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Towards the New Era of Wastewater Treatment of China: Development History,

Current Status, and Future Directions

Ao Xu, Yin-Hu Wu, Zhuo Chen, Guangxue Wu, Qianyuan Wu, Fangqiong Ling, Wei
E. Huang, Hong-Ying Hu

PII: S2666-4453(20)30011-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watcyc.2020.06.004
Reference: WATCYC 11

To appear in: Water Cycle

Received Date: 1 April 2020

Revised Date: 12 June 2020
Accepted Date: 14 June 2020

Please cite this article as: A. Xu, Y.-H. Wu, Z. Chen, G. Wu, Q. Wu, F. Ling, W.E. Huang, H.-Y. Hu,
Towards the New Era of Wastewater Treatment of China: Development History, Current Status, and
Future Directions, Water Cycle, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watcyc.2020.06.004.

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 1 Towards the New Era of Wastewater Treatment of China: Development

2 History, Current Status, and Future Directions

3 Ao Xu1,#, Yin-Hu Wu2,#,*, Zhuo Chen2, Guangxue Wu3, Qianyuan Wu3, Fangqiong Ling4,

4 Wei E. Huang5 ,Hong-Ying Hu2,6

1
5 Research Institute for Environmental Innovation (Suzhou), Tsinghua, Jiangsu Suzhou

6 215163, PR China.
2
7 Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control State Key Joint Laboratory, State

8 Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk

9 Control (SMARC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR

10 China.
3
11 Shenzhen Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Tsinghua

12 Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR

13 China
4
14 Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington

15 University in St. Louis, Green Hall 3120E, MO 63130, St Louis, USA

5
16 Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX1 3PJ

17 Oxford, United Kingdom

6
18 Shenzhen Environmental Science and New Energy Technology Engineering Laboratory,

19 Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Shenzhen 518055, PR China

20 * Corresponding author: Yin-Hu Wu

21 Add: Room 524, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10084, PR China

22 Tel: (+86-10) 6279-7265

23 Fax: (+86-10) 6279-7265

1
 1 Email: wuyinhu@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

2 Abstract: Water is essential for the sustainable development of human society. With the largest

3 population and rapid economic development, water usage and treatment in China have grown

4 tremendously in the past decades. In order to prevent water pollution, the standards for

5 wastewater effluent discharge in China have been gradually developed and implemented since

6 1973. After the rapid development during over 40 years, numerous milestones have been

7 achieved in terms of infrastructure coverage, standard and policy system establishment, and

8 technological innovations. In this article, we reviewed the development history and the current

9 status of the wastewater treatment in China, including the generation of wastewater, the

10 construction of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the overall treatment performance of

11 WWTPs, as well as the developments in effluent discharge standards. In addition, we highlighted

12 the challenges lying ahead in the aspects of influent concentration, sludge disposal and water

13 reclamation. Based on the achievement and foundation built in the past, the new era of

14 wastewater treatment of China is on the way, in which water reclamation, wastewater treatment in

15 rural areas and resource/energy recovery from sludge are becoming the main tasks.

16 Key words: China; Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs); Wastewater discharge standards;

17 Water reclamation; New era

18

19

2
 1 1. Introduction

2 Water is essential for agriculture, industry, and daily human life. With population growth,

3 economic development, and changing water consumption patterns, the global water demand has

4 increased by 600% in the past 100 years [1]. Besides, urbanization also contributes to increased

5 water consumption [2]. It is estimated that 52% of global population now live in areas

6 experiencing water scarcity [3], and according to the United Nation’s Water Report, at least 3.6

7 billion people will be experiencing water scarcity in 2050 [4]. Water usage by human societies

8 alters the water cycle and degrades the quality of water. If discharged without treatment,

9 municipal and industrial wastewater would lead to damages to aquatic ecosystems in ways such

10 as eutrophication and poisoning of fish. Discharges of sewage-associated pathogenic organisms

11 into recreational water bodies can also adversely influence human health [5, 6]. However, with

12 adequate treatment, water pollution could be minimized, and wastewater can even serve as a

13 resource for nutrients and recycled water. Therefore, wastewater treatment technologies play a

14 crucial role in achieving a sustainable future of the human society.

15 In China, systematic pollution control in the wastewater sector started in 1973 and flourished in

16 the last decades. It should be noted that the recent developments in wastewater treatment in China

17 came with a growing awareness from the Chinese people to environmental protection. In 2013, a

18 survey carried out by China Youth Daily showed that more than 70% of Chinese were concerned

19 about water pollution [7]. Furthermore, the government has also announced more progressive

20 policies and plans in the area of pollution control since 2014, including new effluent discharge

21 standards [8, 9]. After years of development, water pollution control in China has made

22 significant milestones.

