SUEZ partners with Chongqing to shape a smart, resilient, and resourceful cosmopolitan city

Chongqing is the largest and most populous municipality in China with more than 30 million residents. SUEZ has been a partner to Chongqing since 2002 and has maintained a deep-rooted presence in the municipality for two decades. This partnership has been recognized as the most successful Sino-foreign PPP model in China’s water industry. Our business in Chongqing has expanded from water supply to wastewater treatment, environmental services for industrial parks, and R&D. Additionally, we are a strategic shareholder of Chongqing Water Group and Sanfeng Environment, and through the establishment of Chongqing Derun Environment, we also provide integrated environmental management services (such as watershed management and soil remediation, etc.), secondary resource utilization, and environmental technologies.
The mission

Chongqing has experienced remarkable growth since being elevated to a municipality. With its urban development, this major metropolis of more than 30 million residents has fast-rising demand for water. Therefore, the ability to provide clean water to residents in a sustainable and stable manner has become a top priority for the local government. At the same time, as Chongqing is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and in the heart of the Three Gorges reservoir area, a sound water environment is particularly important for the hundreds of millions of people living in the Yangtze River basin. In recent years, the local government has intensified efforts to promote water pollution cleanup, water ecosystem restoration, and water resource protection, combining water treatment with living standard improvement to enhance people’s sense of well-being.

 

SUEZ is committed to improving the quality of life in Chongqing and the Yangtze River basin by providing integrated solutions for residents and industrial customers and to elevating our project-based cooperation to a strategic partnership in the environmental market.

Our solution
Chongqing is one of the most important cities for SUEZ in China, with more than RMB4 billion invested in the municipality. Our business has expanded from water supply to include wastewater treatment, environmental services in industrial parks, and R&D cooperation in environmental technology.

Smart water services to ensure a sustainable, high-quality water supply

SUEZ has been responsible for water supply and water network services for Jiangbei District, Yubei District, and most of the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing. With the completion and commissioning of all three phases of Yuelai water treatment plant (WTP), our daily water supply capacity in Chongqing has increased to 1.34 million m3.

We provide smart water services to more than two million residents in Chongqing, using SUEZ’s AQUADVANCED® Plant smart solution and big data technology to equip the municipality with a “smart brain” for water supply, further optimizing the operational efficiency of water supply facilities and networks. Our water quality goes beyond the national standard and compares favorably to EU water quality standards. Chongqing’s water supply networks’ leakage rate has been reduced from 30% (at the beginning of our partnership) to 14.7%, which not only increases the security, stability, and quality of the water supply, but also preserves Chongqing’s water resources.

“Towards the next centenary goal” benchmark of sophisticated WWTP: Extracting resources from wastewater

In 2007, SUEZ and Chongqing further expanded the scope of cooperation. The Tangjiatuo wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which we invested in and built, has begun operations with a wastewater treatment capacity of 400,000 m3/day and a sludge treatment capacity of 240 tons/day.

The Tangjiatuo WWTP primarily adopts the A-AAO biological treatment process, supplemented by chemical treatment and a sludge digestion and drying process. Not only does the WWTP enforce the most stringent discharge standards for effluent quality, but its sophisticated operations also aim to boost energy efficiency: The plant has achieved 30% energy self-sufficiency through tailwater power generation and biogas reuse, and reclaimed water accounts for 94% of the WWTP’s water consumption.

Industrial wastewater treatment for more desirable investment environment in industrial parks

Building on its wealth of experience in environmental services among large industrial parks in China, SUEZ has been providing industrial water production and distribution and industrial wastewater collection and treatment services for the Changshou Chemical Industrial Park since 2011.

 

We serve BASF’s Chongqing MDI integration project, the largest petrochemical project in central and western China, as well as other Fortune 500 companies such as BP, Sinopec, and PetroChina.

Thanks to our advantages in professional management, stable operations, economics, and efficiency, the SUEZ industrial wastewater treatment project has helped the Changshou Chemical Industrial Park make progress in pollution control, energy savings, and emissions reduction, not only achieving the goal of reducing the total pollutants, but also contributing to ecological and environmental protection.

AQUADVANCED® Urban Drainage - China’s first batch of national-level sponge city pilot projects

SUEZ installed a monitoring and information platform with proprietary AQUADVANCED® Urban Drainage solution for the Chongqing Yuelai New City “sponge city”, a city that absorbs and cleans rainwater. This enables the local water company and watershed administrations to monitor their sewage and storm water networking real time, helping mitigate the risks of flooding and water quality degradation in receiving bodies of water.

Watershed cleanup to improve the ecological environment of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle

In 2015, SUEZ and its partners incorporated Chongqing Derun Environment, which is specialized in integrated environmental management (watershed management, soil remediation, etc.), renewable resource utilization, and environmental technology.

SUEZ has been driving ecosystem improvement and urban water environment enhancement for the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle with its technical know-how and management expertise in water ecosystem restoration through the Changsheng River integrated remediation project in Chongqing, the “livable waterfront” project in the Wuhou District of Chengdu, and the Clear Water and the restoration and improvement works at the Yipin River and Huangxi River in Chongqing (as part of the “Clear Water and Green Banks” program).

Commitment to innovation to tackle environmental challenges unique to Chongqing

SUEZ already has six R&D facilities in China, including the Chongqing Sino French Environmental Excellence R&D Center. Established in 2012 by SUEZ with Chongqing Water Group, Chongqing Water Environmental Holding Group, and Chongqing Derun Environment, the center develops environmental solutions for applications such as operations and maintenance, process optimization, testing of new technologies, and quality and material testing; promotes knowledge transfer from SUEZ to the Chongqing area; cultivates local talent; and shares research resources and achievements with local research institutes.
The results
  • Our cooperation with the Chongqing Municipal Government and local partners is recognized as the most successful Sino-foreign PPP model in China’s water industry.
  • Our water project has been named the Most Socially Responsible Water Company in China and is considered a service benchmark in China’s water supply industry.
  • Our municipal wastewater project has been hailed as a benchmark “towards the next centenary goal” in the industry for sophisticated operations and management of wastewater treatment.
  • Our customized smart urban drainage system, enabling a 2-hour advance warning of urban flooding and real-time monitoring of the sewage and storm water network systems.
1.34

million m3/day

water supply capacity

 

400,000

m3/day

municipal wastewater treatment capacity
40,000

m3/day

industrial wastewater treatment capacity

+2
million

population served

 

 

94
%
reclaimed water accounting for the municipal WWTP’s water consumption
30
%
WWTP’s energy self-sufficiency through tailwater power generation and biogas reuse