Market analyst BCC Research has forecast in a recent report that global cumulative investments in desalination facilities will hit close to US$ 48.2 billion by 2020, from some US$ 21.4 billion in 2015 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.6%.


A CAGR of 19.5% will, according to BCC, lift cumulative investments in reverse osmosis (RO) from about US$ 17.3 billion in 2015 to nearly $42.1 billion by 2020.
And thermal desalination growth will remain significant with multistage flash (MSF) distillation cumulative investments rising from US$ 2.4 billion in 2015 to US3.2 bilion by 2020 - a CAGR of 6.1%.

BCC evaluates in its report the global markets for seawater desalination plants. It analyzes the water needs of 18 countries in five world regions and assesses the future of thermal and membrane desalination technology.