23 This article is intended to introduce the history of wastewater standard system in China since the

24 development of the first standard, Discharge standard of the three industrial wastes (GBJ 4-73) in

3
 1 1973. Furthermore, the present, history, and projection of wastewater treatment technology in

2 China are also discussed.

3 2. The overview of wastewater generation and treatment

4 The generation and treatment of wastewater needs to be viewed as part of the urban water cycle,

5 where large masses of water is introduced to sustain life and industrial production needs. With the

6 largest population in the world and recent rapid economic development, China’s water

7 consumption was expected to increase in the past decade. However, the water usage did not grow

8 linearly with the urbanization progress, as shown in the water usage and urbanization ratio in Fig.

9 1. The water usage and urbanization ratio are shown in Fig. 1. This is likely due to development

10 in water conservation policies. The country’s urbanization rate increased from 41.8% in 2004 to

11 59.6% in 2018 (Fig. 1), while the total water usage increased from 554.8 billion tons in 2004 and

12 peaked at 618.3 billion tons in 2013, it decreased in the years that followed. The total water

13 consumption gradually decreased to 601.6 billion tons in 2018. The decrease in national water

14 consumption coincided with the implementation of state-wide water-saving policies. China Water

15 Conservation Technology Policy Outline was released by the government in 2005, which

16 stipulated water-saving policies in agricultural, industrial and municipal water consumption.

17 Following that, dramatic decreases in water consumption were reported in the agricultural sector,

18 which accounted for more than 60 % of total water usage. While agricultural water usage

19 increased from 358.6×109 m3 in 2004 to 392.2×109 m3 in 2013, it decreased to 369.3×109 m3 in

20 2018.The industrial water usage, which came second after agricultural water usage, showed a

21 similar trend. Industrial water usage increased from 122.9×109 m3 in 2004 to 146.2×109 m3 in

22 2011 and decreased to 126.2×109 m3 in 2018. The other sectors, namely municipal and ecological

23 water usage, increased from 65.1×109 m3 and 8.2×109 m3 in 2004 to 86.0×109 m3 and 20.1×109 m3

24 in 2018, respectively. These types of water consumption might have been mainly affected by

25 urbanization, and present opportunities for future water conservation efforts.

4
 1 As part of the urban water cycle, most of the water used in municipal areas is collected and

2 treated in municipal WWTPs. Besides, rainwater and part of the treated industrial wastewater is

3 also collected by the urban drainage pipeline grid, which is also treated in municipal WWTPs.

4 The wastewater discharge volume in recent years is shown in Fig. 2. In general, total wastewater

5 discharge volume gradually increased from 41.5×109m3 in 2000 to 73.5×109m3 in 2015. After

6 2015, the total wastewater discharge volume slightly decreased to 70.0×109m3 in 2017. The

7 industrial wastewater discharge volume gradually increased from 19.4×109m3 in 2000 to

8 24.7×109m3 in 2007 and decreased to 20.0×109m3 in 2015. Meanwhile, municipal wastewater

9 discharge volume increased from 22.1×109m3 in 2000 to 53.5×109m3 in 2015.

10 3. Development history of the standards related to wastewater treatment in China

11 The wastewater treatment effluent discharge standards of water pollutants in China can be traced

12 back to Discharge standard of the three industrial wastes (GBJ 4-73), which was released in

13 1973. After the development in over 40 years, there are 62 discharge standards of water pollutants

14 in China now, including one standard for municipal wastewater treatment plant (GB 18918-2002)

15 and 61 standards related to different industries. Together, these standards form the standard

16 system of water pollution control in China and provide the basis for discharge management of

17 water pollutants.

18 We summarize the development of discharge standards in China into four stages (Table 1):

19 (1) 1973-1978: Discharge standard of the three industrial wastes (GBJ 4-73) was established.

20 In order to control "the three industrial wastes" (wastewater, waste gas and solid waste),

21 Discharge standard of the three industrial wastes (GBJ 4-73) was approved in the first national

22 conference on environmental protection held by the State Council of the People’s Republic of

23 China in August 1973. This standard was released as GBJ 4-73 by the former National

5
 1 Construction Commission, former National Planning Commission, and National Health

2 Commission on November 17, 1973.

3 GBJ 4-73 was the first national discharge standard in China and it specified the discharge limit of

4 pollutants in wastewater, waste gas, and solid waste from industries. This standard marked the

5 beginning of water pollution control in China.

