The European Water and Wastewater Disinfection Market with an estimated size of about $500 million in 2006 is set to experience high growth rates in the next few years.

The Water & Wastewater Disinfection Market is a highly dynamic and attractive segment in the overall European Water & Wastewater Market. Frost & Sullivan has identified a broad variation in terms of growth rates across technologies as well across individual countries in Europe. The European Union Directives on disinfection of drinking water supplied to EU citizens and also the requirement for the disinfection of treated wastewater disposed into protected bathing areas have significantly driven the growth of the disinfection systems market segment in the municipal sector.

There has been an increasing interest of water disinfection in the industrial sector, particularly in key end-user segments such as food & beverage and pharmaceuticals. This has largely been driven by both relevant industry standards and need for high purity water.

"Outbreaks of legionnaire's disease and water contamination due to Escherichia Coli and cryptosporidium have led to the EU member states taking a closer look at the need for stricter implementation of water and wastewater disinfection regulations - observes Research Analyst Ajay Richard. The acceptance of advanced technologies especially UV in the municipal and industrial sectors has spurred the disinfection market to grow steadily over the last decade. The emerging trend is towards the use of more than one technology to disinfect municipal water and implementing a multi-barrier approach to safeguard the health of municipal end-users. The rising demand for high quality process water for industrial applications and impending industrial wastewater disinfection regulations will see the industrial disinfection segment grow rapidly over the next decade."