A view of Changxing county, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Changxing county in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province was recently included in a national pilot program to promote the use of reclaimed water, according to local water conservancy authorities.

Reclaimed water refers to household or industrial sewage water that are can be safely used after purification.

Despite being a coastal province, Zhejiang's water resources per capita stands at less than 1,500 cubic meters. The current utilization rate of reclaimed water in the province stands at 20.5 percent.

Six places in Zhejiang were included in the program, with the other five being Ningbo, Yuhuan, Pinghu, Keqiao and Yiwu. These places have been tasked with increasing the utilization rate of reclaimed water in the city to 25 percent by 2025.

In 2021, the utilization rate of reclaimed water in Changxing reached 28 percent. Industrial companies in the county consumed about 2,200 cubic meters of reclaimed water throughout the year, accounting for over one third of Zhejiang's total, official data show.

The local government aims to increase the utilization rate of reclaimed water in the county to 35 percent by 2025, and this will subsequently reduce chemical oxygen demand by 4,340 metric tons and ammonia nitrogen by 450 tons.