6 (2) 1979-1987: Basic discharge standards related to specific industries were established

7 In 1979, China enacted the Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Protection

8 and then the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. The Law on the Prevention

9 and Control of Water Pollution authorized the competent environmental protection administration

10 agency under the state council to develop national pollutant discharge standards; it also

11 authorized the provincial government to develop local water pollutant discharge standards. Since

12 then, the national pollutant discharge standards were developed systematically.

13 Because Discharge standard of the three industrial wastes (GBJ 4-73) could not provide

14 scientific and reasonable management for the pollutants from all kinds of industries, China

15 decided to develop different discharge standards for specific industries. From 1979 to 1987, a

16 total of 27 standards for specific industries were developed, including paper industry, synthetic

17 detergent, leather industry, steel industry, nonferrous metals industry, etc. With these efforts, the

18 primary standard system related to industrial pollutant discharge of China was established.

19 (3) 1988-2002: Integrated wastewater discharge standard was established

20 After 1988, the methodology of developing pollutant discharge standards changed due to the

21 establishment of the pollutant discharge fee system. Besides the standards for specific industries,

22 the integrated wastewater discharge standard was also established in the standard system.

23 Integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB 8978-1988) was released in 1988 to replace most

6
 1 standards for specific industries. After that, the number of national standards for specific

2 industries decreased from 27 to 9.

3 The integrated wastewater discharge standard was updated in 1996 and 2002 as GB 8978-1996

4 and GB 18918-2002, respectively. During this period, it was proposed that the integrated

5 wastewater discharge standard should not intersect with the standards for specific industries. GB

6 18918-2002 was released to replace the urban sewage part of GB 8978-1996.

7 (4) 2002-present: Discharge standards related to industries were updated and subdivided

8 Because the integrated wastewater discharge standard could not reflect the generation and

9 treatment process of the pollutants in all kinds of industries, national environmental protection

10 authorities decided to promote the development of the standards for specific industries. Up to

11 now, 61 different standards related to different industries were released. These standards, together

12 with the current integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB 18918-2002), form the standard

13 system of water pollution control in China.

14 The wastewater treatment standards raised profoundly from 1973 to 2002, with more stringent

15 stipulations on suspended solids and organic compounds, which were already included in GBJ 4-

16 73, and the introduction and modification of standards on nitrogenous compounds, phosphates,

17 and water’s aesthetic aspects. Fig. 3 summarizes the change of main water quality indexes in

18 representative pollutant discharge standards of China during the development of the standard

19 system. We consider wastewater effluent standards GBJ 4-73 (1973), CJ3025-93 (1993), GB

20 8978-1996 (1996) and GB 18918-2002 (2002). Because the implementation of discharge

21 standards concerns geographical zoning, we compared the most stringent discharge standard limit

22 values (i.e. mandated in Class 1-A zone) of representative pollutants. With the development of

23 the standard system, the discharge concentrations of the water quality indexes became more

24 stringent in order to protect better the water quality of receiving water bodies. For example,

7
 1 maximum allowable discharge concentration (MADC) for chemical oxygen demand (COD) value

2 was 100 mg/L in GBJ 4-73 (1973), the first national discharge standard in China, and then they

3 were raised to be 60 and 50 mg/L in GB 8978-1996 (1996) and GB 18918-2002 (2002),

4 respectively.

5 Besides the changes in the MADC, more water quality parameters were included in the discharge

6 standards during the development. The first discharge standard, GBJ 4-73 (1973), only included

7 COD, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS) among the eight main water

8 quality indexes we considered (Fig. 3). Ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) started to appear in the

9 discharge standard in GB 8978-1996 (1996) and stayed in GB 18918-2002 (2002). Total nitrogen

10 (TN) was included in GB 18918-2002. As for phosphorus, this index was included since GB

11 8978-1996 as phosphate concentration, and then as total phosphorus (TP) in GB 18918-2002.

12 The change of discharge standards (Fig. 3) also marked the development of the objective and

13 technologies for water pollution control. At the initial stage, organic pollutants were the main

14 target to control, and the conventional activated sludge process was the most commonly-used

15 technology. With the development in China, water bloom became a serious environmental issue,

16 and thus nitrogenous and phosphorus compounds were included in the discharge standard to

17 reduce the nutrient burdens to receiving water bodies. Developments in the accessibility of

18 advanced processes like membrane bioreactor (MBR), sequencing batch reactors (SBR), became

19 feasible and accessible. Correspondingly, the MADC of these water quality indexes decreased

20 significantly.

