In the past few years, select governments around the world have emphasized the societal importance of clean water by passing legislation for safer drinking water and combating climate change and other environmental hazards. Water testing is one of the many avenues that scientists and others utilize to monitor water safety and pollution. Laboratories could not do such testing without the aid of analytical instruments.

In January 2025, Strategic Directions International (SDi), a market research and business intelligence firm, released “Water Testing Instrumentation Market, 2024,” which reviews the demand for analytical instrumentation utilized for water testing. In the report, SDi gives thorough information on the water testing market’s size and growth. Additionally, for both the overall market and each analytical technology category highlighted in the report, SDi provides forecasts by analytical technique, application, customer base, product type, region and more. The market guidance includes a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2023 through 2028.

The laboratory technologies covered in the report are atomic spectroscopy, electrochemistry, molecular spectroscopy, process analyzers and chromatography & mass spectrometry (MS). The report also highlights the top vendors for each technology. According to the report, companies such as Agilent Technologies, Hach (Veralto), Shimadzu, Thermo Fisher Scientific and others have a significant market presence in the water testing instrumentation market.

For the report, SDi used both primary and secondary resources. The primary resources included interactions between SDi staff and end-users, personnel from vendors, regulatory agency employees and more. Secondary resources included financial reports, industry publications, website information and more.

According to the report, in 2023, the laboratory instrumentation market for the water testing end-market was valued at over $4.5 billion and is forecast to grow at a mid-single-digit CAGR through 2028. Of the five analytical technologies in the report, molecular spectroscopy, process analyzers and chromatography & MS have the most significant market presence in terms of sales. Furthermore, of the three, SDi predicts chromatography & MS will be the main growth driver, forecasting a high single-digit CAGR between 2023 and 2028.

Chromatography & MS

As one of the primary segments in the analytical instrument market for water testing applications, chromatography & MS is estimated to show a CAGR in high single digits between 2023 and 2028. PFAS regulations for ground, portable and surface water are among the significant factors influencing the growth in demand for chromatography & MS instrumentation in the water testing market. Within the chromatography & MS market, SDi predicts HPLC and LC-MS systems will be the primary growth drivers.

The top vendors for chromatography & MS are Agilent Technologies, Thermo Fisher and Waters. Agilent’s offerings include gas chromatography (GC), LC, and MS instruments and products such as columns, sample prep consumables and software. Its sizable presence in the GC market is particularly notable for its water testing business. Thermo Fisher has a strong market presence, thanks to GC, LC and MS instrumentation and related products, and the company also offers ion chromatography systems. Similarly, Waters offers GC, LC and MS systems and other products for water testing.