Trend · rank 89 of 250

Water treatment & desalination

Scarcity and contamination are increasing reliance on reuse, desalination, advanced treatment and leakage reduction, making constant power, investment and operating expertise conditions of dependable national water supply.

Strategic InfrastructureEnergy, networks & climate resiliencewaterpowerresilience

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass, where it was Water technology & desalination. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
89of 250
Sensitivity
10.0rank 106
Breadth
0of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
38.9rank 102
Eigenvector
2.0
Betweenness
25.8
Links
16trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
24.6

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
102
Over a year
+8%Steady
Over three years
−7%
Peak
1478 Mar 2026
Sources
Bothagreement -0.08
Coverage
19languages · 61 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (19 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English48%93+3%
Turkish9%47−69%
French7%111+28%
Russian6%90−11%
German6%118+20%
Spanish4%92+13%
Arabic4%55−13%
Japanese3%106+2%
Italian3%120+12%
Chinese3%77−20%
Persian2%73−54%
Polish1%109+4%
Indonesian1%114+52%
Hebrew1%131+19%
Dutch1%169+77%
Korean1%113+14%
Portuguese1%100+22%
Ukrainian1%109+60%
Swedish0%115−5%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

United Arab Emirates

Singapore

Ethiopia

Kenya

Qatar

United States

Australia

Nigeria

Canada

South Africa

Ghana

South Korea

100

93

88

88

86

82

80

77

75

71

70

68

The 12 highest of 61 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English105+5%+10%−7%
EuropeGoogle in 8 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish120+6%+28%+39%
ChinaGoogle in 1 country101+28%−5%+27%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 11 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian98−2%+3%−10%
South AsiaGoogle in 4 countries77−1%−14%−39%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew76+6%−31%−44%
AfricaGoogle in 6 countries72+3%−2%−44%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese101−16%+34%−4%
Russia and EurasiaWikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian94−3%−0%−19%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
ArgentinaGoogle117−39%+172%+50%
AustraliaGoogle94+18%−19%−19%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese122−17%+78%+27%
CanadaGoogle109+14%−5%+21%
ChinaGoogle101+28%−5%+27%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French112−6%+38%+32%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German139+9%+61%+63%
IndiaGoogle75+5%−19%−41%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian99+23%+21%−10%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian114+28%+7%+42%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese101−10%+2%−16%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean105−4%+31%−2%
MexicoGoogle81−24%−4%−23%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian90−7%−11%−10%
Saudi ArabiaGoogle72−13%−36%−41%
South AfricaGoogle85−2%−18%−28%
TürkiyeGoogle + Wikipedia in Turkish71+31%−48%−52%
United KingdomGoogle95+2%−14%−10%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English106+3%+14%−7%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
3 · ModerateHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
3 · ModerateA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
2 · LowTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
2 · LowCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
2 · LowA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
4 · HighDistributed powerEnergy, networks & climate resilience81
4 · HighFirm & black-start capacityEnergy, networks & climate resilience119
4 · HighDams, reservoirs & flood defenceEnergy, networks & climate resilience137
4 · HighReliable energy access gapsEnergy, networks & climate resilience197
3 · ModerateTelecom network resilienceEnergy, networks & climate resilience35
3 · ModerateInfrastructure ageing & maintenance backlogEnergy, networks & climate resilience39
3 · ModerateUrban population concentrationEnergy, networks & climate resilience61
3 · ModerateElectrification of heat & industryEnergy, networks & climate resilience70
3 · ModerateFossil fuel supply & refiningEnergy, networks & climate resilience112
3 · ModerateGrid expansion & demand flexibilityEnergy, networks & climate resilience131
3 · ModerateClimate change & physical riskEnergy, networks & climate resilience138
3 · ModerateData-centre power & water demandEnergy, networks & climate resilience144
3 · ModerateUrban cooling infrastructureEnergy, networks & climate resilience151
3 · ModerateBiodiversity & ecosystem lossFood, water & nature181
3 · ModerateFreshwater stress & transboundary waterFood, water & nature187
3 · ModerateEarly-warning coverageEnergy, networks & climate resilience204