[Mainland China] First Month of HJ 1480—2026 Implementation: Self-Monitoring with Cameras Installed at Sewage Outfalls Enters the Dual-Evidence Era

Introduction: The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has released, for the first time, the national ecological and environmental standard "Technical Requirements for the Construction and Networking of Video Monitoring Systems for Self-Monitoring by Pollutant Discharging Units" (HJ 1480—2026), which has been in effect since 2026 年 10 月 1 日 and enters its first full month of implementation this month. The standard applies to pollutant discharging units subject to pollutant discharge permit management, and basically covers all urban sewage treatment plants, centralized sewage stations in industrial parks, and water-related permitted industrial enterprises. It does not tighten any emission limit, yet it extends the regulatory perspective from "data results" to the "monitoring process."

What it changes is not the limits, but "what regulation actually looks at"

In the past, the self-monitoring logic of pollutant discharging units was relatively simple: install online instruments, transmit concentration and flow data, and a single report could clarify how much was discharged and whether limits were exceeded. HJ 1480—2026 adds one more layer—the entire process of sampling, monitoring, and equipment operation must also be visible and traceable.

Why add this layer? There are three things that the data itself cannot answer:

• Whether the probe has been tampered with—if sampling conditions are manipulated, values will still be uploaded smoothly, and this cannot be detected by looking at the data alone;
• What happened during fault and maintenance windows—whether discharge behavior was abnormal during the period when equipment was out of service is difficult to reconstruct after the fact;
• Whether sampling and calibration actions are standardized—whether fixatives were added and whether samples were sealed in a timely manner is not reflected in the values at all.

These three things are the real purpose of this standard-setting: complete the evidence chain and leave traces of the actions behind the data, building a dual "data + video" regulatory model to deter data falsification and improve the precision of off-site supervision.

Three types of mandatory installation points: a coverage checklist for comparison

The standard divides video monitoring points into three categories, and the visual range must cover the entire monitoring activity process and the operation of monitoring equipment. For the wastewater treatment industry, the most critical are the first and third categories:

• Wastewater discharge sampling points—the visual range must cover the sampling port, sampling pipeline, sampling pump, measuring weir (channel), as well as key locations for fixative addition, sample aliquoting and sealing, sample label application, on-site instrument calibration, and temporary sample storage;
• Waste gas discharge sampling points—cover the sampling port, sampling pipeline, manual monitoring holes used for verification and comparison, and the same types of operation steps mentioned above;
• Monitoring station rooms—cover station room entrances and exits, power switches, video recording equipment, as well as the sampling pipelines, signal transmission cables, analytical instruments, data acquisition and transmission devices, and reference material storage locations of the automatic monitoring system.

In addition, points for which video monitoring installation is explicitly required by the ecological and environmental authorities at the municipal level with districts and above must be set up as required. For a typical urban sewage treatment plant, the actual number of cameras involved is usually one set each for the influent/effluent online monitoring station rooms, plus the discharge outlet sampling point. If there are multiple discharge outlets within the plant or multiple connected enterprises with separate metering at a centralized sewage station in an industrial park, the number of points will increase exponentially.

Key equipment specifications: from resolution to tamper resistance

In a public reply on 2026 年 10 月 8 日, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province explained the core parameters of the standard very clearly, and enterprises can check directly against the list before procurement:

• Equipment Form — Front-end cameras must be fixed bullet or dome type; PTZ cameras are prohibited (to avoid remote adjustment of viewing angle);
• Image Quality and Frame Rate — Resolution not lower than 1920×1080, frame rate ≥25fps, with night fill-light capability;
• Protection Rating — Indoor ≥IP30, outdoor ≥IP66;
• Time Synchronization — Support NTP/SIP time synchronization, deviation from Beijing Time ≤1 seconds;
• Tamper Resistance — The system must not have the function of deleting or modifying video/audio and logs;
• Intelligent Analysis — Enable video loss detection and occlusion detection, and enable at least one of intrusion, tripwire, or moving target detection;
• Storage — Choose one of: "continuous recording retained for at least 90 天 and personnel activity clips retained for 1 年" or "full-process recording retained for 1 年"; logs retained for at least 1 年;
• Networking — Must comply with GB/T 28181 standard for connection to the video aggregation system of the ecological environment authority.

