Analysis of Economic Benefits of Reclaimed Water Industry Utilization: A Case Study in Tongxiong

Abstract Taking the Tongxiang Urban Sewage Treatment Plant Integration Project (Phase 1) as an example, this paper designs three reclaimed water allocation solutions after investigating the water cost, water quality requirement and reclaimed water using willingness of potential reclaimed water users in the surrounding area. The economic cost-benefit calculations for all three options show that under the circumstance that the existing water policy and charging standards remain unchanged, the large-scale use of reclaimed water in industrial production will increase the water intaking cost of industrial water users by 50%∼70%. In order to enhance the enthusiasm of water users for the use of reclaimed water, it is recommended that the government and enterprises could allocate the cost of using reclaimed water reasonably, and the government could provide economic subsidies and preferential policies.