With water resources more scarce than ever, ultraviolet light offers an added advantage toward reuse efforts.Click here to enlarge imageThe current global interest in water reuse is driven by increasing demand and an often chronic lack of supply of potable water in many developed regions of the world —southern and western states of the USA, southern Europe and Australia being more well publicized examples. While these countries and regions have the economic, technological and scientific resources to confront the problem, it’s in some of the lesser developed countries where similar water shortages have a much more dramatic effect. These countries often don’t necessarily have resources and technical expertise to confront the problem.
According to a Global Water Intelligence special report entitled “Water Reuse Markets 2005-2015: A Global Assessment & Forecast”, global water reuse capacity will rise from 19.4 million cubic meters a day (m3/d) in 2005 to 54.5 m3/d in 2015 — a 181% increase. The biggest growth will be in China, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and South Asia (i.e., India and Singapore) regions, with the USA and Western Europe equal or close behind. To achieve the required expansion in water reuse capacity to meet these demands, total capital investment in the reuse sector will be over US$28 billion. World demand for water treatment products in general is expected to rise by at least 6% annually to nearly US$40 billion by 2011.
The reuse market is being driven by two simple factors: rising demand for water and scarcity of new supplies. Key emerging markets such as China, MENA and South Asia have historically had a very limited wastewater infrastructure and there’s currently a lot of investment in building new water and other infrastructures in these regions — investment that will dramatically increase availability of wastewater for reuse. Investor interest in the water sector is now at an all time high. Environmental investors see that growing water scarcity make it a long term growth prospect, while defensive investors like the fact that, even in the deepest recession, people still have to drink water. Despite this interest, there are still a number of barriers to entry for private money. Most water utilities around the world are still publicly owned and resistance to private involvement is extremely fierce in some regions. While some Latin American countries are fiercely opposed to water privatization, others — such as Colombia and Brazil — are more in favor and are actively encouraging private sector investment.
Three things are needed for the private water market to grow: a sympathetic political environment, underdeveloped water utilities, and a clear way to make a profit. At present, only a few regions in the developing world meet all these criteria. Heavily capitalized China and the MENA region lead the way. Their governments are strongly in favor of private investment and they’re facing severe water shortages. Add to this their rapid economic growth and the stage is set for massive investment opportunities in water reuse.