DingYifan,LiWei,HeWenfeng,et al.Exploration of Performance-based Payment Methods for the Integrated Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants and Sewer Networks[J].China Water & Wastewater,2026,42(14):42-50.
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Exploration of Performance-based Payment Methods for the Integrated Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants and Sewer Networks

China Water & Wastewater[ISSN:1000-4062/CN:12-1073/TU] volume: 第42卷 Number: 第14期 Page: 42-50 Column: Date of publication: 2026-07-17
Author(s):
Ding　Yifan1; 2;  Li　Wei1; 2;  He　Wenfeng1; 2;  Cheng　Jie3;  Yao　Ting3;  Yan　Yingying3;  Pan　Wei1; 2
（1. National Engineering Research Center of Eco?Environment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt， Wuhan 430010， China； 2. China Three Gorges Corporation， Wuhan 430010， China； 3. Yangtze Ecology and Environment Co. Ltd.， Wuhan 430010， China）
Keywords:
performance-based payment;  wastewater treatment;  environmental governance effectiveness;  incentive;  constraint
Abstract:
With the development of the wastewater treatment, the traditional payment model revealed problems such as low correlation with environmental governance effects and low fiscal input-output efficiency, making it difficult to motivate water enterprises to improve service quality and technological innovation, and affecting the overall effectiveness of water environment governance. In recent years, national policy documents have successively proposed the requirement that wastewater treatment should transform towards payment based on performance. Against the background of the integrated development of wastewater treatment plants and sewer networks, this paper constructs a payment method based on performance and compares the differences between different payment strategies. The results show that compared with the traditional payment based on performance scores, the payment based on quantitative calculation helps to improve the stability and transparency. In the context of better environmental effectiveness, the improvement quantified based on the benchmark value will obtain a higher payment amount, with a more obvious incentive effect; but in the context of average environmental effectiveness, considering the benchmark value will increase the payment constraints, and quantifying the effectiveness based on actual performance will result in a higher payment amount. The quantitative research of different payment strategies based on performance and the case verification under multiple contexts are of great significance to the practice and development of wastewater treatment payment based on performance in the future.
Last Update: 2026-07-17