Water & Wastewater Treatment: Global Market Scenario, Trends, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast, 2020-2030

Market Definition

Physical, biological, and chemical processes are used to treat water and wastewater. Water scarcity, expanding urbanization and industrialization, rising global population, and rigorous environmental restrictions are all factors that contribute to the growth of water and wastewater treatment market.

Depending on the properties of the wastewater and the desired end use, wastewater treatment is a sequence of physical, chemical, and biological operations that remove contaminants from wastewater to make it appropriate for other uses or for safe disposal into the environment. This procedure uses a number of primary, secondary, tertiary, and advanced techniques to get rid of various contaminants, whose size, toxicity, and dissemination may differ. Wastewater treatment is required to uphold legislation, safeguard public health, the environment, and water resources.

 Market Insights

The global water & wastewater treatment market stood at $98.5 billion in 2024 and expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 4.58% during the forecast period. Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment differs because industrial wastewater contains more hazardous, concentrated, and changeable contaminants than municipal wastewater. The discharge limitations and wastewater streams of the industrial segment are subject to more complex international, local, and regulatory rules than municipals. In 2022, municipal segment accounted for majority of the share. The municipal category does well in developed countries, followed by the industrial segment, which has a sizable proportion. Municipal wastewater treatment in emerging nations lags behind industrial wastewater treatment. For instance, municipal wastewater is one of the main contributors of surface water pollution in Canada. In China, there is a fair amount of municipal wastewater treatment capacity. By 2021, 98.1% of towns in the nation have wastewater treatment facilities; in the ensuing years, China aims to construct or upgrade 80,000 km of sewage collection pipeline networks.

It has been stated that around 109,000 municipal wastewater treatment facilities in 129 nations provide services to 2.7 billion people worldwide, or 35% of the world’s population. Municipal wastewater treatment plants directly connect to and serve almost 80% of the residents of high-income countries. The remaining 20% either utilise septic tanks or have no sewage treatment equipment. With some centralized sewage treatment, certain nations—including the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Latvia, Malta, Singapore, Chile, and Kuwait—have achieved entire or nearly 100% connectedness.

Industrial wastewater is a by-product created in production facilities for commercial goods from a variety of industries, including semiconductors, oil & gas, chemical, dairy, food & beverage, paper & pulp, and others. Water is necessary in every stage of production across all industries, and it can pick up a range of impurities from each process that need to be filtered before disposal. Heavy metals, suspended solids (TSS), selenium, bacteria, pH, fat-oil-grease (FOG), other controlled substances, and chemicals are typical pollutants that need to be treated.

According to the statistics, China discharged over 55 billion cubic metres of wastewater in 2021, of which about 28% came from industrial sources. The government of the area intended to spend $50 billion on wastewater treatment for a number of high-polluting industries, including manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, oil and gas extraction, steel, printing, and textiles. The distribution of industrial shares varies by area, but some important industry segments include dairy, food and beverage, paper and pulp, and pharmaceuticals.

Market Dynamics: Drivers

Increasing Urbanization and Industrialization

 The United Nations estimates that 68% of the world’s population—or 55%—will be living in urban areas by the year 2050. Asia is home to 54% of the world’s urban population, followed by Europe and Africa, each with 13%, despite having a relatively lower level of urbanisation. The need for wastewater treatment facilities rises as more people relocate to urban areas. Urban areas produce a lot of wastewater, which needs to be treated to stop pollution and safeguard the public’s health. Large amounts of wastewater are produced in urban areas, and this wastewater must be treated before it can be safely released into the environment or recycled. There is a rising need for wastewater treatment services as a result of urbanisation and the resulting population rise.

Industrial activity growth is frequently accompanied by urbanisation, and this can lead to an increase in the amount of industrial effluent that needs to be treated. The need for wastewater treatment facilities grows along with the expansion of metropolitan areas. The management of wastewater is faced with numerous difficulties as a result of urbanisation. New wastewater treatment facilities are frequently more space and resource-intensive to build in urban areas. The demand for wastewater treatment services is met by creative solutions. The wastewater treatment market is significantly influenced by rising urbanisation, which raises the amount of wastewater production and necessitates the use of more effective and cutting-edge treatment methods.

It is anticipated that as the world’s population rises, industrial activity will rise as well, potentially producing more industrial effluent. Large amounts of wastewater are produced by industrial activities; if improperly managed, this effluent can be harmful to the environment. The need for wastewater treatment facilities grows along with industries. The environment and general public health may be significantly impacted by the discharge of industrial effluent that has not been properly or adequately treated. It may result in the deterioration of soil quality, contaminating of water sources, and the airborne discharge of dangerous contaminants. Governments and regulatory agencies are therefore progressively enforcing stronger requirements to guarantee that industrial effluent is sufficiently cleansed before it is released into the environment.

Market Dynamics: Challenges

The effectiveness and efficiency of treatment methods can be impacted by a number of issues in wastewater treatment. Some major difficulties include:

Increasing wastewater volumes: As the world’s population and urbanisation grow, so does the significance of the wastewater produced, imposing a heavy pressure on currently available wastewater treatment facilities.

Infrastructure ageing: A lot of the current wastewater treatment facilities need to be repaired or replaced, which can be expensive and time-consuming.

Emerging pollutants: Traditional wastewater treatment techniques are not effective in removing newer contaminants (pharmaceuticals, personal care items, and microplastics); their presence in treated effluent can be hazardous to both human and environmental health.

Energy usage: Wastewater treatment uses a lot of energy, and the large amounts of energy that treatment plants require can increase greenhouse gas emissions and speed up climate change.

Limited access to clean water: Access to clean water is a problem in many places of the world. Water pollution and health concerns can result from inadequate wastewater treatment facilities.

To meet these issues, new and creative wastewater treatment technologies, regulations, and strategies must be created and implemented. To ensure effective and efficient wastewater treatment, this involves funding R&D to find innovative treatment technologies and procedures, encouraging sustainable wastewater management techniques, and investing in infrastructure upgrades and upkeep.

Market Segmentation

• Based on Technology, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment market is segmented into
  • Filtration
  • Clarification
  • Reverse Osmosis Membranes
  • Ultrafiltration Membranes
  • Microfiltration Membranes
  • Nanofiltration Membranes
  • Disinfection
  • Others
• Based on End Use, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment market is segmented into
  • Municipal
    • Municipal Water
    • Municipal Wastewater
  • Industrial
    • Industrial Water
      • Oil & Gas
      • Chemicals
      • Power
      • Mining
      • Food & Beverages
      • Pulp and Paper
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Metal and Others
    • Industrial Wastewater
      • Oil & Gas
      • Chemicals
      • Power
      • Mining
      • Food & Beverages
      • Pulp and Paper
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Metal and Others
• Based on Region, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment market is segmented into
  • North America
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • Middle East & Africa

• All market revenue has been given in US Dollar.

Historical Year: 2020-2021
Base Year: 2022
Estimated: 2023
Forecast- 2024-2030

Key Questions this Study will Answer

• What are the key overall market statistics or market estimates (Market Overview, Market Size- By Value, Market Size-By Volume, Forecast Numbers, Market Segmentation, Market Shares) of Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Market?
• What is the region wise industry size, growth drivers and challenges key market trends?
• What are the key innovations, opportunities, current and future trends, and regulations in the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Concrete Market?
• Who are the key competitors, what are their key strength and weakness and how they perform in Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Market based on competitive benchmarking matrix?
• What are the key results derived from the market surveys conducted during Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Market study?