People of Xylem: Achieving new effluent standards in China through smart sensors and teamwork

As Lunar New Year approaches, Xylem recognizes a customer project in Beijing that reflects a growing reality across the water sector: tighter regulations are accelerating the need for smarter, data-driven operations. 

That was the situation facing Beijing Enterprises Water Group (BEWG), the largest integrated water company in China, operating more than 1,400 water and wastewater facilities nationwide. 

When new nitrogen regulations placed more than 300 treatment plants managed by BEWG at risk of falling out of compliance, the utility needed a way to improve process control — at scale, and under real operational constraints.

Meeting tighter compliance targets through proven technology and expertise

BEWG’s solution began with a single plant. Xylem partnered with the BEWG team to trial and validate high-precision WTW nitrate and ammonia analyzers, proving performance in the field. Once the technology was approved, it unlocked bulk procurement and accelerated deployment across hundreds of facilities. Based on past projects, implementing WTW products in process control has delivered energy savings over 10% — impact that scales when applied across a network of more than 300 facilities. (Read the project spotlight at the end of this article to learn more.) 

But industry-leading technology is only part of the story. Just as critical are the Xylem colleagues who support the heroes making water work — bringing the technical rigor, fast problem-solving, and coordinated execution to help turn complex regulatory requirements into scalable, real-world results.

3 Xylem experts share insights on turning a pilot into a scalable customer outcome 

Yi Bo, Regional Sales Manager WTW Process Product (North China + Northwest China)

1. What strengths helped the team succeed on a project of this scale?

Our strength is understanding our clients’ needs in-depth and working with them to adopt and scale solutions that solve their toughest water challenges. 

For this project with BEWG, our account teams spent time with frontline and leadership teams to understand pain points in their production processes. Then we could confidently identify the best smart solutions and sensor technology in our portfolio to put to work. That customer-focus built confidence in the technology and our team’s ability to support deployment at scale. I’m proud to manage and champion these dedicated water professionals.

2. What was the biggest challenge during the project, and how did the team overcome it? 

For a state-owned enterprise like BEWG, adoption involves a rigorous decision process. You’re not just proving a product works — you’re proving it can be trusted across a network of facilities and supported long-term. We began meeting with key decision-makers early in the process to hear their goals and concerns, provide technical presentations, and address any potential barriers. That work helped secure supplier qualifications and move the project forward. 

3. How did you feel when the project successfully improved community water quality?

When we provide our clients with industry-leading products and technical support, we all gain a smarter way of working and living. To me, it makes our existence more meaningful and exciting.

Roger Zhou, Measurement and Control Solutions (MCS) Process Manager, China

1. What did collaboration look like behind the scenes?

Our team’s greatest strength is collaboration: with each other, our customers, our channel partners, and other stakeholders. This project required a repeatable model that could scale across hundreds of plants.

My job was to ensure seamless coordination between our sales, application, after-sales, business development teams, and partners responsible for inspections, services, and maintenance on-site at BEWG plants. So BEWG could move quickly from validation to rollout and achieve success.

2. What was the hardest part of scaling the program?

We had to be very strategic about service resources and fees to meet BEWG’s operational needs and budget. By collaborating closely with our channel partners, we not only moved quickly — we established clear service roles, standardized best practices, and aligned around measurable outcomes. That approach enabled a more innovative, consistent support model across regions, helping BEWG maintain performance as deployment expanded.

3. Why do water quality projects matter to you?

Because it delivers tangible value. Being part of a team and a company that delivers this kind of impact for customers, communities, and the environment fills me with pride.

Ji Zongyuan, AE, Pre-Sales Technical Support

1. What is your role in the BEWG pilot and validation work?

My focus was on technical support at the plant level: instrument placement, on-site commissioning, data analysis, and writing summary reports.  

Those details are important, because the pilot results and customer feedback support centralized procurement and large-scale deployment. The results meant that Xylem’s WTW brand was successfully included in BEWG’s procurement catalog.  

2. Can you share a moment where fast problem-solving made a difference?

During the ISE trial, a user reported that the ammonia analyzer appeared to be affected by flow conditions. Based on technology, we knew it shouldn’t behave that way.

The team worked quickly with BEWG feedback and determined the issue was installation-related — specifically, a dead zone created by the probe location. We relocated the probe to the main flow area near the gate, and the data stabilized immediately. Comparative testing then confirmed the analyzer’s accuracy and reliability, earning high recognition from BEWG.

3. How do you feel when a project successfully improves community water quality? 

Precise online water quality monitoring equipment is key to ensuring wastewater meets discharge standards, and that in turn is key to protecting our communities, our economy, our way of life, and the environment. It brings me joy to work with technologies that are doing so much to solve water challenges. I am truly honored to be a part of Xylem and to partner with water leaders like BEWG.

Project Spotlight: How Xylem helped BEWG meet tighter nitrogen standards across 300+ plants

Across China, wastewater operators are under increasing pressure to deliver better water quality while improving energy efficiency and reducing operating costs. That shift is increasing demand for accurate, real-time process data — especially for nitrogen removal, where control decisions directly affect compliance, energy use, and system stability.

Challenge: New environmental regulations required the total nitrogen (TN) concentration of wastewater effluent to be reduced from 15mg/L to 10 mg/L.  For BEWG, meeting the new target across hundreds of facilities depended on improving visibility into ammonia and nitrate levels — data that helps operators optimize aeration and anoxic process control in biological treatment. 

Existing instrumentation at the plants could not meet the new regulatory requirements. BEWG also wanted to strengthen operational efficiency, not just compliance.

Solution: Xylem partnered with BEWG to validate a high-precision monitoring approach at BEWG’s Jiaozhou plant using:

• WTW Spectral Nitrate analyzers
• WTW Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) Ammonia Nitrogen analyzers

Together, these analyzers provided the accuracy and reliability needed to support stronger process control.

Key benefits included:

• More reliable data to support closed-loop control for nitrogen removal
• Higher stability and accuracy under tighter discharge limits
• Lower total cost of ownership through reduced maintenance and improved operational performance

Outcome: With higher-quality process data in place, BEWG is positioned to strengthen compliance while reducing operational costs. Based on previous projects, the energy savings and carbon reduction enabled by using WTW products in process control can exceed 10% — a meaningful impact when scaled across more than 300 facilities. 

In addition, successful validation at one plant enabled BEWG to approve Xylem’s WTW technology for centralized procurement, unlocking bulk deployment, and reducing per-unit equipment costs across the program.

From compliance pressure to scalable performance

BEWG’s nitrogen compliance program shows what’s possible when advanced monitoring technology is paired with customer-centered execution. A single validated deployment became a repeatable model — one that can scale across hundreds of plants and help deliver stronger effluent quality, improved efficiency, and measurable environmental benefit. 

It’s a clear example of building a water-secure future: intelligent solutions that turn data into decisions, and decisions into better outcomes — at scale.