21 4. The overview of municipal WWTPs construction

22 4.1 The number of municipal WWTPs

23 In the past decade, the Chinese wastewater treatment system experienced significant development.

24 The data of municipal WWTPs in china that are from the National Municipal Wastewater

8
 1 Treatment Management System have been available since 2007. As shown in Fig. 4, the total

2 number of WWTPs increased from 1096 at the end of 2007 to 5333 at the end of September 2019.

3 Meanwhile, the number of WWTPs that implemented the highest discharge standard in the

4 country, i.e. the Class1-A standard, almost quintupled in the past 12 years. In 2007, 574 WWTPs

5 implemented Class 1-A standard in 2007, which accounted for 52.4% of total WWTPs. In 2019,

6 2847 WWTPs implanted Class 1-A standard that accounted for 53.4% of total WWTPs.

7 4.2 The distribution of treatment capacity of municipal WWTPs

8 The treatment capacity of WWTPs, as well as the total number of WWTPs, has increased

9 tremendously since 2007. Fig. 5 showed the treatment capacity distribution of WWTPs from

10 2007 to 2018. Small WWTPs have experienced the most rapid growth since 2007. In 2007, 99

11 small WWTPs accounted for 9.0% of the total number of WWTPs in China. Besides, the total

12 treatment capacity of all small WWTPs, which was 0.42×106 m3/day, only accounted for 0.59 %

13 of the total treatment capacity in 2007. The number and treatment capacity of small WWTPs

14 steadily increased from 2007 to 2018. By the end of 2018, there were 1400 small WWTPs,

15 accounting for 27.9 % of the total number of WWTPs. Moreover, the treatment capacity of small

16 WWTPs also increased to 3.91×106 m3/day, constituting 2 % of the total capacity.

17 Medium WWTPs are the most prevalent in terms of treatment capacity in China and accounts for

18 the majority of treatment capacities in the country. In 2007, 880 medium WWTPs accounted for

19 79% of the total number of WWTPs in China with a treatment capacity of 37.9×106m3 per day.

20 The total number of medium WWTPs increased in recent years while the percentage of them

21 decreased. As of 2018, 3297 medium WWTPs that accounted for 65% of the number of total

22 WWTPs. They have a treatment capacity of 117.08×106m3 per day, which constituted 60% of

23 total treatment capacity.

9
 1 As for large WWTPs, there were only 125 in 2007, which constituted 11.3% of the total number

2 of WWTPs. Nevertheless, the treatment capacity of those WWTPs, which was 3.34×106m3/day,

3 accounted for 47.6% of the total wastewater treatment capacity. In the following years, the ratio

4 of the number of large WWTPs gradually decreased, constituting only 6.3% in 2018. Despite that,

5 the large WWTPs accounted for 37.9% of the total wastewater treatment capacity in 2018, which

6 reached 7.39×106m3/day.

7 5. The overview of wastewater treatment performance

8 5.1 The quantity of municipal wastewater generation and treatment

9 Most of the wastewater generated in the cities was collected by the urban drainage collection

10 network and transported to municipal WWTPs for treatment. However, not all wastewater could

11 be collected and treated due to inadequate sewage treatment facilities and sewage collection

12 system. Fig. 6 shows the quantity of wastewater treated in the municipal WWTPs and its ratio

13 from 1991 to 2018. In 1991, only 0.45×109m3 wastewater was treated that only accounted for

14 14.9% of total wastewater discharged. Both the amount of treated wastewater and its ratio

15 gradually increased in the following years. In 2018, 95.5% of total wastewater discharged was

16 treated by municipal WWTPs, which was 4.98×109m3.

17 5.2 The influent water quality of WWTPs

18 The pollutants in the wastewater were influenced by many variables, such as human activities and

19 rainfalls. Fig. 7 showed the median of 6 main pollutant concentrations in the influents of all the

20 WWTPs in China from 2007 to 2018. The data of November of each year was chosen to represent

21 the data of each year, which could reflect the annual change. In general, the pollutant

22 concentration in the influents has gradually decreased since 2007. The median of COD in the

23 influent decreased from 264.6 mg/L in 2007 to 184.4 mg/L in 2018. The median of BOD and SS

24 were also gradually decreased from 2007. The median of BOD decreased from 113.0 mg/L in

10
 1 2007 to 76.5 mg/L in 2018. Moreover, the median of SS decreased from 144.1 mg/L in 2007 to

2 118.0 mg/L in 2018. The medians of NH3-N, TN and TP experienced a slight fluctuation and

3 were stable during that time.

