Global Water Market Data
Over 2,100 public–private partnerships have been signed in water since 2005, and a forward pipeline of more than 1,400 projects is now taking shape — increasingly in wastewater reuse and desalination. The charts below replicate the market intelligence WaterHouse exists to make legible. Every figure is sourced.
Source for all data on this page: Roland Berger analysis, presented by AquaFed (International Federation of Private Water Operators), “Water PPPs — Look Back & Forward: Strategic Takeaways for Investors & Policymakers,” pre-read for the UN Water Conference, 2025.
20-Year Look Back
Of 2,101 deals (2005–2025), infrastructure PPPs outnumber service PPPs nearly four to one.
Service PPP = concession, lease, affermage. Infrastructure PPP = BOT, BOO, IWPP, BTO, BTL, DBF.
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
China dominates two decades of deal flow, with Brazil and the Philippines distant followers.
Project counts, 2005–2025. China 1,381 · Brazil 142 · Philippines 84.
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
Of 433 service concessions, Brazil leads — driven by access needs, a clear regulatory framework, and public financing shortfalls.
Share of 433 service PPPs (2005–2025); figures rounded. Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
China alone accounts for ~1,295 of 1,668 infrastructure PPPs (~78%). The chart shows how the remaining 373 distribute.
Share of the 373 non-China infrastructure PPPs (2005–2025); figures rounded. Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
Look Forward
Climate stress is reshaping demand: wastewater treatment & reuse now make up 43% of planned projects, and most of the pipeline is new build rather than retrofit.
Wastewater reuse and desalination together account for 62% of the 1,409 planned projects.
Share of 1,409 planned PPPs. Wastewater Treatment & Reuse = 608 projects; Desalination = 274. Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
Across the pipeline and within its two largest segments, greenfield new build dominates.
Project counts. Total pipeline 1,409 (new-build 958, service 246, retrofit/expansion 205). Desalination 274. Wastewater & reuse 608. Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
The desalination pipeline (274 projects) expands well beyond the Middle East.
Leading markets, per Roland Berger: United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Spain, Egypt, and Australia. The great majority are new build (235) rather than retrofit or expansion (33).
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025 (planned desalination infrastructure PPPs).
At 43% of the global pipeline (608 projects), this is the largest forward segment.
Leading markets, per Roland Berger: India, United States, Spain, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and South Africa. New build (451) again outweighs retrofit and expansion (125).
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025 (planned wastewater treatment & reuse PPPs).
Deal Flow Is Live
US$2.8bn investment across four states, to be auctioned by end 2025.
US$1.7bn to be awarded by end 2025, with 31 more PPPs (US$5.5bn+) on the radar.
Considering a PPP model to invest US$3bn toward a US$7bn funding gap for universal access by 2030.
1.7m m³/day capacity by 2030, plus a 30,000-hectare Gharb irrigation PPP.
US$1.2bn investment PPP project.
Azerbaijan's first-ever PPP (300,000 m³/day) awarded in January; Oman's US$142m Nama purification PPP signed in March.
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
Strategic Takeaways
Rule-based national programs (Brazil, India) accelerated deal flow; ad-hoc rules (USA, South Africa) slow it.
Whether remunicipalizing or deepening concessions, success depends on clear performance KPIs and tariff certainty.
Pipelines are expanding — but affordability and energy sourcing must be embedded early.
Instruments like WIFIA (USA), DBSA (South Africa), and EIB green loans (Spain) are indispensable where municipal balance sheets are weak.
Transparency over tariffs and service levels reduces litigation and protest risk. Saudi Arabia's model shows the upside: clear off-takers, an integrated infrastructure view, sovereign guarantees, and a single national PPP body drove desalination costs to as low as US$0.04 / m³.
Source: Roland Berger analysis / AquaFed, 2025.
Workforce Intelligence
The U.S. water workforce numbers 1.7 million — yet a retirement wave is colliding with thin recruitment pipelines. WaterRising's original survey of utilities quantifies the talent gap and the practices that close it.
WaterRising's November 2024 utility workforce survey — share of surveyed utilities with each practice in place.
n = 16 U.S. water utilities. Source: WaterRising Institute & The Water Tower, "A Guide for Recruiting and Retaining Talent in the Water Sector," 2024 (supported by the U.S. EPA Innovative Water Workforce Development Grant).
The white paper's roadmap for utilities to close the gap.
This is WaterRising's workforce-as-infrastructure thesis: capital and technology cannot modernize systems that lack the people to run them. Closing the talent gap is a prerequisite to investability.
Decision-grade data, aggregated and made legible, is the binding constraint between patient capital and the infrastructure it wants to fund.
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