven Growth

For the wastewater treatment and sludge resource utilization industry, the significance of this regulation amendment lies in the dual drivers from both the demand side and the compliance side. On the one hand, with stricter penalties, the demand for standardized disposal of existing sludge will be further released, and the market space for disposal pathways such as advanced sludge dewatering, drying and incineration, building materials utilization, and anaerobic digestion will expand accordingly; on the other hand, the clarification of the key management scope for pollutant discharge permits means that enterprises discharging industrial wastewater into urban pipe networks will face more refined concentration monitoring and pricing constraints, further highlighting the value of source-level quality-based pretreatment and in-plant reuse.

TIANYI LIMITED has been continuously tracking the regulatory evolution in the fields of urban drainage and wastewater treatment, and recommends that industry clients conduct sludge disposal compliance checkups as soon as possible against the new penalty provisions, with a focus on verifying the completeness of sludge transfer manifests, the qualifications of disposal entities, and destination records; at the same time, the superimposed implementation of the Ecological Environment Code and its supporting regulations is turning sludge resource utilization from an "optional item" into a "mandatory question," and technology suppliers with full-chain service capabilities will seize the initiative in this round of compliance-driven market expansion.

About TIANYI TECH: TIANYI LIMITED has long focused on frontier developments in global water environment governance and water resource recycling, deeply cultivating technical information and industry services in the fields of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse, and is committed to providing timely and professional industry observations and solution references for clients and industry partners.