4 5.3 The effluent water quality of WWTPs

5 After treatment, most of the pollutants were removed. Their concentrations in the effluent of

6 WWTPs were significantly lower than the influent. Overall, the concentrations of all the major

7 pollutants, in the effluents of WWTPs in China decreased from 2007 to 2018, suggesting that the

8 effluent water quality has improved significantly. Fig. 8 showed the change of six main pollutant

9 concentrations in the effluents of WWTPs (the data of November). Fig. 9 showed the four

10 pollutants, COD, NH3-N, TN and TP, concentration distribution and their cumulative

11 probabilities in the year of 2018.

12 The COD concentration in the effluent decreased from 2007. In 2007, the mean of COD

13 concentration was 48.34 mg/L, while its median was 39.97 mg/L. both average and mean

14 decreased in the following years and reached 21.7 mg/L and 20.5 mg/L in 2018, respectively. As

15 for COD concentration distribution, the COD concentration of 98.6% WWTP effluent in 2018,

16 accounting for 59.66×109m3, was below 50 mg/L, the class 1-A standard.

17 As for BOD concentration, around 90% BOD in the influent was removed during the treatment

18 process. The mean and median were 13.45 mg/L and 10.6 mg/L in 2007, respectively. Moreover,

19 the BOD concentration had fluctuated decreased since 2007. In 2018, the mean and median of

20 BOD concentration in the effluents reached 6.16 mg/L and 5.33 mg/L, respectively.

21 SS concentration removal was also significant and improved gradually. In 2007, the average SS

22 concentration in the effluent was 17.32 mg/L, with the median of it was 14.03 mg/L. In 2018, the

23 mean and median of SS concentration decreased to 7.74 mg/L and 7.00 mg/L, respectively.

11
 1 Effluent NH3-N and TN concentration reflected the nitrogen removal of WWTPs. In the

2 wastewater, nitrogen is usually present as ammonia nitrogen, organic bonded nitrogen, nitrite

3 nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. The former two formations were the primary form in the

4 wastewater and could be removed by bioprocess [14, 15]. Compared with influents, NH3-N and

5 TN concentration were significantly lower. The mean and median of NH3-N concentration in the

6 effluents were 7.53 mg/L and 4.91 mg/L in 2007 while the mean and median of TN were

7 17.82mg/L and 13.00 mg/L. Since 2007, the nitrogen concentration in the effluents had gradually

8 decreased. In 2018, the median and mean of NH3-N concentration decreased to 1.48 mg/L and

9 0.97 mg/L. Among the total effluents discharged in 2018, 95.7% of them, accounting for

10 57.9×109 m3, had a total NH3-N concentration less than 5 mg/L, meeting the class 1-A standard.

11 Moreover, the median and mean of TN concentration reached 10.2 mg/L and 10.0 mg/L in 2018,

12 respectively. The TN concentration of 94.6% WWTP effluent in 2018, accounting for 57.24×109

13 m3, was below 15 mg/L, satisfying the class 1-A standard.

14 The TP concentration in the effluents of WWTPs also improved during the past decade. In 2008,

15 the mean and median of TP concentration in the effluent were 0.99 mg/L and 0.80 mg/L,

16 respectively. Furthermore, in 2018, its mean and median decreased to 0.41 mg/L and 0.29 mg/L,

17 which were lower than the class 1-A, 0.5 mg/L. The TP concentration of 84.6% WWTP effluent

18 in 2018, accounting for 51.19×109m3, was below 0.5 mg/L.

19 6. The challenges faced by wastewater treatment in China

20 After the rapid development over the past 40 years, a series of significant progress was made in

21 the wastewater treatment industry of China, including infrastructure construction, standard and

22 policy system establishment, and technology innovations.

23 (1) A total of 5333 WWTPs have been built until September 2019, with a total treatment capacity

24 over 1.9×108 m3 per day.

12
 1 (2) The wastewater discharge standard system has been gradually established with an integrated

2 discharge standard and 61 standards related to specific industry.

3 (3) Furthermore, the water quality of the effluent from WWTPs has been improved continuously.

4 However, several challenges still lie ahead, especially in the influent concentration, sludge

5 generation and water reclamation.

