Water and sanitation

Stratum 1 · First transformations

Water and sanitation

Abstracts, treats and delivers drinking and process water, then collects and treats the wastewater and sludge that come back. Utilities and industrial users spent about US$ 770 billion on water and wastewater capex and opex in 2018, the latest total Global Water Intelligence has published (its 2023 forecast was about US$ 915 billion). Service is local and mostly publicly owned, while the equipment and technology suppliers are global and concentrated in Europe, the US, Japan and China.¹

India. The Jal Jeevan Mission raised rural tap connections from 3.23 crore households in 2019 to 14.5 crore (75%) in March 2024 and past 15 crore by December 2025, but sewage treatment lags: installed capacity of 31,841 MLD covered only about 44% (calculated) of the 72,368 MLD generated in CPCB's 2021 inventory. The investable gap is in sewage treatment, pipes, pumps and long-term O&M contracts^2,3,4.

Where ₹100 of water and sanitation output goes

Where ₹100 of water and sanitation output goes Every rupee of sales is paid out to someone along the chain. This splits ₹100 of output by who finally receives it, so you can see how exposed the industry is to commodity, chemical and energy prices. Commodities ₹6.5 Chemicals ₹0.9 Energy ₹12.8 Wages…

Price links with supplier industries

Price links with supplier industries How the industries this one buys from shape its prices: the share of its costs they make up, and how their prices have moved together. Tap a row for the charts. Hover or tap ? for what each measure means. Supplier industry Cost share Raw-material mix…

Follow one offering through the chain

Follow one offering through the chain 1 Example story · 7 steps · India A litre of Chennai's desalinated water Follow seawater at Perur from intake pipe to a south Chennai tap, and the sewage that comes back. 1 / 7 · Raw water sources Lakes that fill only with monsoon 1,246 MLD Chennai's piped…

Value chain, from upstream to the customer

Value chain, from upstream to the customer Criticality to the chain: 5 · Chokepoint 4 · Critical 3 · Important 2 · Supporting 1 · Commodity service Stage 1 Raw water sources Bulk raw-water and reservoir authorities 5 · Chokepoint Own or manage dams, canals, river intakes and groundwater…

What the whole chain draws on

What the whole chain draws on Every commodity, chemical and energy tile named by the enterprises above; ×n shows how many of them depend on it. Open any tile for its full detail. Commodities (13) St Steel ×4 H₂O Water ×3 Cem Cement ×3 CaO Lime ×3 Cu Copper ×2 Fe Iron ore Zn Zinc Ni Nickel REE Rare…

Chokepoints and risks

Chokepoints and risks Raw-water stress: monsoon failure and falling groundwater tables cut supply at source. Wastewater gap: India's installed sewage treatment covered only about 44% of sewage generated in 2021, and only 20,235 MLD was actually treated 4 . Global access gaps: about 2.1 billion…

Sources

Sources Global Water Market to Reach $915 Billion by 2023 as Oil and Commodity Prices Recover, New GWI Forecasts Reveal (gives the US$ 770 billion 2018 estimate) Global Water Intelligence via Informed Infrastructure, 2018 Jal Jeevan Mission Hits Historic Milestone Press Information Bureau…

