Wastewater beats water, sludge beats wastewater, reuse beats desalination, industrial beats municipal, North America beats Europe, and India beats China in terms of market growth rates.

This is according to a new report by Global Water Intelligence (GWI) which asks, what will drive the water business in 2016 and beyond?

The global water treatment and distribution market is estimated to be worth approximately $630 billion in 2016, growing at an average rate of 3.8% until 2020.

This growth reverses a downward trend in the market since 2013 due to the weak demand for desalination, falling oil and gas prices and the winding down of spending on China’s South-North Water Transfer project.

The report shows the trends that are expected to drive growth in the water sector in the next five years, adding up to a market growth of 2.8% in terms of opex, and 5.3% in terms of capex.

According to the report, there will be improved water efficiency in response to pressures on water supply, greater emphasis on wastewater treatment in cities with tougher regulation to polluters and greater reliance on technology to drive performance.

In addition, there is a strong market for sludge reduction and energy recovery techniques, and structural change in the management and finance of utilities. Private finance will see a return to favour.

The fastest growing markets over the years to 2020 look set to be South Asia, Africa and the Middle East largely due to governments in these regions prioritising the sector.

“This new report has a high level of granularity enabling users to drill down to the information they need. It is a resource for any water company looking to grow their business or bankers and consultants advising on deals in the water sector,” commented Christopher Gasson, GWI Publisher.