For daily operation management, the standard explicitly prohibits unauthorized adjustment or occlusion of equipment or tampering with data, and requires regular inspection and maintenance to ensure clear images; during equipment network disconnection or failure, operation and maintenance activities must adopt temporary video recording for full-process documentation. This "record even when disconnected" requirement effectively closes the loophole of "using maintenance windows to evade monitoring."

Superimposed with the GB 18918 Amendment: Double Pressure Test for Wastewater Treatment Plants

For the wastewater treatment industry, the implementation of HJ 1480—2026 has another superimposed effect — it forms a combined punch with the Amendment to the Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB 18918—2002), which took effect on 2026 年 3 月 1 日.

The GB 18918 Amendment adds instantaneous values for 4 pollutants including Chemical Oxygen Demand, ammonia nitrogen, Total Nitrogen, and Total Phosphorus, and adjusts 3 items including pH, color, and fecal coliform count from daily average values to instantaneous values, explicitly stating that "exceedance of either the instantaneous value or the daily average value shall be judged as exceedance." This means a single instantaneous data point may trigger enforcement. Meanwhile, HJ 1480—2026 requires that the entire process of generating this instantaneous data be traceable with full records — once data is abnormal, the regulator can directly access contemporaneous videos of sampling, calibration, and reagent replacement.

The result of superimposing the two is to shift the management focus of wastewater treatment plants from "end-of-pipe compliance" further upstream to "process verifiability": influent quality early warning, adaptive adjustment of process conditions, online monitoring and sampling documentation, and closed-loop video and log records for abnormal conditions — all have changed from "bonus items" to "mandatory questions." It should be emphasized that the competent authority has repeatedly clarified in its interpretations that the Amendment does not tighten limits or require process changes; the cost pressure is concentrated on the management and monitoring side, rather than on civil construction and process modification.

Who Will Be Inspected First, and How Enterprises Should Prepare

From the perspective of implementation pace, the first to be covered are pollutant discharge entities whose pollutant discharge permits require the installation of automatic monitoring equipment, including those already issued and those to be newly issued. For the wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse industry, three things are recommended to be done as soon as possible:

• Prepare a point-by-point inventory first — develop a deployment plan based on the point information specified in the pollutant discharge permit, and verify point by point whether the camera coverage includes sampling ports, measuring weirs, station building instruments, and reference material storage locations, avoiding "installed but not fully captured";
• Confirm networking specifications in advance — video aggregation platform access requirements differ across regions. Before procurement, confirm the specific networking access requirements with the local ecological environment department in advance, especially the access method and bandwidth under GB/T 28181;
• Integrate video into the existing O&M system — the four requirements of tamper-proofing, 90 天 storage, intelligent alarming, and offline continuous recording mean this is not something that can be delivered by simply "buying a few cameras," but rather must be integrated with the plant's smart operations platform and incorporated into inspection and duty workflows.

It should be noted that the standard does not mandate specific equipment brands, but parameters and supporting requirements must strictly comply with the provisions. This sends a clear signal to the supply side: competition will focus on tamper-proof storage, intelligent analysis algorithms, and platform networking capability, rather than purely hardware price.

Conclusion

HJ 1480—2026 is a first-time release with no previous version for comparison. The signal it conveys is more worth pondering than its provisions: when online monitoring data is already largely networked and coverage approaches 100%, the next step in regulation is inevitably to equip data with "process evidence." For compliant enterprises, this is an opportunity to make their level of refined management visible; for enterprises that rely on "looking good on data alone," this is a clear signal of the end.

About TIANYI TECH: TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED) focuses on the fields of wastewater treatment, reclaimed water reuse, and water environment governance, providing municipal and industrial clients with full-chain services including process design, equipment integration, engineering general contracting, and smart operations. The company continuously tracks global water treatment policies, technologies, and market dynamics, and is committed to helping customers achieve efficient utilization and sustainable management of water resources through reliable solutions. For more information, please visit the company website at www.tianyitech.hk.

Source: Ministry of Ecology and Environment, "Technical Requirements for Construction and Networking of Video Monitoring Systems for Self-Monitoring of Pollutant Discharging Units" (HJ 1480—2026, issued on 2026 年 7 月 27 日, implemented on 2026 年 10 月 1 日); Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment reply on the construction of video monitoring systems for self-monitoring of pollutant discharging units (2026 年 10 月 8 日). This article is compiled based on the above public information.