At a historical moment in which the climate crisis accelerates the degradation of surface and groundwater sources across the coastal regions of eastern China, Jiangsu Province emerges as a symbolic territory of contemporary water challenges: accelerated industrial growth, intense urbanization, sustained agricultural pressure, and infrastructure that, despite its scale, no longer responds with the speed required in an increasingly unstable environment. In this context, Xiangshui County becomes a critical point where global trends and local vulnerabilities converge. The region is part of a rapidly expanding water market that has seen annual demand for treated water increase by more than 6% over the past decade, while over 40% of its surface water bodies have shown deterioration in parameters such as turbidity, ammonium, organic matter and dissolved solids. This gap between need and availability generates real risk for more than 400,000 inhabitants and for a productive system that depends on safe water to sustain competitiveness and operational continuity.
In this urgent scenario, Phase II of the Xiangshui Water Plant represents an intervention that transcends simple capacity expansion: it is a visionary piece of infrastructure capable of reshaping the region’s future trajectory by integrating advanced water treatment technologies, full process traceability and a watershed-management approach aligned with global Water Positive principles. Strategically located between Shuangtao Village (intake point) and Zhongshe Village (treatment hub), the project is positioned to operate on the most vulnerable stretches of the local river system and stabilize a supply historically affected by seasonal variability and episodic contamination.
Its strategic purpose is to resolve the structural bottleneck limiting local economic development: transforming a fragile supply system into a resilient one based on redundancy, deep treatment and continuous monitoring. The project’s rationale lies in the need to guarantee drinking-water standards that meet the demands of a growing population, industries requiring constant quality and a watershed whose regenerative capacity can no longer sustain the pace of extraction and anthropogenic pressure. The incorporation of technologies such as ozone, activated carbon, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration positions the plant as a regional benchmark in advanced treatment, able to remove emerging contaminants that the existing infrastructure could not manage.
The ecosystem of actors involved reflects the complexity and robustness of the intervention: the provincial water authority leads planning and regulation; the specialized operator ensures technical continuity and system efficiency; technology providers supply membranes, SCADA systems, IoT instrumentation and next-generation disinfection equipment; and external entities certify process traceability and validate benefit generation under the VWBA framework, ensuring additionality, intentionality and transparency for every cubic meter treated.
The project integrates into the Water Positive agenda not only because it increases the availability of safe water, but because it structurally improves resource quality, relieves pressure on vulnerable sources and creates a verifiable system that ensures every improvement is measurable, reportable and attributable. Its capacity to produce 50,000 m³/day , equivalent to the daily consumption of more than 165,000 average households in China, positions it as a tangible driver of water resilience and a symbol of the transition toward infrastructure that not only supplies water but transforms society’s relationship with it.
The project is developed in a context where existing water infrastructure operates at the limit of its technical capacity, opening a strategic opportunity to incorporate technologies capable of stabilizing water quality in an environment marked by climatic variability, fluctuating contaminant loads and increasing demographic pressure. The intervention replaces a linear, reactive system with an advanced treatment model integrating ozone oxidation, activated carbon adsorption, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration, creating a high‑efficiency process train that enhances the removal of emerging contaminants and ensures a final effluent with superior stability in critical parameters. With a production capacity of 50,000 m³/day, the system transforms a volume equivalent to more than 60 million liters per week, immediately increasing the availability of safe water and reducing population exposure to contaminants of agricultural and industrial origin.
Direct benefits emerge from the first operational cycle: reduction of dissolved solids, significant improvements in turbidity and color, lowered dosing of coagulants and disinfectants, reduced transmission losses and a measurable decline in energy footprint due to hydraulic optimization. The intervention is complemented by next‑generation electromechanical equipment and a redundant intake and conveyance system that reduces interruptions caused by sudden contamination or river‑level drops. These results translate into operational resilience, service continuity and increased watershed capacity to sustain future demand.
The project is made viable by the collaboration between the provincial developer, the specialized operator, membrane and SCADA technology providers and external validation partners. This institutional architecture guarantees a functional, traceable and real‑time monitored system whose benefits can be verified through transparent metrics. The model is replicable because it is modular, scalable and adaptable to watersheds experiencing progressive water‑quality deterioration. Acting now is critical due to the rapidly declining regenerative capacity of the river system and increasingly stringent treatment standards.
This type of intervention can be led by companies with advanced ESG strategies , particularly those in manufacturing, energy, food or retail, seeking to demonstrate commitment to water security, anticipate future regulations and strengthen reputational standing in markets where environmental transparency and water stewardship are key competitive factors. Through this investment, such companies gain regulatory compliance, operational stability and a strong narrative of leadership in sustainable water management aligned with global standards and the transition to Water Positive systems.
The project is structured as a hybrid solution combining grey infrastructure with digital support, designed to stabilize supply quality and continuity through a compact and efficient multi‑barrier treatment train based on physical‑chemical pretreatment, ozone, activated carbon, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration. This configuration , with a nominal capacity of 50,000 m³/day, was selected for its performance against emerging contaminants and sharp variations in raw‑water quality, outperforming conventional alternatives and single‑stage reverse osmosis options with higher energy demands. SCADA integration, IoT sensors and regulated storage enable flexible operation aligned with hydrological availability.
Quantifiable benefits include more than 18 million m³/year of water treated to superior standards, significant reductions in chemical use and operational emissions, and marked improvements in turbidity, TDS and color. These outcomes reduce sanitary risks, increase public confidence and decrease reliance on high‑cost individual solutions. The project also improves specific energy consumption and reduces chemical‑residual generation, consolidating a reduced environmental footprint.
