Acute shortages and worsening pollution across Asia should keep growth in the sector buoyant for years to come. …

With a fifth of the globe’s population, China has just 7 percent of its water resources. “We expect tariff hikes and privatization have kicked off a multi-year theme in the growth of urban water supply and sewage treatment in China,” Morgan Stanley said last week.

Beijing cracked open its water utilities industry only in 2004, and its plan to invest US$130 billion in water and waste-water treatment in the five years leading up to 2010 sparked an influx of foreign buyers such as Veolia Environment, while cultivating a clutch of fledgling local players. …

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