The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and five other departments recently issued a notice requiring the strengthening of the construction and operation and maintenance of urban domestic sewage pipe networks. By 2027, the direct discharge outlets and blank areas of domestic sewage facilities in urban built-up areas will be basically eliminated, the centralized collection rate of urban domestic sewage will reach more than 73%, and the comprehensive efficiency of urban domestic sewage collection and treatment will be significantly improved.
The notice clearly stated that all localities should complete a round of rolling investigation and survey of urban domestic sewage pipe networks every 5 to 10 years, continue to promote the assessment and repair of the current status of the pipe network, and establish a long-term management and assessment mechanism for the pipe network, accelerate the implementation of sewage pipe network transformation. By 2025, the proportion of urban sewage treatment plants with influent biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentrations higher than 100 mg/L will reach 90%, or 5 percentage points higher than 2022, and the sewage collection efficiency will be significantly improved.
In terms of strengthening the management of pipe network facilities, drainage authorities in all regions should strictly implement the sewage discharge permit system into the drainage network, implement hierarchical and classified management of drainage households in combination with local actual conditions, and determine a list of key drainage households. By 2025, key drainage households in all cities will fully implement drainage permit requirements, they should work with relevant departments to strengthen joint supervision and law enforcement of urban domestic sewage pipe network construction and operation and maintenance and drainage behavior, form a joint law enforcement force, and strengthen source-tracing law enforcement.
In terms of financial guarantee, local governments are allowed to arrange local government special bonds to support qualified sewage pipe network construction and renovation projects, financial institutions are encouraged to provide financing support for sewage pipe network construction and renovation projects according to market principles, social capital is encouraged to participate through franchise and other means, and research and explore the standardization of project income rights, franchise rights and other pledge financing guarantees.