Relationship cards

• Construction and infrastructure: Water and sanitation is one of the most construction-heavy services: dams, canals, pipelines and treatment plants are civil works, so water programmes turn directly into contractor orders. In India the Jal Jeevan Mission and AMRUT 2.0 make water one of the larger public construction programmes, and the challenge is shifting from building to running what was built. (researched)
• Chlorine: Chlorine is the standard disinfectant for piped water because it leaves a residual that keeps protecting water in the pipes, so water utilities treat it as a non-negotiable input; because chlorine is bought from nearby plants, a single outage can leave utilities short within weeks, as in the US Pacific Northwest in 2021. (researched)
• Electric motors and drives: Water and sewage services are mostly a matter of moving water uphill and through pipes, so motor-driven pumps and blowers use most of a utility's electricity, and efficient motors and drives are the main lever on its energy bill. (researched)
• Water: Raw water is the resource that water and sanitation utilities abstract, treat, deliver and then collect back as sewage. In India the system is being expanded fast through the Jal Jeevan Mission, but it rests on groundwater that is over-drawn in many areas and on tariffs that rarely cover costs. (researched)
• Water treatment chemicals: Surface water for piped supply is coagulated, usually with alum or polyaluminium chloride, and chlorinated to leave a residual at the tap, and sewage plants use polymers to dewater sludge; so the build-out of taps under Jal Jeevan Mission and of sewage treatment in India sets a steady, rule-driven demand for these chemicals. (researched)
• Public administration, defence and security: Water and sanitation buys from Public administration, defence and security; public administration, defence and security buys from Water and sanitation; water and sanitation depends on public administration, defence and security; public administration, defence and security depends on water and sanitation.
• Waste and recycling: Water and sanitation buys from Waste and recycling; waste and recycling buys from Water and sanitation; water and sanitation depends on waste and recycling; waste and recycling depends on water and sanitation.
• Apparel and footwear: Apparel and footwear buys from Water and sanitation; apparel and footwear depends on water and sanitation.
• Building materials: Water and sanitation buys from Building materials; water and sanitation depends on building materials.
• Computers and electronics: Water and sanitation buys from Computers and electronics; water and sanitation depends on computers and electronics.
• Data centres and cloud: Data centres and cloud buys from Water and sanitation; data centres and cloud depends on water and sanitation.
• Electrical equipment: Water and sanitation buys from Electrical equipment; water and sanitation depends on electrical equipment.
• Finance: banking, insurance, markets: Water and sanitation buys from Finance: banking, insurance, markets; water and sanitation depends on finance: banking, insurance, markets.
• Food and beverage processing: Food and beverage processing buys from Water and sanitation; food and beverage processing depends on water and sanitation.
• Healthcare services: Healthcare services buys from Water and sanitation; healthcare services depends on water and sanitation.
• Hospitality and tourism: Hospitality and tourism buys from Water and sanitation; hospitality and tourism depends on water and sanitation.
• Machinery and equipment: Water and sanitation buys from Machinery and equipment; water and sanitation depends on machinery and equipment.
• Metal products: Water and sanitation buys from Metal products; water and sanitation depends on metal products.
• Paper and packaging: Paper and packaging buys from Water and sanitation; paper and packaging depends on water and sanitation.
• Pharmaceuticals: Pharmaceuticals buys from Water and sanitation; pharmaceuticals depends on water and sanitation.
• Plastic and rubber products: Water and sanitation buys from Plastic and rubber products; water and sanitation depends on plastic and rubber products.
• Semiconductors: Semiconductors buys from Water and sanitation; semiconductors depends on water and sanitation.
• Software and IT services: Water and sanitation buys from Software and IT services; water and sanitation depends on software and IT services.
• Telecommunications: Water and sanitation buys from Telecommunications; water and sanitation depends on telecommunications.
• Textiles and leather: Textiles and leather buys from Water and sanitation; textiles and leather depends on water and sanitation.
• Vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft: Water and sanitation buys from Vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft; water and sanitation depends on vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft.
• Activated carbon: Water and sanitation depends on activated carbon.
• Aluminium: Water and sanitation depends on aluminium.
• Biogas and biomethane: Water and sanitation depends on biogas and biomethane.
• Boilers, furnaces and stoves: Water and sanitation depends on boilers, furnaces and stoves.
• Caustic soda: Water and sanitation depends on caustic soda.
• Cement: Water and sanitation depends on cement.
• Coking coal: Water and sanitation depends on coking coal.
• Combustion road vehicles: Water and sanitation depends on combustion road vehicles.
• Construction chemicals: Water and sanitation depends on construction chemicals.
• Copper: Water and sanitation depends on copper.
• Distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors: Water and sanitation depends on distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors.
• EPDM: Water and sanitation depends on EPDM.
• Energy in buildings: Water and sanitation depends on energy in buildings.
• Epoxy resins: Water and sanitation depends on epoxy resins.
• Fluoropolymers (PTFE, PVDF): Water and sanitation depends on fluoropolymers (PTFE, PVDF).
• High-density polyethylene: Water and sanitation depends on high-density polyethylene.
• Internal combustion engines and gensets: Water and sanitation depends on internal combustion engines and gensets.
• Iron ore: Water and sanitation depends on iron ore.
• Lime: Water and sanitation depends on lime.
• Lithium: Water and sanitation depends on lithium.
• Natural reservoirs: Water and sanitation depends on natural reservoirs.
• Nickel: Water and sanitation depends on nickel.
• Other and primary batteries: Water and sanitation depends on other and primary batteries.
• Oxygen: Water and sanitation depends on oxygen.
• PVC: Water and sanitation depends on PVC.
• Polycarbonate: Water and sanitation depends on polycarbonate.
• Polyester fibre: Water and sanitation depends on polyester fibre.
• Rare earths: Water and sanitation depends on rare earths.
• Reagents and high-purity lab chemicals: Water and sanitation depends on reagents and high-purity lab chemicals.
• Salt: Water and sanitation depends on salt.
• Sand & gravel: Water and sanitation depends on sand & gravel.
• Specialty amines and ethanolamines: Water and sanitation depends on specialty amines and ethanolamines.
• Steel: Water and sanitation depends on steel.
• Sulphuric acid: Water and sanitation depends on sulphuric acid.
• Transformers and power electronics: Water and sanitation depends on transformers and power electronics.
• Water cycle: Water and sanitation depends on water cycle.
• Zinc: Water and sanitation depends on zinc.