If I asked you to name some of the world’s biggest industries in the world right now, you might say technology, oil, or finance. Water probably wouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind. So you might be surprised to hear that the sector as a whole has grown rapidly in the past 20 years, expanding in further into other industries, like agriculture, consumer beverages, and infrastructure. 


Altogether, the water business has grown into a behemoth of an industry worth over $350 billion, and it’s only projected to expand even more in the next 10 years, with it set to grow by another $300 million. I’ve probably piqued your interest with those big numbers. 75% of the world’s landmass isn’t enough; water is taking over the world. If you’d like to learn how, keep on reading. 


The Biggest Subsectors


Agriculture


Let’s get right to it. Where is the water industry making its money? Well, it has its fingers in a lot of different pies. First off, let’s talk about the big one: agriculture. It’s a global industry that, naturally, has an enormous appetite. 


Farms and large agricultural corporations all over the world require water to grow their crops, and therefore, it accounts for most of the world’s water usage. One more thing to bear in mind is that, as climate change has intensified in warmer climates, the demand for water in agriculture has steadily risen and will only continue to do so in the coming years. What’s more, farmers are using cleaner demineralized water to prevent equipment damage and to protect sensitive crops. 


Consumer Drinks


Consumer beverage manufacturers naturally need a lot of water to make their drinks – hundreds of billions of litres of the stuff, to be slightly more precise. Household names, like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, spend billions to get the water they need to make the products that people around the world love. 


Water Technology


But what about the tech that’s needed to source water, clean it, and deliver it to the industries that need it most? That’s how water technology companies, like Xylem, factor in. They push the envelope of innovation by coming up with new treatment systems, filtration system and other technologies that can create ultrapure water.


In addition, improved irrigation technologies in agriculture are improving efficiency and transforming the way that we farm as a whole. New cutting-edge systems that feed the water directly to plants’ roots, for example, are helping to minimise costs and maximise yields. 


Infrastructure


With so much of the world’s water infrastructure woefully out of date, lots of countries are in a hurry to update it. As a result, lots of businesses, from small-to-medium-sized enterprises to large global conglomerates, are contributing their specialist skills in engineering and construction to blueprint and build new infrastructure that people can actually rely on. 


In Conclusion


I suppose it isn’t really a surprise that water is both essential for living and essential for the world economy. With strong footholds across different industries, as well as in less economically developed countries and in global superpowers, this billion-dollar titan is poised to dominate in the years to come.