[Chinese Mainland] Zibo Huadian Reclaimed Water Supply Project Completed and Put into Operation: RMB 130 Million, 8.9 km Dedicated Pipeline Supplying 50,000 m³ per Day, Citywide Industrial Reclaimed Water Utilization Scale Expected to Increase by 48%

8月31日, the Reclaimed Water Supply Project of Huadian Zibo Thermal Power Co., Ltd. supercritical coal-fired thermal power unit project was successfully completed and put into operation. The project has a total investment of 1.3亿 yuan, with 8.9 kilometers of newly built reclaimed water transmission pipelines, and a designed daily water supply capacity of 5万 m³; after being put into operation, it can help Huadian Zibo Thermal Power replace more than 1000 million m³ of conventional water sources annually, and the city's industrial reclaimed water utilization scale is expected to increase by 48% compared with 2025年. For this old industrial city with a per capita water resource volume of only 300m³, a pipeline crossing the urban expressway has truly delivered reclaimed water into the circulating cooling system of the main power plant.

Project Overview: 1.3亿 yuan for a "second water source" of 5万 m³/d

According to the Shandong Provincial Department of Water Resources, the project is undertaken by Zibo Water Group and is a key project for Zibo to expand industrial reclaimed water supply and improve the water resource recycling system. The project was completed and put into operation in 8月31日, with the following core parameters:

• Investment and scale — total investment of 1.3亿 yuan, with 8.9 kilometers of newly built reclaimed water transmission pipelines, and a designed daily water supply capacity of 5万 m³; the water supply scale is sufficient and the supporting facilities are complete;
• Water source and use — the reclaimed water source is taken from urban sewage purified through multiple processes, with stable water quality meeting standards and meeting industrial reuse standards; it is precisely transported to the industrial plant area through dedicated pipe networks to replace traditional water sources for industrial cooling production;
• User profile — Huadian Zibo Thermal Power Co., Ltd. is the core power source point of the southern Zibo power grid and the central heating heat source of the urban area, with an installed capacity of 700 MW and huge water demand; after the reclaimed water is connected, it becomes the main water source for its circulating cooling system.

From "treated tailwater discharged into rivers and lakes" to "becoming the main water source of the power plant cooling system," this pipeline changes not only the water source structure, but also the status of reclaimed water in regional water resource allocation.

Key Design: Allocation on Demand, Reserved Surplus

The project was not "tailor-made" according to the needs of a single user, but instead adopted a supply model of "allocation on demand, reserved surplus":

• Priority guarantee of existing volume — priority is given to guaranteeing the production water demand of 3万 m³ per day for Huadian Zibo Thermal Power Co., Ltd.;
• Reserved incremental space — at the same time, 2万 m³ per day of water supply surplus is reserved, which can fully meet the future water demand expansion needs of industrial projects in the eastern area of Zibo's central urban district, reserving water resource space for regional industrial expansion.

The value of this design lies in avoiding the dilemma of a reclaimed water pipe network being "saturated upon completion." The most common failure mode of industrial reclaimed water projects is that the pipe network is designed according to the maximum user demand at the time, and once a new project is introduced into the park, secondary investment is required; however, the structure of "design capacity 5万 m³, current locked-in 3万 m³, reserved 2万 m³" turns the pipe network into growable public infrastructure and dilutes the investment cost per unit of water.

Construction Difficulties: "Operating" Beneath the Roadbed of an Urban Expressway

Reclaimed water does not travel in a straight line from the water source end to the user end. The pipeline needs to start from the sewage treatment plant, cross the urban expressway, avoid existing underground pipelines, and span multiple administrative districts. Among these, the section at the intersection of Changguo Road and Zhenxing Road was called the most troublesome section by on-site construction personnel: the construction area is located beneath the urban expressway, with dense traffic and heavy traffic load, and the stability of the road structure is directly related to the safety of citizens' travel.

The project team's approach was to place equal emphasis on full-process safety control and road protection. For pipeline earth backfilling, municipal road construction specifications were strictly followed, eliminating quality problems such as uneven backfilling, inadequate compaction, and substandard settlement, and ensuring that the road restoration standard was no lower than the original design. The core period of project construction coincided with the high temperatures of midsummer, with alternating scorching sun and rainfall. Ultimately, the breakthrough of this key node cleared the obstacles for water supply across the entire line.

Regional Ledger: From Per Capita 300m³ to 48%

Zibo is a typical resource-based water-scarce industrial city, with a per capita water resource volume of only about 300m³, far below the internationally recognized warning line for extreme water scarcity. For it, reclaimed water is not a "nice-to-have environmental option," but a rigid constraint for industrial survival. The regional ledger after the project is put into operation includes:

• Replacing conventional water sources — helping Huadian Zibo Thermal Power replace more than 1000 million m³ of conventional water sources annually, significantly reducing fresh water intake;
• Driving citywide indicators — with the support of this project, the city's industrial reclaimed water utilization scale is expected to increase by 48% compared with 2025年, effectively improving the water resource reuse rate;
• Optimizing the allocation structure — by efficiently utilizing reclaimed water to displace and release high-quality conventional water resources, leaving limited fresh water for higher-value uses.

It is worth noting that this progress is inseparable from coordinated efforts at the local level: from the Municipal Major Industrial Project Construction Sub-line Command to the Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Municipal Water Resources Bureau, competent authorities at all levels provided full-process, hands-on guidance in project approval, scheme review, and procedure handling, while Zhangdian District and Zibo Economic Development Zone strengthened overall coordination, ensuring traffic diversion and public communication support. Cross-departmental and cross-administrative coordination capacity often determines the success or failure of reclaimed water projects more than the pipeline network itself.

What It Means for Us: TIANYI TECH's Assessment

TIANYI TECH has long served municipal and industrial park wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse clients. We believe the Zibo case highlights three key points for the implementation of industrial reclaimed water projects: First, pipeline network first, design with surplus capacity — better to have initial redundancy than to be saturated upon completion; Second, lock in large users — use stable large water consumers such as power plants and steel mills as base-load users to ensure project cash flow; Third, assess construction difficulty upfront — schemes and costs for nodes such as crossing expressways and densely piped areas must be clearly identified at the feasibility study stage.

For us, competition in reclaimed water projects is shifting from "whether the water can be treated well" to "whether the water can be reliably delivered to the user end and the economics calculated clearly." Whoever can package pipeline network design, user structure, and construction risk into a deliverable solution capability will gain the initiative in the reclaimed water capacity expansion cycle of water-scarce industrial cities.

About TIANYI LIMITED: TIANYI LIMITED is deeply engaged in the field of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse, committed to providing efficient, low-carbon, and sustainable water treatment solutions for municipal and industrial clients.