China's Urban Underground Pipeline Network Reaches About 3.9 Million Kilometres

Water networks, new-type power grids, computing networks, next-generation communications networks, urban underground pipeline networks and logistics networks form the "six networks." They are an important lever for expanding domestic demand and driving effective investment, and a key vehicle for shoring up weak links in urban and rural development and improving public wellbeing. As infrastructure underpinning urban operations, urban underground pipeline networks include water supply, gas, drainage and heating systems. As of September 2026, China's urban underground pipeline network had a total scale of about 3.9 million kilometres. Construction work covers the replacement of ageing gas pipelines, the contiguous development of combined rainwater and sewage separation systems, utility tunnels and smart monitoring.

In terms of specific figures, water supply pipelines total 1.199 million kilometres, delivering several million tonnes of domestic water each day; gas pipelines total 1.04 million kilometres; drainage pipelines total 993,600 kilometres, used to collect and treat domestic sewage and to reduce urban waterlogging during the rainy season; and heating pipelines total 546,200 kilometres. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will build or upgrade about 770,000 kilometres of urban underground pipeline networks. This includes about 200,000 kilometres of gas pipelines, about 175,000 kilometres of drainage pipelines, about 175,000 kilometres of water supply pipelines, about 100,000 kilometres of sewage pipelines and about 120,000 kilometres of heating pipelines.