Characteristics of water quality of municipal wastewater treatment plants in China: implications for resources utilization and management

Influent and effluent quality of municipal wastewater treatment plants plays significant roles in selecting the appropriate treatment technologies and influencing the ecology of receiving water bodies. The quality of reclaimed water sources for water reuse can also be determined based on the influent wastewater and treated effluent information. Comprehensive analyses based on statistical data collected from 3340 Chinese municipal wastewater treatment plants were performed so as to better understand the effects of influent and effluent wastewater quality on the treatment performance, environmental concerns and resources utilization. Provincial characteristics of wastewater quality both in quantity and quality were identified, providing valuable information for the proposal of targeted management strategies in pollution control, water reuse and resources recovery. The influents of municipal wastewater treatment plants in north China had high wastewater pollutant loadings, but the effluent was of high quality due to the wide implementation of water reuse strategies in northern water scarcity regions. The potentials for organic and nutrient recovery from the influents were brought forward based on the mass balance. The importance of wastewater as a resource, and the adoption of advanced treatment and resources utilization in the long-term should be highlighted for sustainable water management.