Yuhang Times | Building a Modern People-Centered City with Yuhang Characteristics: Starting from “Hiding” a Plant and “Growing” a Green Space 2026-07-28

Recently, Yuhang Times published a front-page headline article titled Building a Modern People-Centered City with Yuhang Characteristics: Starting from “Hiding” a Plant and “Growing” a Green Space. It features in-depth coverage of the construction and operational outcomes of BEWG Yuhang Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase IV, a fully underground ecological water plant, and its exemplary practice of transforming from an NIMBY facility into a people-pleasing urban ecological park. The report fully recognizes the project’s innovative model featuring green and low-carbon operation, smart management and city-industry integration.

After rain, Yushang Ecological Park is filled with the scent of grass and soil. Groups of residents jog along the green trails; elderly people chat on benches while children chase and play on the lawn. Beside the ecological wetland at the heart of the park, several young people hold up their phones to capture the city skyline together with the lush greenery.

If you walk down an inconspicuous staircase beside the park, you will be met with a sight beyond imagination. Hidden underground sits a wastewater treatment plant. Through multi-stage purification processes, sewage is restored to clarity and returned to nature. On the digital screen in the central control room, the integrated “plant-network-river” monitoring system displays real-time water quality data across all treatment procedures, visualizing the intelligent “pulse” of the entire watershed. This is Yuhang Wastewater Treatment Plant (Phase IV).

At the early stage of the project, the city faced a critical question: within the prime location of Future Sci-Tech City where land is precious, how to build a wastewater treatment plant with a daily capacity of 150,000 cubic meters while winning acceptance from nearby residents?

“When I heard about the plan to build a wastewater plant, my first thought was that things would turn bad,” recalled a local resident. “My neighbors and I even discussed whether we should move away.” Years later, those who once planned to relocate have become regular visitors to the park. Taking a stroll along the green trail every evening has become their most relaxing daily ritual.

This shift in public attitude stems from the plant’s distinctive design philosophy: all water treatment structures are concealed underground. With a total investment of RMB 1.16 billion, the project adopts a fully underground double-layer covered design, minimizing visual and olfactory impacts of wastewater treatment facilities on the ground surface. In its place stands the 52,000-square-meter Yushang Ecological Park, a lush green oasis. Over a hundred varieties of trees and shrubs create ever-changing scenery across four seasons. The ecological park is fully returned to the city.

The park is not only scenic but also educational. It houses the Yushang Ecological Civilization Education Hall. Through interactive water-tech installations and multimedia quiz games, the wastewater treatment process is turned into a tangible, immersive experience, helping visitors understand the story of water governance while enjoying the landscape.

Above ground lies an accessible park; underground runs a responsive intelligent system. The plant is equipped with energy-saving facilities including photovoltaic power generation, reclaimed water reuse and water-source heat pumps. Treated tailwater is discharged to replenish the Yuhangtang River. The project has also innovatively built dual platforms: the digital twin system for the wastewater plant and watershed smart management platform. They enable integrated intelligent watershed management covering one wastewater treatment plant, three integrated treatment stations, 5.3 kilometers of pipe networks, 1.1 million square meters of water areas and 700,000 square meters of landscape green space. Relying on this plant-network-river integrated governance system and multi-dimensional carbon reduction technologies, Yuhang Wastewater Treatment Plant (Phase IV) was listed in the first batch of national green and low-carbon benchmark wastewater treatment plants released by NDRC and MOHURD.

The transformation of the wastewater plant from an NIMBY facility to a people-pleasing landmark serves as a vivid footnote for Yuhang’s development into a modern people-centered city. In July last year, the Central Urban Work Conference was convened in Beijing after a 10-year interval. It put forward for the first time the goal of building an innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized and smart modern people-centered city. In October of the same year, the Provincial Urban Work Conference systematically deployed the key tasks of “Seven Priorities”, calling for integrated development of quality housing, nice neighborhoods, vibrant communities and attractive urban districts. In December, the Municipal Urban Work Conference proposed that the philosophy of a people-centered city should guide high-quality and connotative urban development. It urged urban governance to shift toward quality upgrading, innovation-driven growth, characteristic shaping, people-centered warmth, refined smart management and integrated coordination, exploring a Hangzhou path for Chinese-style urban modernization tailored to megacity features.

Starting from the construction of this wastewater plant, Yuhang is continuously exploring its unique path toward a modern people-centered city. At present, the district has established three relatively independent yet interconnected wastewater treatment subsystems for the New Central Area, Greater Liangzhu and Greater Jingshan. By the end of this year, the Renhe Water Purification Plant in the Grand Canal Industrial Park of Renhe Subdistrict will be completed and put into operation. It will add a daily treatment capacity of 75,000 cubic meters. Building on Yuhang Phase IV’s model of “fully underground wastewater plant plus park”, it will further upgrade to “fully underground water purification plant plus industrial park”, deeply integrating wastewater treatment with industrial cultivation and offering a new paradigm for the integrated transformation of urban infrastructure.

Invisible pipe networks operate around the clock, while the visible urban landscape renews day by day. Along the city’s main artery, a 2.5-kilometer central axis has taken shape, with major public cultural and sports facilities rising. In the future, people will come here for sports events, concerts and art exhibitions. At street corners, abandoned lots once fenced off have been turned into small, charming pocket parks, providing resting spots for elderly pedestrians and schoolchildren. In old residential communities, newly installed elevators, renovated facades and standardized parking spaces help long-term residents regain a sense of dignity. Some of these changes are grand, others subtle, yet all respond to one simple truth: cities are built by the people and thrive for the people.