Next‑Generation Water Technologies
All sectors deal with water
Many industries rely heavily on water, including energy, agriculture, food processing, public utilities, textiles, tanning, construction, and many others.
Other sectors manufacture components and systems for water management, such as pumps, filters, valves, pipes, fittings, membranes, sensors, and control systems.
Finally, sectors such as health and environmental protection are directly influenced by both the quality and availability of water.
Innovating water technologies is increasingly a necessity
Across the world — and especially in developing countries — there is a growing need for low‑cost water technologies capable of reducing energy consumption and environmental impact.
More broadly, there is a strong demand for systems that can lower the unit cost of water, extend the operational life of plants, and improve their reliability.
A vast and rapidly expanding market
Water Technologies cover a wide range of applications, including purification, potabilization, irrigation, energy production, heating/cooling, and water generation.
The demand is extremely diverse
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Rural and peri‑urban areas require low‑cost solutions for water treatment and distribution.
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Industrialized countries and large cities need advanced technologies for optimization, storage, monitoring, purification, and reuse.
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Agriculture increasingly relies on intelligent systems to optimize water use in irrigation.
Key technological processes include desalination, disinfection, re‑mineralization, removal of heavy metals and nitrates, and de‑gasification.
These solutions integrate a wide variety of components — pipes, filters, membranes, sensors, pumps, control systems, and energy systems — and rely on different materials and technologies.
New technologies are available today
Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) — micro‑ and nanoelectronics, photonics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, advanced materials, and advanced manufacturing — are transforming the water‑technology sector, enabling high‑efficiency systems, low‑energy processes, and next‑generation water‑treatment solutions.
Thanks to new absorbent materials, advanced energy‑storage systems, and AI‑driven optimization, it is now possible to develop innovative water‑management applications that were unimaginable only a few years ago. These technologies significantly improve performance, reliability, operational efficiency, and environmental sustainability across the entire water value chain.
While each KET offers strong innovation potential, their integration unlocks even greater opportunities for technological development, process optimization, and the creation of new high‑value markets in the water‑technology industry.
Main application fields of next‑generation water technologies
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Artificial rain production for agriculture and climate‑resilience projects
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Seawater desalination with reduced energy consumption
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Surface‑water treatment for rural and urban environments
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Wastewater purification and advanced biological/chemical treatment
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Greywater reuse for industrial and domestic applications
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Smart drip irrigation systems for precision agriculture
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Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) for off‑grid water production.
These emerging technologies support global efforts to reduce water scarcity, improve resource efficiency, and enable sustainable water production in both developed and developing regions.
Sometimes, smart design, knowledge of physics, and use of local resources and materials allow water to be produced at very low cost (e.g., Warkawater Tower)
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Water‑Related Health Challenges
Although significant efforts have been made to promote innovation, numerous water‑management problems continue to impact large populations around the world. The table below presents some of these issues, each of which introduces additional challenges for innovation processes.
Health problems of Water Management
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Arsenic removal Hundreds of millions of people—mainly in rural areas of developing countries—are exposed daily to high levels of arsenic in drinking water. Arsenic is a known human carcinogen, and its presence in water significantly increases cancer‑related mortality. Long‑term exposure also leads to liver failure, cardiovascular and neurological disorders, and several other severe diseases.
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Fluoride removal Millions of people across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Australia are exposed daily to excessive fluoride concentrations in drinking water. Long‑term exposure to elevated fluoride levels causes dental and skeletal fluorosis and is associated with increased incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases.
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Algal blooms in desalination plants Seawater desalination is a key technology for addressing water scarcity in arid regions across both developed and developing countries. However, an emerging threat to desalination systems is the occurrence of algal blooms. These events can force plants to shut down due to operational disruptions caused by algal‑derived substances, particularly transparent exopolymer particles (TEP), which severely affect filtration and treatment processes