The main water uses in industry

Industry covers a range of water uses that vary enormously in terms of both quantity and quality.

The presence of abundant, good-quality water resources is often a factor in the location of industries near watercourses. Water has specific physico-chemical properties and can be used for a wide range of operations: washing objects, containers, pipes, workshop floors, heating or cooling objects, carrying out chemical reactions in an aqueous medium, transporting objects through pipes...

Water consumption varies from country to country and from sector to sector: not all the water used by industry is necessarily consumed, and can sometimes be discharged back into the environment after use. Processing industries are the most water-hungry. The quality required for industrial water depends on the activity: the food industry needs drinking water; the electronics, medical and biotechnology industries need ultrapure water.

In 2014, industrial water consumption accounted for around 20% of global consumption, representing a global water withdrawal volume of 800 km ³ . According to the McKinsey study "Charting our water future", published in November 2009, this figure is set to rise to 1,500 km ³ by 2030.

The use of water for industrial purposes also rises in line with countries' income levels. From 10% in low-income countries, it rises to almost 60% in high-income countries.

In addition, the growing demands of resource and environmental protection (discharge standards, taxes, etc.) combine to impose ever more rigorous water management on manufacturers, which increasingly involves cascading and/or recycling or reuse systems, either internal to a workshop, or at the level of an entire industrial site. This explains the wide variations in water consumption from one site to another.