[Chinese Mainland] Qinhuangdao Sewage Regulation 11月1日 Takes Effect

Introduction

Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, recently published the "Qinhuangdao Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment Regulation," which explicitly takes effect from 2026年11月1日. The regulation dedicates a chapter to "Sewage Treatment and Reclaimed Water Utilization," incorporating urban drainage, sewage treatment, and Reclaimed Water Reuse into a law-based, systematic management framework, providing institutional safeguards for Water Environment Governance and resource recycling in a coastal tourism city.

Background

Qinhuangdao is located in the Bohai Bay and is a well-known coastal tourism city, as well as an important port and coastal industrial cluster. With the expansion of the city and growing industrial water demand, the pressure on urban sewage collection, treatment, and resource utilization has continued to rise. For a long time, issues such as upgrading urban drainage facilities, advancing separate stormwater and sewage systems, and the low utilization rate of Reclaimed Water have been common governance challenges for northern coastal cities. The introduction of this regulation is a local legislative response to the national decisions and arrangements on improving the quality and efficiency of urban sewage treatment and promoting sewage resource utilization, and it also provides a reference model for similar coastal cities.

Core

The core content of the regulation focuses on three aspects. First, it clarifies the responsible entities for the planning, construction, and operation and maintenance of urban drainage and sewage treatment facilities, requiring newly developed areas to plan and construct drainage and sewage treatment facilities simultaneously, and existing urban areas to advance separate stormwater and sewage systems in an orderly manner to reduce mixed-flow direct discharge at the source. Second, it strengthens supervision of compliant discharge from sewage treatment and facility operation and maintenance, setting pre-approval and pretreatment requirements for Industrial Wastewater discharged into urban sewage pipelines to prevent non-compliant wastewater from impacting urban sewage treatment plants and to ensure the stable operation of public treatment facilities. Third, it provides a dedicated chapter on Reclaimed Water utilization, encouraging the use of treated effluent that meets standards for ecological water replenishment, municipal miscellaneous use, industrial cooling, and greening irrigation, clarifying the connection requirements between Reclaimed Water facilities and water supply networks, and promoting a closed loop of "water intake—water use—water treatment—reuse" at the institutional level.

In the chapter on Reclaimed Water utilization, the regulation proposes incorporating Reclaimed Water into the unified allocation of water resources, requiring the preparation of special plans for Reclaimed Water utilization, and clarifying the supporting construction responsibilities for Reclaimed Water plants, transmission and distribution pipelines, and the user end. This means that Qinhuangdao's Reclaimed Water utilization will shift from scattered pilot projects in the past to large-scale, pipeline-network-based systematic supply, providing a stable water source for water conservation and ecological water replenishment in a coastal tourism city, and also alleviating water supply tension during peak tourism seasons and dry periods.

Industry Significance

From an industry perspective, local regulations governing Reclaimed Water utilization through a dedicated chapter reflect that urban sewage treatment is transitioning from "compliant discharge" to "resource utilization." For water-scarce northern cities, incorporating Reclaimed Water as a city's second water source has become a consensus path for alleviating water resource constraints. Such local legislation provides clear market expectations for sewage treatment operations, Reclaimed Water transmission and distribution, and the development of advanced treatment capacity, and also forces existing sewage treatment plants to upgrade standards. As special plans for Reclaimed Water, pricing mechanisms, and supporting pipeline networks are gradually implemented, the urban Reclaimed Water market is expected to continue expanding under policy drivers, driving long-term demand for related engineering construction and operation and maintenance services.