Desalination & Reuse Handbook - Flipbook - Page 61
REUSE MARKET PROFILE
Regions
The shape of the world’s installed reuse capacity has changed dramatically since 2010, with installed capacity in the East Asia-Pacific
region more than tripling since 2010. The 28.3 million m3/d of new reuse capacity in China makes up most of this growth, but new
capacity in India and Taiwan is also significant. India is currently the fastest-growing market in the region, as environmental legislation
raises the bar for environmental clearance for new industrial developments, particularly in Tamil Nadu and states associated with the
Clean Ganga Mission. These add to regulations on the power sector that require power stations within 50 km of a suitable treated
effluent source to use treated wastewater. Meanwhile, Taiwan is aiming to almost triple its reuse capacity to 1.32 million m3/d by 2031.
The Americas is the second largest region by installed capacity, with the majority used in the agricultural and industrial sectors in the
USA. Despite slower growth, the US market is the world’s second largest market by contracted capacity, with 10% of the global total. The
region’s 5.2 million m3/d spike in contracted capacity for 2010 is a result of contract awards for the 2 million m3/d Atotonilco WWTP in
Mexico and two primary treatment plants totalling 1.75 million m3/d in Peru. Combined, these projects represent more than half of the
5 million m3/d of reuse capacity contracted in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2010.
Although water reuse has not replaced desalination as the primary unconventional water source for arid countries in the Middle
East, large-scale upgrades of sewage treatment capacity in the Gulf and Egypt in particular have driven strong growth in the region’s
water reuse market. The 1.6 million m3/d Abu Rawash WWTP and 1 million m3/d Al Mahsama WWTP, awarded in 2016 and
2018 respectively, make up almost a third of the 8.7 million m3/d contracted in the Middle East and Africa since 2010. A further
2 million m3/d of sewage treatment upgrades to tertiary or triple-barrier levels was awarded in the GCC over the same time frame.
The Sulaibiya WWTP in Kuwait treats the majority of the country’s domestic wastewater to triple barrier standards, while Israel reuses
almost 90% of its municipal wastewater for agricultural irrigation.
The European wastewater reuse market has been relatively quiet since 2010, with overall capacity largely dependent on large projects
for agricultural users in Spain, making the region a relatively small and mature market in comparison to the scale of capacity contracted
elsewhere since 2010. However, an EU directive has been proposed that would mandate treatment of microbiological pathogens in order
to facilitate water reuse in agricultural irrigation, with the potential to boost EU wastewater reuse from 3 million m3/d to 18 million m3/d.
However, Europe lacks the decades-long history of regulation-driven wastewater reuse in agriculture that more established markets such
as Australia, Israel and the USA benefit from, and as a result uptake may be slow in the short to medium term.
Installed capacity by water reuse application, 2010–2017
East Asia / Pacific
27.9 million m3/d
North America
5 million m3/d
Middle East / North Africa
6.2 million m3/d
Southern Asia
1.3 million m3/d
Western Europe
4.1 million m3/d
Eastern Europe / Central Asia
0.40 million m3/d
Sub-Saharan Africa
0.26 million m3/d
Latin America / Caribbean
5.2 million m3/d
Global
50.4 million m3/d
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Industrial
Landscape irrigation
Environmental enhancement
Recreational use
Agricultural irrigation
Urban non-potable use
Domestic/potable use
Groundwater recharge
Source: GWI DesalData / IDA
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