6 6.1 Influent concentration

7 As shown in Fig. 7 and discussed in the previous studies [15], the influent concentration,

8 especially the COD and BOD concentrations of WWTPs in China, was relatively low. Taking the

9 median value of influent concentration in 2018 (Fig. 7) as an example, the COD and BOD

10 concentrations were 184.4 mg/L and 76.5 mg/L, respectively. The BOD/TN value was 2.55,

11 which was much lower than the optimal ratio for effective nitrogen removal. Therefore, in order

12 to achieve the Class 1-A effluent discharge standard (GB 18918-2002) or even stricter local

13 standards, a large amount of organic carbon source (usual methanol) was added during the

14 operation of WWTPs. The addition of an external carbon source not only increased the

15 operational cost of WWTPs significantly but also brought challenges to the COD removal of

16 WWTPs. In order to solve this problem, it will involve the change of the habits of using water,

17 the methods and pipe network for wastewater collection, as well as some novel wastewater

18 treatment technology, such as Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation [16, 17].

19 6.2 Sludge generation

20 The activated sludge process is still the primary process used in most WWTPs of China,

21 providing the main removal for the pollutants in wastewater. One of the most essential and

22 inevitable problems of the activated sludge process is the generation of sludge. As for the scale

23 and amount of wastewater in China, the generation of sludge cannot be ignored. The amount of

24 dry sludge in China (estimated from the wet weight with 80% water content) from 2007 to 2018

13
1 is shown in Fig. 10. Although the dry sludge generation rate was kept below 0.12 kg/m3 since

2 2010, with the increase of wastewater amount (Fig. 2), the total amount of dry sludge increased

3 from 3.8×109 kg in 2009 to 6.9×109 kg in 2018 with a relative increase ratio of 81.6%. The

4 reasonable disposal of sludge is an inevitable challenge in the wastewater treatment of China. It is

5 crucial to develop novel and feasible technologies for energy and resource recovery from sludge

6 rather than simple disposal.

6.3 Water reclamation

Due to the large population, China was facing water scarcity. In 2018, water availability in China

was 1971.8 m3 per capita, which faced water source vulnerable and was close to the defined

scarcity threshold of 1700 m3 per capita per year [15, 18]. Water shortage is and may always be

an essential issue for the sustainable development of China. Therefore, water reclamation is in

great need. However, as mentioned above, the water reclamation rate from wastewater was only

11-15% in China(the data from MOHURC, the calculation could be seen in supplemental

information [12, 13]). In order to break the bottleneck of water shortage and support the long-

term development of China, it is essential to promote water reclamation.

In 2016, "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" National Urban Sewage Treatment and Recycling Facilities

Construction Plan was released by The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and

National Development and Reform Commission. It stipulated that before the end of 2020, water

reclamation rate should reach 30%, 20% and 15% for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, water-

deficient area of China and other cities and counties, respectively. Therefore, besides pollution

control, water reclamation is becoming the main objective of WWTPs in the new era of

wastewater treatment in China. Some fundamental standards for wastewater reclamation have

been established, including reclaimed water classification and marking [19], water quality for

different reuse purposes [20-23] and benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use [24].

14
7. New era of wastewater treatment in China

The extensive infrastructure construction, standard and policy system establishment, and

technology innovations provide a solid foundation for the new era of wastewater treatment in

China. As emphasized above, water reclamation is becoming more and more essential to support

the sustainable and high-quality development of China. With the significant improvement of the

effluent water quality from WWTPs (Fig. 8 and Fig. 9), the main water quality indexes (COD,

NH3-N, TN and TP) are approaching the standard of reclaimed water for scenic environment use

(The reuse of urban recycling water – Water quality standard for scenic environment use, GB/T

18921-2019) (Table S1). These facts indicated that the foundation for large-scale wastewater

reclamation had been established in China during the development of wastewater treatment.

Besides, the treatment ratio of wastewater in cities is approaching saturation point (Fig. 6).

However, wastewater treatment in rural areas is still relatively underdeveloped. The

establishment of the wastewater treatment system in rural areas of China may not follow the

similar pattern of the cities, where large-scale centralized WWTPs were built. In the rural areas of

China, decentralized wastewater treatment facilities would be more feasible and can be developed

according to the need of water reclamation.

Based on the foundation built in over 40 years, a new era of wastewater treatment in China is on

the way. Water reclamation, wastewater treatment in rural areas and resource/energy recovery

from sludge are becoming the main tasks.

Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.

2019YFC0408600) and Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.

51738005).

