January/February 2010 World Water
18 Global Market Report
The market for water reuse is on the
verge of major expansion, accord-
ing to new research by Global Water
Intelligence and PUB Consulting of
Singapore. Over the last decade, the
accelerated growth of the desalina-
tion industry has overshadowed
growth in the water-reuse sector.
Going forward, however, the rate
of growth in the water-reuse sector
will outpace desalination. Between
2009 and 2016 capital expenditure
on advanced water reuse is expected
to grow at a compound annual rate
of 19.5 percent as the global installed
capacity of high quality water reuse
plants grows from 28 million m3/d to
79 million m3/d.
The surge in growth in the sec-
tor is driven by the confluence of a
number of factors:
� Pressure on the world's water re-
sources has been growing at an
inexorable pace. Climate change
is accentuating the pattern of
droughts and floods. More com-
munities around the world are
having to develop strategies to cope
with scarcity.
� The continued growth of cities is
creating a double challenge putting
greater stress on water resources
and sanitation systems. Water re-
use provides a single solution.
� Growing environmental concerns
have impeded other solutions to
water scarcity, such as long-distance
water transfer, the construction of
large dams, and desalination.
Confidence in technologies such
as ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis,
and ultraviolet irradiation have ris-
en to the point at which the public
can have an absolute assurance of
the safety of reclaimed water blend-
ed in reservoirs or aquifers for pota-
ble purposes.
This fourth point is important be-
cause it opens the way for water re-
use to make a bigger contribution
to urban water scarcity. Currently
the majority of water-reuse projects
serve low-value agricultural and
landscape irrigation customers. This
does little to alleviate the problem in
cities, and undermines the financial
viability of water reuse.
The report argues that the greatest
market growth will come in the high-
est grade of urban water reuse using
the three-stage process of microfiltra-
tion, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet
disinfection (or similar advanced-ox-
idation technology). This water can
be used in higher-value urban appli-
cations, reducing urban water stress
and, despite being a more expensive
process, providing better returns on
investment.
Recent major projects, includ-
ing Singapore's NEWater program,
the Orange County Groundwater
Replenishment scheme in California,
and the Western Corridor project in
Australia, have set the standard for a
new approach to urban water reuse.
The water these projects produce
can be sold to high-value industrial
customers and injected in aquifers
or blended in reservoirs for indirect
potable reuse. They revolutionize the
market for water reuse, reposition-
ing the resource so that it can play a
significant role in the solution to the
urban water scarcity crisis, creating
a new focus for capital expenditure
within the water sector.
This argument can be illustrated
graphically. The dominant model
for water reuse in the world today,
based on the urban wastewater be-
ing collected, given some treatment
and then made available to agricul-
The assurance of the triple barrier process � ultrafiltration/microfiltration
followed by reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation � will help further
expand the demand for high-value urban water reuse, according to
Christopher Gasson, publisher of Global Water Intelligence. In the following
article, Gasson highlights recent developments in this dynamic sector
from the report entitled Municipal Water Reuse Markets 2010.
Water-reuse sector to
outpace desalination
Annualadditionalreusecapacity(millionm3/d)
Figure 2: Moving up the value chain: Annual increment in reuse capacity
Source: GWI/PUB Municipal Water Reuse Markets 2010
Threestagereuse Lower-gradereuse Otheradvancedreuse
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Annualadditionalcapacity(millionm3
/d)
Figure 1: Desalination versus reuse market forecast
Source: GWI/PUB Municipal Water Reuse Markets 2010
Reuse Desalination
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1990
1998
2006
1994
2002
2010
2014
1992
2000
2008
1996
2004
2012
2016
The water these
projects produce
can be sold to high-
value industrial
customers and
injected in aquifers
or blended in
reservoirs for
indirect potable
reuse.

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