Jiangsu Opens Consultation on Key Water-User Conservation Rules: Seven Industrial Sectors Must Use Reclaimed Water Where Conditions Allow

To strengthen the rigid constraint on water resources and improve the efficiency of water use, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Water Resources has revised the Management Measures for Water Conservation by Key Water Users in Jiangsu Province and published a draft for public comment from 21 October 2026, with feedback due by 20 November 2026.

The draft is grounded in the Water Law of the People's Republic of China, the Water Conservation Regulations and the Jiangsu Provincial Water Conservation Regulations. It defines key water users as those designated by water authorities at or above provincial level under the Ministry of Water Resources' guidance on the key water-user roster system. The roster has national and provincial tiers and covers industrial and service units with total annual abstraction of 300,000 m3 or more, as well as large irrigation districts with professional management bodies and key medium-sized districts above 50,000 mu.

Provisions most relevant to industrial wastewater treatment and water reuse include:

• Article 9 (new,改建 and expansion projects): For construction projects with a demonstrated total abstraction above 300,000 m3, county-level and higher water authorities shall supervise builders against the metering, monitoring and conservation requirements applied to key water users, ensuring that operational water use reaches advanced quota values. Projects in thermal power, petrochemicals and chemicals, steel, non-ferrous metals, papermaking, dyeing and data centres that could use reclaimed water but do not do so effectively will face tightened controls on new abstraction permits.
• Article 15 (source allocation): Non-agricultural key water users shall optimize source allocation according to production processes and water quality needs, giving priority to reclaimed water and surface water, and shall accelerate construction of facilities for reclaimed water and rainwater use to raise the share of unconventional sources. Industrial key users in the sectors above whose processes involve cooling or washing shall use reclaimed water where conditions permit.
• Articles 10 and 11 (metering and monitoring): Key water users shall meter by source type and by tier, install meters meeting remote monitoring requirements and connect them to water authority information systems. They are encouraged to build online platforms for precise monitoring of abstraction, use, consumption and discharge, and to develop “AI + water conservation management” applications.
• Article 13 (water balance testing): Non-agricultural key water users shall carry out water balance testing in accordance with provincial rules, identify weaknesses, analyze saving potential and prepare conservation plans.
• Article 17 (diagnostics and retrofits): Water authorities at county level and above shall organize public-interest water conservation diagnostics on a planned basis, advising on efficient process water recirculation, unconventional source use, precise metering and network leakage control.

For the industrial water treatment and water reuse sector, these provisions mean that abstraction permitting for new projects in water-intensive industries will be tied directly to the actual uptake of reclaimed water, which is likely to release further demand for centralized treatment facilities in industrial parks, reclaimed water distribution networks and reuse systems.