Author Contributions

15
# Ao XU and Yin-Hu Wu contributed equally to the work.

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[12] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction of the People's Republic of China

(MOHURC), National Municipal Wastewater Treatment Management System. 2019,

Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction of the People's Republic of China:

Beijing, China.

[13] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction of the People's Republic of China,

2018 Statistical report on urban-rural construction. Ministry of Housing and Urban-

Rural Construction of the People's Republic of China. 2019: Beijing, China. available

from: http://www.mohurd.gov.cn/xytj/tjzljsxytjgb/jstjnj/ (accessed 15.03.20., in Chinese)

[14] Metcalf, L., H.P. Eddy, and G. Tchobanoglous, Wastewater engineering: treatment,

disposal, and reuse. 1979: McGraw-Hill New York.

[15] Sun, Y., et al., Characteristics of water quality of municipal wastewater treatment plants

in China: implications for resources utilization and management. Journal of Cleaner

Production, 2016. 131: p. 1-9.

[16] Qu, J., et al., Municipal wastewater treatment in China: Development history and future

perspectives. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 2019. 13(6): p. 88.

[17] van Loosdrecht, M.C. and D. Brdjanovic, Anticipating the next century of wastewater

treatment. Science, 2014. 344(6191): p. 1452-1453.

[18] Connor, R., The United Nations world water development report 2015: water for a

sustainable world. Vol. 1. 2015: UNESCO publishing.

[19] T/CSES (in press). Guideline for water reuse: Reclaimed water classification and

marking. Beijing, China.

17
[20] GB/T 18920-2002 The reuse of urban recycling water—Water quality standard for urban

miscellaneous water consumption, Beijing, China

[21] GB/T 18921-2002 The reuse of urban recycling water—Water quality standard for

scenic environment use, Beijing, China

[22] GB/T 19772-2005 The reuse of urban recycling water—Water quality standard for

groundwater recharge, Beijing, China

[23] GB/T 25499-2010 The reuse of urban recycling water—Water quality standard for green

space, Beijing, China

[24] T/CSES 01—2019. Guideline for benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use (2019).

Beijing, China.

18
 1000 70
Ecological Municipal
Industrial Agricultural
Urbanization rate 60
800
50

Urbanization rate (%)

Water usage (109 m3)

600
40

30
400

20
200
10

0 0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

Fig. 1 The water usage in different fields in China (The data from National Bureau of Statistics of

China (NBSC) [10])

19
 80
Municipal

Wastewater discharge volume (109m3)

70 Industrial
Total
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Year

Fig. 2 The annual quantity of wastewater discharged in China (The data from National Bureau of

Statistics, Ministry of Ecology and Environment [10, 11])

20
 1000

SS
100
Concentration (mg/L)

COD
BOD Color
TN
10
NH3-N

1
Phosphate TP

0.1
1973 1993 1996 2002
Year

Fig. 3 The change of main water quality indexes in relevant pollutant discharge standards of

China

21
 6000
Class 3
Class 2
5000
Class 1-B
Local standard
Number of WWTPs

4000 Class 1-A

3000

2000

1000

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Year

Fig. 4 The number of WWTPs in China with different implementation standards (The data from

Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction of the People's Republic of China

(MOHURC)[12])

22
 a) 6
Large WWTPs
5 Medium WWTPs
Number of WWTPs (103) Small WWTPs
4

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

b) 22
20 Large WWTPs
Medium WWTPs
Treatment capacity(103m3/day)

18
Small WWTPs
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

Fig. 5 The distribution of WWTPs in China. (Large WWTP has a treatment capacity of over

100,000 m3/day. Medium WWTP has a treatment capacity between 10,000 m3/day and 100,000

m3/day. Small WWTP has a treatment capacity lower than 10,000 m3/day. the data from

MOHURC [12])

23
 60 100
Treated wastewater volume (109m3)
50
80

Treated percentage (%)

40
60
30
40
20

20
10

0 0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Year

Fig. 6 The annual volume of wastewater treated in municipal WWTPs and treated percentage

(The data from MOHURC[13])

24
 1000

COD
SS
Concentration (mg/L)

100
BOD
TN

NH3-N
10

TP

1
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

Fig. 7 The water quality of the influent of WWTPs in China (The median of each pollutant

concentration was chosen as representative. The data from MOHURC [12])

