Is water purification next big thing for GE?

BOSTON: General Electric Co predicts that water purification could grow from a drop in the corporate bucket to a major growth driver within years, just as its wind unit did.

The largest US conglomerate has taken about a decade to build its water unit, which focuses on large-scale treatment and purification for municipal and industrial water users, through five takeovers costing about $4 billion.

With an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue, the water business remains a sliver of the $156 billion in sales the world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines is expected to generate this year.