en.Wedoany.com Reported - May 10 to 16 this year marks the 35th National Urban Water Conservation Publicity Week. Last year, the national urban reclaimed water utilization exceeded 22 billion cubic meters, effectively alleviating the contradiction between water resource supply and demand.

Reclaimed water refers to water resources that, after appropriate reclamation process treatment, meet certain water quality requirements and can be reused. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development stated that last year, the national urban reclaimed water utilization exceeded 22 billion cubic meters, making reclaimed water a stable "second water source" for cities, effectively alleviating the contradiction between water resource supply and demand. In recent years, in particular, China has solidly advanced urban water conservation work, issuing regulations such as the Water Supply Regulations and the Water Conservation Regulations, providing a solid top-level legislative guarantee for urban water supply and conservation. By accelerating the construction of reclaimed water utilization facilities, strengthening leakage control in water supply networks, and promoting the construction of sponge cities, urban water conservation efficiency has been further enhanced, contributing to the intensive development of cities.

Zhang Zhiguo, Vice President of the Water Affairs Institute, China Academy of Urban Planning & Design: As a very stable supplementary water source for cities, reclaimed water can replace the use of some fresh water resources, reducing the burden on urban water supply systems.

It is reported that to promote urban water supply and conservation, China has currently carried out leakage control in public water supply networks in 50 key cities, and launched sponge city construction demonstrations in 60 cities nationwide, with over 10,000 sponge city demonstration projects completed cumulatively. Meanwhile, various regions are further improving urban water use efficiency through measures such as updating old water supply facilities and promoting the application of intelligent and smart facilities and equipment.

Reclaimed Water "Air Conditioning" for Low-Carbon Urban Living

After purification treatment, reclaimed water has stable quality and a wide range of uses. Currently, it is mainly used for urban ecological water replenishment, landscape irrigation, road cleaning, and dust reduction through spraying. In fact, in recent years, reclaimed water has also been increasingly used in less familiar fields such as industrial production recycling and air conditioning water.

Recently, temperatures have been rising in many northern regions. However, in the 14 office buildings on Zhengzhou's Financial Island that use reclaimed water as air conditioning cooling water, the indoor temperature feels cool and comfortable. Staff told reporters that after connecting to the reclaimed water cooling and heating network, daily operating costs can be halved annually.

Wang Guanglei, Property Manager for the Zhengzhou Ping An Financial Center Project in Henan Province: For this 42,000-square-meter building, using traditional air conditioning costs 1.2 million yuan annually. Using reclaimed water can reduce the cost to 600,000 yuan per year, saving nearly half.

Currently, the reclaimed water used for air conditioning on the island comes from the Matougang Wastewater Treatment Plant in Zhengzhou, Henan. This plant collects daily domestic sewage from a surrounding area of 209 square kilometers with a population of over 1.8 million. After undergoing purification processes within the plant, including physical sedimentation, microbial decomposition, and activated coke adsorption, it becomes clear and visible reclaimed water.

Because the temperature of reclaimed water remains stable year-round—around 15°C in winter, higher than the air temperature, and around 25°C in summer, lower than the air temperature—this characteristic allows its system energy efficiency to be over 30% higher than traditional air conditioning.

Qiao Wanxi, Director of the Henan Zhongyuan Environmental Protection Reclaimed Water Operation Center: Last year, we supplied over 60 million tons of reclaimed water cumulatively. It is estimated that this summer, we can save about 1,100 tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 3,200 tons.

Qiao Wanxi told reporters that it can be used not only for cooling in summer but also as a local heating source in winter. Currently, the reclaimed water cooling and heating supply here covers more than 10 projects, including Zhengzhou Financial Island, key Zhengzhou Metro stations, and Zhengzhou East Railway Station.

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