Operational risks include potential membrane fouling, ozone‑system failures, dosing malfunctions, hydrological variability and sudden contamination events, as well as community concerns during construction. Mitigations include redundancy in treatment and pumping lines, operational bypasses, contingency plans, continuous monitoring of quality and flow, and coordinated alerts with watershed authorities. Climate resilience is strengthened through hydrological tracking, integration into regional drought plans and adjustable operational regimes under extreme scenarios.
The solution is technically suited to an environment under agricultural and industrial pressure and increasingly strict regulatory standards. It meets criteria of efficiency, stability, total cost of ownership, compatibility with existing infrastructure and ability to generate verifiable benefits under VWBA principles of additionality, traceability and intentionality. Its modular design and cost‑performance ratio make it replicable across industrial zones in Jiangsu and the Yangtze Delta. Scaling requires reliable energy, minimum intake and conveyance infrastructure and a regulatory framework valuing quality improvement. Its competitiveness lies in its balanced cost‑protection‑risk profile, supported by public‑private alliances and ESG‑driven companies committed to Water Positive projects.
Implementation follows a structured, multi‑phase process designed to guarantee technical robustness, operational reliability and full traceability from the earliest diagnostic activities to long‑term continuous operation. The initial baseline assessment includes seasonal raw‑water sampling, hydraulic modeling, energy‑use characterization and evaluation of existing infrastructure weaknesses. This phase establishes quantitative benchmarks for turbidity, TDS, organic load, microbiological indicators, network losses, pumping efficiency and system resilience under variable flow regimes. Engineering design then develops the complete process configuration, integrating ozone oxidation, granular activated carbon, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration within optimized hydraulic sequences, supported by redundancy plans for critical components, energy‑efficiency calculations and hazard‑analysis protocols. Digital architecture is defined in parallel, specifying SCADA logic, sensor placement (quality, pressure, flow and energy), communication standards and data‑validation rules.
Construction encompasses civil‑structure development, installation of treated‑ and raw‑water pipelines, assembly of treatment units, electrical and control‑system integration and testing of emergency bypasses. Special attention is given to clean installations, membrane protection, vibration‑control systems and controlled‑environment assembly for sensitive equipment. Pipeline sections are pressure‑tested, and intake structures undergo structural and hydraulic validation. Commissioning includes sequential flushing, membrane integrity testing, ozone‑contact‑time verification, adsorbent activation, calibration of sensors, tuning of SCADA algorithms and validation of real‑time alarms for deviations in pressure, turbidity, energy consumption or microbial indicators. Reliability testing simulates peak‑demand scenarios, raw‑water deterioration events and sudden flow changes to ensure stable behavior.
Once operational, the plant adopts a continuous‑monitoring model with high‑frequency IoT data for flow, quality, energy and chemical dosing. KPIs include removal‑efficiency curves for critical contaminants, specific energy consumption, membrane‑cleaning frequency, ozone‑system performance and system‑uptime rates. Physical traceability is ensured through georeferenced water paths from intake to distribution, and digital traceability via data‑logging, automated audit trails and secure storage for VWBA/WQBA verification. External auditors validate performance annually, while operators apply predictive maintenance strategies based on vibration sensors, membrane‑fouling diagnostics and energy‑signature analysis. The long‑term implementation framework also includes periodic technology reviews to incorporate updated membranes, optimized adsorbents or new sensing technologies.
The project constitutes a comprehensive modernization of Xiangshui’s potable‑water infrastructure through the implementation of a 50,000 m³/day multi‑barrier treatment facility engineered to ensure consistent, high‑quality drinking water under variable hydrological and contamination conditions. Technically, the intervention integrates ozone for advanced oxidation, granular activated carbon for adsorption, ultrafiltration for particle and pathogen removal and nanofiltration for fine dissolved‑solids control, all coordinated through a SCADA‑driven automation system that adjusts process parameters in real time. This configuration ensures deep removal of organic micropollutants, significant reduction of turbidity and microbial stabilization, capabilities unattainable under the previous baseline system.
The facility operates within a fully interconnected supply system comprising the Shuangtao intake station, the Zhongshe treatment site and nearly 74 km of primary conveyance. By upgrading treatment performance and stabilizing output quality, the project eliminates chronic vulnerabilities associated with raw‑water deterioration, seasonal scarcity and infrastructure aging. The annual delivery of more than 18 million m³ of high‑quality potable water enhances regional water security, reduces energy and chemical inputs per unit of water produced and mitigates dependence on alternative sources with higher environmental impact. These improvements generate positive downstream effects, including reduced ecological stress, better industrial reliability and improved public‑health outcomes.
Strategically, the project strengthens alignment with Water Positive commitments by generating measurable volumetric water benefits, improving water quality and enhancing system resilience, benefits documented through VWBA and WQBA methodologies. It also reinforces ESG positioning by meeting increasingly stringent regulatory expectations, improving trust in public services and demonstrating leadership in sustainable water‑resource management. The plant’s modular and scalable design enables replication in other stressed basins across Jiangsu and the Yangtze Delta with similar water‑quality challenges, provided adequate governance frameworks and technical capacity are available. Its long‑term impact includes strengthened hydrological balance, enhanced climate resilience, improved community well‑being and a clear demonstration of the region’s commitment to a regenerative, future‑oriented water economy.
