China launches national water efficiency campaign

On 9th November, the Chinese central authorities outlined a new five-year plan which includes an ambitious goal to double the use of unconventional water resources from around 9 billion m³ in 2019 to over 17 billion m³ in 2025.

The target is expected to be hit through four key approaches – municipal wastewater reuse (by raising the reuse rate of treated sewage to over 25% by 2025), seawater desalination (by increasing installed capacity from 1.65 million m³/d in 2020 to more than 2.9 million m³/d in 2025), stormwater harvesting, and water reuse in the mining sector.

In 2020, China’s water use per RMB10,000 ($1,564) of GDP and per RMB10,000 of industrial value-add stood at 57.2m3 and 32.9m3, respectively. The plan is to reduce these figures by 16%, respectively, over the next five years as part of the country’s ambition to improve its water use efficiency and conserve surface and groundwater resources.