en.Wedoany.com Reported - The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Water Resources of China jointly issued the "Action Plan for the Development of the Seawater Desalination Industry" (NDRC Environmental Resources [2026] No. 1062) in July 2026. The plan specifies that by 2030, the total scale of seawater desalination projects nationwide will exceed 4.5 million tons per day, with an additional capacity of over 1.5 million tons per day from new projects. Among these, coastal cities will add 1.3 million tons per day, and islands will add 200,000 tons per day. The plan proposes moderately advancing the construction of large-scale "dual-use for peacetime and emergency" seawater desalination projects in coastal megacities and super-large cities.
A relevant official from the National Development and Reform Commission stated that vigorously developing the seawater desalination industry is an effective measure to optimize the water supply structure and solve the water shortage problem in coastal cities and island regions, and it is a key direction for cultivating new productive forces and building a maritime power. The plan focuses on the strategic goals of water resource conservation and protection and the construction of a maritime power, adheres to the principle of market-oriented promotion, takes expanding application scenarios as the main line, strengthens technological innovation as the driving force, and improves policies and standards as the guarantee.
The plan deploys seven major actions: enhancing urban water security resilience, upgrading water supply capacity for islands and ships, expanding industrial utilization scale, addressing shortcomings in technological innovation, increasing efficiency through industrial chain synergy, promoting green and low-carbon transformation, and achieving win-win international cooperation. In the action to enhance urban water security resilience, the plan clarifies that desalinated seawater will serve as a supplementary water source for coastal cities and an important water source for islands, used to respond to emergencies such as saltwater intrusion, extreme weather, and water pollution. In coastal megacities and super-large cities, it is necessary to reasonably promote the effective connection of transmission and distribution networks with the municipal water supply system, integrate desalinated seawater into the unified allocation of regional water resources, and actively explore innovative mechanisms for cross-regional dispatch and allocation utilization.
The plan also proposes to comprehensively upgrade and improve the quality of the seawater desalination industrial chain, breaking through key bottlenecks in materials, equipment, and technology. The capacity for urban emergency water supply and island residents' domestic water security will be further enhanced, and the proportion of desalinated seawater used in coastal industrial parks will be further increased.
In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Water Resources of China will work with relevant departments to fully promote the implementation of various tasks and measures outlined in the action plan, urging and guiding coastal regions to refine their work arrangements based on local conditions. The release of this "Action Plan" sets clear large-scale development goals for the seawater desalination industry. Through systematic industrial layout and policy guarantees, it will help enhance the water resource security capacity of China's coastal areas, contributing to the high-quality development of the marine economy and the construction of a maritime power.
