Ecological Environment Code Takes Effect on August 15: Reclaimed Water Written Into Law, Wastewater Treatment Plants Accelerate Toward "City's Second Water Source"

Introduction

China's first foundational and comprehensive law in the ecological-environment field — the Ecological Environment Code — will officially take effect on August 15, 2026. The Code dedicates a chapter to encouraging reclaimed water utilization and explicitly promotes the transformation of wastewater treatment plants from "compliance discharge" to "the city's second water source and a key node in the water cycle." For TIANYI TECH, which is deeply engaged in wastewater treatment and water reuse, the elevation of reclaimed water utilization to a statutory priority for the first time means that the company's "investment-construction-operation integration + water reuse" model has gained top-level legal backing, opening up brand narrative and market space simultaneously.

Background: A Code That Writes Reclaimed Water "Into Law"

For a long time, reclaimed water (water reuse) in China has been promoted mainly through policy documents, departmental regulations or local standards, lacking unified support from higher-level legislation. This has led to uneven progress across regions, vague pricing mechanisms and unclear rights and responsibilities for users. The introduction of the Ecological Environment Code fills this gap: as a foundational law, it confirms the national priority of wastewater resource recovery, requiring coordinated promotion of wastewater treatment, reclaimed water production and allocation, turning "water conservation is water source development" from a concept into a rigid institution.

Notably, the Code not only encourages reclaimed water utilization but also sets mandatory requirements for discharge outlet management, whole-lifecycle sludge tracking and rural wastewater treatment — "one outlet, one policy," end-to-end traceability of sludge "from generation to disposal," and full coverage of county-level rural wastewater treatment. Together, these provisions chart a clear direction for wastewater treatment equipment and process technology: more efficient, lower-carbon and more traceable.

Core: The "Triple Transformation" of the Wastewater Treatment Plant's Role

The most fundamental change brought by the Code is the redefinition of the wastewater treatment plant's role. In the past, treatment plants were widely seen as the "end of the pollution-control chain"; the Code now pushes them toward being the "city's second water source" and a "node in the water cycle."

The first transformation is a functional transformation — from a singular focus on "compliance discharge" to equal emphasis on "treatment – reuse – replenishment." The integration of plants, networks and rivers, and the pathways of reclaimed water into industry, landscaping and river/lake replenishment are now legally recognized, turning wastewater plants from a "burden" into a "water source."

The second is a value transformation — reclaimed water has gained a legal identity, and supporting investments in allocation networks, transmission pipelines and water-filling stations have gained policy backing, strengthening the asset attributes of water utilities and establishing the "water bank" logic.

The third is a responsibility transformation — whole-lifecycle sludge tracking and "one outlet, one policy" discharge management mean that operators' responsibilities move upstream and are fully documented, forcing enterprises to make digital, standardized operations a standard feature rather than an option.

Significance: Three Benefits for TIANYI TECH

For TIANYI TECH, this Code is a direct "timely opportunity."

First, compliance advantages are amplified. TIANYI TECH's long-held "investment-construction-operation integration + water reuse" model fits precisely the wastewater resource recovery direction the Code advocates; as regulations become more rigid, projects built to resource-recovery standards from the outset will face fewer detours and lower costs than retrofits done after the fact.

Second, the brand narrative has an anchor. Reclaimed water being "written into law" is an industry milestone, and TIANYI TECH can leverage it to reinforce its "wastewater resource recovery operator" positioning, presenting project cases, reuse rates and emission reductions as a compliance record to build differentiation in bidding and client communication.

Third, the business boundary is broadened. The Code's mandatory requirements on rural wastewater and sludge tracking open incremental space for TIANYI TECH in county-level decentralized wastewater and coordinated sludge disposal scenarios; the "city's second water source" framing also provides a policy footnote for mature solutions such as park-level "point-to-point" reclaimed water distribution and industrial reuse.

Industry Perspective: In the Resource-Recovery Era, the Competition Is About "System Capability"

Looking at the big picture, the Code's implementation marks China's water industry moving from "engineering-based water management" to "resource-based water management." In the past the contest was about who could clean water; from now on it is about who can put water to use and keep it circulating. This places higher demands on enterprises: a standalone equipment vendor will struggle, while system-service providers offering "process packages + digital-intelligent operations + compliance closed loops" hold the moat.

TIANYI TECH is well positioned for this transformation — it understands treatment processes and has experience in integrated water-reuse solutions and investment-construction-operation delivery. Going forward, we recommend treating "benchmarking against the Code's mandatory provisions" as the baseline of solution design: reclaimed water quality grading, sludge traceability and upfront carbon accounting should all be incorporated in the early project stage, so that policy dividends can be converted into deliverable competitiveness.

Conclusion

The Ecological Environment Code taking effect on August 15 marks a watershed for the water industry. For TIANYI TECH, this is not just news but a window to write the "wastewater resource recovery operator" story into legal text and present it to the market. Whoever first builds a benchmark in compliance and reuse will be the first to secure the ticket to the next stage of competition.

Source: National People's Congress Standing Committee, Ministry of Justice public information (effective 2026-08-15); TIANYI TECH industry observation.