25
 a) 250
COD
25%~75%
n=1037
1%~99%
Concentration(mg/L) 200 Median Line
Mean
150 n=1049

n=1716 n=2550
100 n=2833
n=3016
n=3186 n=3617 n=3794 n=4158
n=4385
n=4698
50

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

b) 100
BOD
n=955 25%~75%
1%~99%
75 Median Line
Concentration(mg/L)

n=1233 Mean

50 n=2370
n=1592
n=2699 n=3999
n=2903
n=3053
n=3471 n=3642 n=4213
25 n=4548

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

26
c) 100
SS
n=985 25%~75%
1%~99%
75
n=1277 Median Line
Concentration(mg/L)

Mean

n=1629
50 n=2427

n=2748 n=2948 n=4073

n=3107n=3527 n=3698
25 n=4279 n=4615

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

d) 50
NH3-N
n=939 25%~75%
1%~99%
40
n=1257 Median Line
Concentration(mg/L)

Mean
n=1625
30 n=2445
n=2793
n=2994
n=3169 n=3780 n=4149
20 n=3606
n=4374
n=4693

10

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

27
 e) 60
TN n=880 25%~75%
n=577
1%~99%
Median Line
n=1219
Concentration(mg/L)

n=1973 Mean
40
n=2329
n=2557 n=3263
n=2764 n=4555
n=3488 n=3867
n=4119
20

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

f) 5
TP
25%~75%
n=861
n=1176 n=1561 1%~99%
4
Median Line
Concentration(mg/L)

Mean
n=2360
n=2680 n=2875 n=3044 n=3660
3 n=4025
n=3478
n=4247 n=4619

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

Fig. 8 The water quality of the effluent of WWTPs. (The data from MOHURC[12])

28
a) 5 100
Mean: 21.7
Median: 20.5

Cumulative probability (%)

Mode: 20
Water volume (109m3)
4 80
n=55930

Class 1-A
3 60

2 40

1 20

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
COD Concentration(mg/L)

b) 8 100
Mean: 1.48
Median: 0.97
Mode: 0.20

Cumulative probablity (%)

Water volume (109m3)

80
6 n=55841 Class 1-A

60
4
40

2
20

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
NH3-N concentration (mg/L)

29
 c) 5 100
Mean: 10.2
Median: 10.0
Water quantity (109m3)

Cumulative probability (%)

4 Mode: 10.0 80
n=53551

Class 1-A
3 60

2 40

1 20

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
TN concentration (mg/L)

d) 2.5 100
Mean: 0.34
Median： 0.32

Cumulative probability (%)

Water volume(109m3)

2.0 80
Mode: 0.30
n=54643
Class 1-A

1.5 60

1.0 40

0.5 20

0.0 0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
TP concentration (mg/L)

Fig. 9 The distribution of main pollutants concentration in the effluent of WWTPs in 2018 (The

data from MOHURC [12])

30
 8 0.3

Dry sludge generation rate (kg/m3)

6
Dry sludge generation rate 0.2
Dry sludge (109kg)

0.1
2

0 0.0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Year

Fig. 10 The dry sludge generation rate and annual dry sludge generation amount (Estimated from

wet weight with 80% water content. The data from MOHURC [12])

31
 Table 1 The development history of the standards for the discharge of water pollutants

Year Numbers of Numbers of national Status

national standards for specific
standards industry
The first national pollutant discharge standard of
1973 1 0 China, Discharge standard of the three industrial
wastes (GBJ 4-73), was released.
Up to 27 different standards related to 27 kinds of
industries were released. The basic standard system
1987 27 27
related to industrial pollutant discharge of China was
established.
Integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB
8978-1988) was released. Except the standards
1988 10 9 related to offshore oil, shipping, shipping industry
and 6 standards related to the military industry, other
standards were replaced by GB 8978-1988.
Integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB
8978-1996) was released to replace GB 8978-1988.
1996 21 20 It was proposed that integrated wastewater discharge
standard should not intersect with the standards for
specific industry.
Discharge standard of pollutants for municipal
wastewater treatment plants (GB 18918-2002) was
2002 18 17 released to replace the urban sewage part of GB
8978-1996. Standards related to the military industry
were integrated into 3 standards.
Besides GB 18918-2002, up to 61 different
standards related to different industries were
2015 62 61
released, forming the current standard system of
water pollution control in China.

32
Highlights

The development history of wastewater treatment in China is reviewed.

The development process of wastewater discharge standards of China is

summarized

The treatment performance of WWTPs is evaluated according to discharge

standards

The future challenges in wastewater treatment of China is highlighted

The main objectives in the new era of wastewater treatment in China is identified