Survival Strategies for the Water Treatment Industry After the Fight Against the Epidemic

As China's environmental industry and water market undergo profound restructuring, the Chinese water market has experienced stages of ecological symbiosis, capital cooperation, and intensified competition. After several years of adjustment, the industry concentration of the wastewater treatment market has changed significantly. 2020 marks another beginning and the final stage in winning the battle against water pollution.

I. Policy Aspects

In response to the current epidemic, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently issued several action plans, including the Emergency Monitoring Plan for the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic, the Notice on the Supervision of Medical Wastewater and Urban Sewage, the Emergency Disposal Management and Technical Guidelines for Medical Waste (Trial), and the Emergency Treatment Technical Plan for Medical Wastewater (Trial). These measures have driven market demand in areas such as environmental cleaning and disinfection, environmental monitoring, wastewater treatment, and solid waste treatment.

II. Enterprise Aspects

Under the current pressure of epidemic prevention and control, resuming work is a crucial issue for enterprises. According to publicly available data, among member companies of the Environmental Chamber of Commerce, those primarily engaged in wastewater and garbage treatment and sanitation have a resumption rate of over 70%, while equipment manufacturing companies have a resumption rate of 30% to 50%. In the long term, the impact of this epidemic on operational companies such as water treatment companies will be limited, but it may have a direct impact on environmental engineering projects.

Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), due to the extended holiday and reduced workforce, businesses are experiencing a situation of expenditure rather than income. They will face eight major challenges, including cash flow, penalties for breach of contract, loan repayment, order delivery, employee salary payment, acquiring new orders, employee safety, and logistics.

Therefore, if the epidemic lasts too long, it may cause some trouble for businesses, but at this stage, the impact is not significant.

Although many projects cannot start or work cannot be carried out during the epidemic, environmental projects will quickly recover fully once the epidemic subsides, and new reserve projects will soon be launched.

On the one hand, people's desire and demand for improved living environments are stronger; on the other hand, there is an urgent need for infrastructure projects to drive economic growth, achieve the major and minor targets for 2020, and successfully realize the goals of the 13th Five-Year Plan.