[Chinese Mainland] "Golden September" Reclaimed Water Projects Land in Clusters: Liuyang RMB 39.41 Million, Weinan RMB 102 Million, Zhaoyuan 23,000 m³/day — Economic Development Zones Become the New Main Battleground

2026 年 9 月, a batch of Reclaimed Water and Reclaimed Water Reuse projects landed intensively within half a month: the construction bid for the Liuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone Reclaimed Water Development and Utilization Project (Phase I) in Hunan 9 月 21 日 announced the winning bid result, with a winning bid price of 3940.98 万 yuan; the second tender for the general contracting of the Weinan High-tech Zone Reclaimed Water Utilization Construction Project in Shaanxi 9 月 9 日 publicized the first winning candidate, with a quotation of 1.0169 亿 yuan; the general contracting for the Zhaoyuan City Regional Reclaimed Water Recycling Utilization Project (Phase III) in Shandong 9 月 7 日 was finalized, with a treatment capacity of 2.3 万 cubic meters/day; the general contracting for the Reclaimed Water Reuse Facility Upgrade Project in the East Industrial Zone of Wujiaqu Economic and Technological Development Zone in Xinjiang 9 月 1 日 was won, with an amount of 291.85 万 yuan. The four projects span the east, central, and west regions, all pointing to the same change—Reclaimed Water is moving from "in-plant reuse" to "regional pipeline network transmission and distribution."

Four projects in half a month, spanning from 292 万 to 1.02 亿

Spread out this list and look at it: the amount range is extremely wide, but the structure is highly similar—all are built around industrial users in parks.

• Liuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone—the tenderee is Hunan Liuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone Water Affairs Co., Ltd., the winning bidder is Haotian Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd., and the winning bid amount is 3940.98 万 yuan; the project content is the Reclaimed Water Reuse Pumping Station and supporting pipeline network project. 9 月 16 日 completed the publicity of winning candidates, and after the publicity period expired without objection, the winning bid result was released on 9 月 21 日.
• Weinan High-tech Zone—the tenderee is Weinan High-tech Zone Water Investment Development Co., Ltd. Bids were opened on 9 月 8 日, and publicity was made on 9 月 9 日. The first winning candidate, the consortium of Shaanxi Huashan Construction Group, quoted 10168.62 万 yuan. The quotations of the top three were concentrated between 10168 万 and 10180 万 yuan, with a price difference of less than 12 万 yuan, indicating quite full competition.
• Zhaoyuan City—the owner is the Zhaoyuan Branch of the Yantai Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau. The project site is located downstream of Jindu Wastewater Treatment Plant, covering an area of about 40 mu, with a daily treatment capacity of 2.3 万 cubic meters. The winning bidder is the consortium of Shandong Academy of Environmental Science Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. and Shandong Zhaojin Motian Co., Ltd. The construction period runs from the date of contract signing until all completion before 2027 年 12 月 31 日.
• Wujiaqu Economic and Technological Development Zone—the newly built Reclaimed Water Reuse pipeline has a total length of 3200 meters, using polyethylene water supply pipe, with a diameter of De500. The winning bid amount is 291.85 万 yuan, and the construction period is 35 日 calendar days. It is a typical pipeline network shortcoming-filling project in an existing park.

It is worth noting that among the four orders, three have owners or bid contents directly located within the scope of an Economic and Technological Development Zone or High-tech Industrial Development Zone. This is not a coincidence.

Why parks: shifting from "up-to-standard discharge" to "second water source"

The driving force behind Reclaimed Water projects is switching. In the past few years, the investment logic of sewage treatment facilities was mainly "upgrading to meet standards," with revenue coming from sewage treatment service fees; today's investors place more emphasis on turning plant effluent into a product that can be sold.

• There are rigid constraints on the demand side—many places such as the Yellow River Basin and Hai River Basin have set preconditions for new water withdrawal permits for high-water-consumption projects, and some provinces require the proportion of unconventional water allocation in chemical industrial parks to be no less than 35%. Enterprises in the parks either use Reclaimed Water or cannot obtain new water withdrawal quotas. This is the hardest constraint.
• The price scissors gap is widening—with the advancement of water resource tax reform and tap water price adjustments, the comprehensive cost of industrial water use continues to rise, while the price of Reclaimed Water is usually significantly lower than tap water. Many places also reduce or exempt water resource tax for enterprises using Reclaimed Water. The more they use, the more they save, and this account can be made to work.
• The business model is now viable—the traditional one-time delivery engineering model is being replaced by integrated solutions such as franchising and general contracting plus operation. Revenue is no longer limited to treatment fees, but also includes income from resource-based products and value-added services, which is what makes it attractive to social capital.

Under this logic, the fact that the Zhaoyuan project has advanced all the way to Phase III is itself the best proof: only if the utilization rate and payment collection of the first two phases are verified can Phase III continue.

Three types of technical configurations deserve attention

From the processes and construction contents of the four projects, the common configurations of current Reclaimed Water projects can be summarized.

• Pump station plus dedicated pipeline is the main thrust — Liuyang Phase I carved out the reuse pump station and pipeline network for separate tendering, while Wujiaqu was purely about completing the pipeline network. This shows that many industrial parks already had treatment capacity; what was missing was the "last mile" to deliver the water.
• Advanced treatment units are determined by water quality — For high-demand users such as electronics and fine chemicals, the Ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis / RO dual-membrane process is almost standard; for users with relatively relaxed water quality requirements such as cooling, landscaping, and road cleaning, coagulation-sedimentation plus filtration or Biological Aerated Filter / BAF predominates, offering better cost control.
• Metering and online monitoring are moved upstream — As Reclaimed Water is to be settled as a commodity, household metering, online water quality instruments, and data uploading have become basic configurations, also reserving interfaces for subsequent integration into water abstraction and use regulatory platforms.

Three reminders for operators

The other side of the order surge is that delivery and operational risks rise in tandem.

• Verify the user list first, then set the scale — The biggest sunk risk for Reclaimed Water projects comes from "water produced with no one to use it." It is advisable to lock in a list of high-, medium-, and low-potential users at the design stage, preferably signing framework agreements on water volume and price at the same time.
• Water quality should be graded by use — Pursuing high effluent standards without distinguishing uses will significantly raise membrane replacement and power consumption costs. Graded water supply and configuring treatment units by user tier are often more economical than a "one-size-fits-all upgrade."
• Pay attention to bypass and emergency fallback — Industrial users are sensitive to water supply continuity. Dual-source water supply and switching plans under accident conditions should be incorporated at the preliminary design stage; otherwise, disputes are highly likely after commissioning.

Our judgment

TIANYI TECH has long provided sewage treatment and Reclaimed Water Reuse system solutions to municipal and industrial park clients. We observe that a notable feature of this round of Reclaimed Water investment is the dual-driven sustainability of "policy constraints + user payment," rather than relying solely on fiscal input. This also means that project success depends more on upfront demand assessment and stable subsequent operation than on treatment capacity itself. We recommend that park operators and investors currently planning Reclaimed Water projects refine the granularity of technical solutions down to the level of "matching end-user purposes with water quality" — first conduct graded water supply justification, then discuss treatment process selection.

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