[Chinese Mainland] Urban Renewal "15th Five-Year Plan" Spurs Construction Boom: 25 Million m³/day of New and Upgraded Wastewater Treatment Capacity, 100,000 km of Sewage Pipelines

Key Facts: The "15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal" (Guo Fa [2026] No. 12) has been issued by the State Council on 2026年5月28日. This is China's first national-level special plan in the field of urban renewal. The plan specifies that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the total capacity of newly built and upgraded sewage treatment facilities will reach 2500万 m³/day, with approximately 10万 km of urban sewage pipelines and approximately 77万 km of urban underground pipelines to be built and upgraded. The central government will provide fixed-amount subsidies to selected cities ranging from 8 to 12亿 yuan, and 15 cities have already been confirmed for selection.

I. One National-Level Plan, Three Hard Targets

The implementation period of the "15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal" is 2026–2030年, with long-term vision goals set for 2035年. The plan lists "Sewage and Waste Collection and Treatment Facility Construction Project" and "Municipal Infrastructure Upgrade Project" among the 15 major key projects, and provides three quantitative targets that can be directly translated into construction drawings:

• Sewage Treatment Capacity — The total capacity of newly built and upgraded sewage treatment facilities will reach 2500万 m³/day.
• Sewage Pipelines — Approximately 10万 km of urban sewage pipelines will be built and upgraded.
• Total Underground Pipeline Network — Approximately 77万 km of urban underground pipelines will be built and upgraded nationwide, including approximately 20万 km of gas pipelines, approximately 17.5万 km of drainage pipelines, approximately 17.5万 km of water supply pipelines, and approximately 12万 km of heating pipelines.

It is worth noting that the plan is titled "Urban Renewal" rather than "Urban Expansion and Construction." This single word difference anchors the industry's investment logic at the top level on stock optimization and systematic quality improvement. In terms of specific deployment, the plan requires "promoting the establishment of a long-term mechanism for coordinated construction, operation and maintenance of plants and networks," which means the long-standing governance shortcoming of "emphasizing sewage plant construction while neglecting pipeline network support" must be thoroughly reversed.

II. Where the Confidence Comes From: China Has Built the World's Largest Water Infrastructure System

"Narrowing incremental space" is precisely the premise of this round of renewal. As of the end of 2025年, the national urban sewage treatment rate has steadily exceeded 98%, the county-level sewage treatment rate has surpassed 96%, the total scale of sewage treatment has reached 2.44亿 m³/day, the total length of urban sewage pipelines has exceeded 103万 km, and sewage treatment facilities in prefecture-level cities and county seats' main urban areas have basically achieved full coverage.

During the same period, the total length of China's urban underground pipelines is approximately 390万 km, with approximately 7700 km of underground utility tunnels cumulatively built. Engineering application capabilities, pipeline network scale, and project implementation speed are all in the world's first tier. Therefore, the core contradiction facing the industry is no longer a question of "whether to build," but rather "whether it is built well and how well it is operated."

Next, among the "Six Networks" construction deployed by the Party Central Committee and the State Council — the water network, the new-type power grid, the computing power network, the new-generation communication network, urban underground pipeline networks, and the logistics network — urban underground pipeline networks are included, becoming a core support for urban safety and resilience.

III. Where the Money Comes From: Fixed-Amount Subsidies + Diversified Investment and Financing

According to the "Notice on Launching the 2026年 Central Government Fiscal Support for Urban Renewal Action," the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development determine subsidy cities through competitive selection:

• Eastern Region — total subsidy per city shall not exceed 8亿 yuan.
• Central Region — total subsidy per city shall not exceed 10亿 yuan.
• Western Region — total subsidy per city shall not exceed 12亿 yuan.

At present, Jincheng, Anshan, Changchun, Wuxi, Ningbo, Ma'anshan and other 15 cities have been confirmed for selection. However, the central subsidy is only the "first bucket of gold"; what is more critical is the shift in the investment and financing model: the traditional engineering model of "one-time delivery, emphasis on construction over operation" can hardly support long-term integrated plant-network operation and maintenance. Today, integrated investment-construction-operation solutions such as EPCO and franchising are becoming mainstream, and project revenue sources are no longer limited to wastewater treatment service fees, but have expanded to resource recovery product revenue, smart operation and maintenance value-added services, and more. This change has significantly enhanced the attractiveness of projects to social capital.

