Tracker: China's water agenda — reuse mandates, sponge cities, leakage targets

China's water policy stack continues to define the world's largest single water market. The 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025) set the templates that current programs extend: expanding wastewater reuse in water-scarce northern cities, continuing the sponge-city program beyond its pilot cohorts, and driving public-supply network leakage below roughly 9%.

For suppliers, three durable demand lines stand out. First, membrane-based reuse — MBR and RO retrofit programs in municipal plants, the home turf of OriginWater and peers. Second, urban drainage and flood resilience under the sponge-city umbrella. Third, utility performance: metering, leakage analytics and plant upgrades led by operators such as BEWG and Everbright Water.

This tracker is maintained as a living page; each revision is logged. Figures are drawn from published national plans and ministry announcements, linked below.