GE Water & Process Technologies (the division of GE that specializes in water-related products) offers water purification chemicals, water purification equipment (this is what is used to filter sea water, removing odor and color, etc.), and lab-related products. The thing that I've been interested in is exactly how much GE has invested in water purification. A "clue" is that in March, GE purchased Canadian water company Zenon Environmental for $656 million, which sounds like a lot, but not when compared to the size of General Electric as a whole (337.88B market cap). I'm looking at this from two aspects. Is GE leading in water purification, and if so, if the water purification industry takes off, will it help GE a considerable amount? Another "clue" is that GE bought Ionics, a company engaged in several water purification services, in 2004 for approximately $1.1 billion, which doesn't include Ionics debt.

I still haven't been able to find an exact number, but after looking through past articles, I think GE's water segment would be valued somewhere around $5 billion, which is a great amount to have invested in a budding industry. GE has also upped its investments in India and China, which will be great to continue its slow and steady growth pace. The thing that is really admirable about GE is that they can manage so many different companies, in a whole range of sectors and industries, with the same integrity. This will help them a great amount over the long-term as they enter new industries and acquire more great businesses.