IV. Localities Have Already Taken the Lead: 100 in Sichuan, 28 in Fujian

• Sichuan — plans to newly build and renovate 100 wastewater treatment plants; while advancing the renewal of existing facilities and equipment, encourages enhancement of the removal capacity for emerging pollutants such as antibiotics and microplastics; promotes the harmless disposal and resource utilization of sludge, popularizes "integrated plant-network" professional operation and maintenance, improves reclaimed water utilization facilities according to local conditions; and carries out the construction of a "one map" for underground pipe networks.
• Fujian — newly builds, renovates and expands 28 wastewater treatment plants, with a total new and renovated capacity of 110万 cubic meters/day; creates 10 model areas with full coverage of urban wastewater pipe networks, and newly builds and renovates 2500 kilometers of wastewater pipe networks; explores "integrated plant-network" professional operation and maintenance and performance-based payment models in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou and other places.

At present, the "15th Five-Year Plan" urban renewal plans of most provinces have not yet been made public, and a wave of intensive local implementation is brewing.

V. The Wastewater Plant of the Future: Comprehensive Evolution in Five Directions

• All-round capability — no longer focusing only on COD, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus; Sichuan's plan has explicitly required attention to emerging pollutants such as microplastics and antibiotics, and advanced treatment processes such as advanced oxidation, adsorption, and membrane separation will gain more opportunities for implementation.
• Integrated plant-network — the chronic problems of "the plant's effluent meets standards, but the pipe network leaks, has mixed and misconnected flows, and wastewater cannot be collected" will be rectified; a single entity will coordinate pipe networks, pumping stations, storage facilities, and wastewater plants, and uniformly solve rainy-season overflow, pipe network leakage, and insufficient load.
• Low-carbon — procurement logic is shifting from looking at the "initial quotation" to looking at the "5—10年 full-cycle operating cost"; precise aeration, intelligent dosing, variable-frequency control, and energy management systems have become standard, and some plant areas are equipped with photovoltaics and sludge biogas power generation.
• Smart — no longer "good-looking but impractical large screens," but truly participating in operational decisions: automatically adjusting aeration volume and optimizing dosing based on influent water quality. Industry practice shows that in wastewater plants implementing refined intelligent control, blower power consumption can be reduced by 15%—25%, and chemical dosage can be reduced by 10%—20%.
• Resource recovery — moving from simply meeting discharge standards to water resource recycling; reclaimed water, phosphorus recovery, and biogas upgrading have become new sources of revenue.

VI. How Big the Market Is

Industry data shows that the total investment in 2026年 wastewater treatment engineering is expected to exceed 3800亿 RMB, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, with the growth rate rebounding by 1.4 percentage points compared with 2025年, mainly driven by both the strengthening of weak links in county-level wastewater treatment and the upgrading of industrial wastewater to higher standards. In the wastewater treatment equipment market, the scale of 2025年 reached 2340亿 yuan, and 2026年 is expected to climb to 2510亿 yuan. From a global perspective, in 2025年 the global wastewater treatment market size was approximately 8250亿 USD, with China accounting for 25.4%, making it the world's largest single-country water market.

VII. TIANYI TECH's Viewpoint

TIANYI TECH believes that the biggest feature of this round of "15th Five-Year Plan" construction wave is that the investment target has shifted from "plant site" to "system"—the ability of plant-network coordination to achieve effluent quality and long-term O&M cost control will be more valuable than pure engineering construction capability. For enterprises in the industrial chain, whether they can provide a combined solution of "upgrade and retrofit + pipe network diagnosis + performance-based payment operation" determines whether they can capture the dividends of this round of stock renovation.

About TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED)

TIANYI TECH focuses on the fields of wastewater treatment, reclaimed water reuse, and water resource recycling, providing one-stop services from process consulting, solution design, equipment integration, engineering implementation to smart O&M. The company is committed to promoting wastewater resource recovery through technological innovation, helping industrial enterprises and municipal clients achieve multiple goals of water conservation and carbon reduction, compliant discharge, and sustainable development.

Source: Xinhuanet "From Incremental Expansion to Stock Quality Improvement: Drawing a New Blueprint for Modern People's City Construction" (2026年9月4日), "Urban Renewal '15th Five-Year Plan'" (Guo Fa [2026] No. 12), Anhui Province Environmental Protection Industry Association, and comprehensive compilation of reports on urban renewal related planning in Sichuan Province and Fujian Province