[Mainland China] Suqian and Suyu's "15th Five-Year Plan" Water Security Assurance Plan Issued: Building the "Suqian Model" for the Value of Reclaimed Water Ecological Products, the Nation's First Experience in Reclaimed Water Value Conversion to Be Promot

The Suqian Municipal Government Office issued the "Suqian City '15th Five-Year Plan' Water Security Assurance Plan," and Suyu District simultaneously issued a district-level plan. In the section "Deepening Reform and Innovation in Key Areas," the plan explicitly states: Promote and apply Suyu District's experience as China's first case of Reclaimed Water ecological product value transformation, carry out surveys and monitoring of water ecological products, establish and improve the value accounting system, explore green finance practices such as mortgage (pledge), and build the "Suqian Model" for Reclaimed Water ecological product value. This means that Reclaimed Water is being upgraded from an "alternative water source" to an ecological product that can be accounted for, traded, and pledged.

Policy Highlights: Writing Reclaimed Water into the "Ecological Product Value Realization" Framework

The plan's wording goes beyond conventional goals such as "increasing the Reclaimed Water utilization rate" — it incorporates Reclaimed Water into the institutional framework for ecological product value realization:

• Value accounting first — Carry out surveys and monitoring of water ecological products, establish and improve the value accounting system for water ecological products, and refine value realization policies, so that the resource attributes of Reclaimed Water have a quantifiable accounting basis;
• Financial instruments to follow — Explore green finance practices such as mortgage (pledge) of water ecological products, build a virtuous cycle of "using water to support water," and convert future Reclaimed Water revenue into current financing capacity;
• Model replication and promotion — Promote and apply Suyu District's experience as China's first case of Reclaimed Water ecological product value transformation, and build the "Suqian Model" for Reclaimed Water ecological product value, supporting Suqian's development as a national pilot city for the ecological product value realization mechanism;
• Supporting water rights reform — Improve the operational rules for water rights trading, collaboratively build a regional water rights trading platform, develop a dedicated zone for agricultural water rights trading, promote the orderly transfer of agricultural water rights to domestic, production, and ecological uses, and promote green finance models such as "Water Rights Loans" and "Water-Saving Loans."

For the Reclaimed Water industry, the significance of the trio of "value accounting + mortgage/pledge financing + water rights trading" lies in this: it places the long-standing industry problem of "revenue difficult to capitalize" onto the institutional agenda. In the past, Reclaimed Water projects had long payback periods and thin cash flows, limiting the willingness of social capital to participate; once Reclaimed Water possesses accountable asset attributes and transferable trading channels, the financing structure of projects will be restructured.

Practical Foundation: An "Advanced Model" Emerging from 76 Pilot Cities

Behind the policy wording is Suqian's practical accumulation in Reclaimed Water utilization and allocation. According to public reports, the Ministry of Water Resources announced the final evaluation results of the pilot program for Reclaimed Water utilization and allocation in typical regions nationwide, and Suqian was selected as a national advanced typical case from among 76 pilot cities nationwide. Its core practices include:

• Quality-based treatment, on-demand purification — Unlike traditional sewage treatment that only meets discharge standards, Reclaimed Water production follows the approach of quality-based treatment, setting differentiated treatment processes for different uses such as industrial, ecological, and municipal purposes, producing Reclaimed Water of different qualities to achieve on-demand purification and precise water supply;
• Two-tier allocation network — Innovatively building a multi-level allocation network for Reclaimed Water featuring "nearby direct supply + cross-district allocation," forming a two-tier layout of "Reclaimed Water plants for nearby first-tier allocation + main pipeline network for larger-scale second-tier allocation";
• Backbone pipeline network and intake points — At specific points, after upgrading treatment at sewage treatment plants, first-tier utilization is implemented nearby; at the broader level, relying on a 115 km tailwater diversion main pipeline network, 46 Reclaimed Water intake points are built along the route, promoting second-tier scheduling of Reclaimed Water over a larger area, forming a network framework of "main artery + capillaries";
• Industrial reuse at scale — At the Canal Suqian Port Ecological Wetland, purified Reclaimed Water is delivered "point-to-point" to textile enterprises through booster pump stations; enterprise sewage undergoes internal pretreatment before being discharged into the port area sewage treatment plant, then after deep purification through the ecological wetland, it flows back to the production process. A single enterprise's annual Reclaimed Water utilization volume exceeds 600万 m³;
• Normalized ecological water replenishment — The cross-regional tailwater diversion project continuously and stably supplies urban inland rivers; river water transparency continues to improve through normalized Reclaimed Water replenishment, and aquatic plants and organisms gradually recover, further strengthening the water security defense line at the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

Why Suqian: An Institutional Innovation Born from a "Water Bottleneck"

Suqian is located along the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, serving both as a "sender" of the water diversion channel and as a sensitive area for water resource allocation. This location determines that it cannot solve development water needs solely by increasing water intake — it must work on the existing stock. The China's first case of Reclaimed Water ecological product value transformation completed by Suyu District is precisely an exploration under this constraint — confirming the rights of tailwater that was originally "discharged after treatment" as a valuable resource, and monetizing it through trading or financial instruments.

Its demonstrative value lies in its replicability: this pathway does not depend on specific natural conditions, but rather on the institutional supply of three elements: "facility network + accounting system + trading platform." For small and medium-sized cities that similarly face constraints on total water use quotas and possess a certain foundation of reclaimed water facilities, the Suqian model offers a more realistic second growth curve than "striving for more water withdrawal quotas."

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 signals released by the Suqian plan deserve our clients' close attention: the valuation criterion for reclaimed water is shifting from "how much water is saved" to "how much asset value is created."

There are three specific recommendations: First, consider differentiated water supply design simultaneously at the project planning stage, configuring differentiated processes according to industrial, ecological, and municipal uses, leaving interfaces for subsequent "pricing by demand and trading by quality"; Second, treat verifiable metering and water quality data as core deliverables—value accounting and green finance both presuppose trustworthy data; without metering, there is no asset; Third, pay attention to local water rights trading platforms and green financial products—tools such as "water rights loans" and "water-saving loans" will substantially improve the capital cost of reclaimed water projects.

For us, this change means that the delivery standards for Reclaimed Water Reuse systems will be raised: it is no longer enough to "produce water"—one must also "keep clear accounts." Service providers that embed metering, monitoring, and accounting capabilities into system solutions in advance will gain a first-mover advantage in the new stage of reclaimed water assetization.

About TIANYI LIMITED: TIANYI TECH is deeply engaged in the fields of wastewater treatment and Reclaimed Water Reuse, committed to providing efficient, low-carbon, and sustainable water treatment solutions for municipal and industrial clients.