Water Conservation Efforts Driving Smart Water Meter Market
The increasing accessibility of meters, measures to minimize non-revenue water (NRW), government support, and increasing installation by water utility companies are helping the smart water meter market grow. In 2015, the market valued $839.6 million, and it is predicted to prosper at a CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period (2016–2025). Water meters measure the amount of water flowing through a pipe, thereby helping people keep a check on the usage or supply. Smart meters have communication facilities, alarm, and the ability of taking and reading multiple readings.
Based on type, the smart water meter market is categorized into positive displacement, electromagnetic, single-jet, multi-jet, velocity flow, and fluidic oscillator meters. In 2015, the positive displacement category held the dominating sales volume share of 28.7%. However, electromagnetic meters are expected to grow the fastest during the forecast period and lead the market by 2023 owing to the increasing demand for advanced devices.
As the amount of drinkable water on earth is diminishing day by day, there is a strong need to conserve it. Thames Water Utilities Ltd. in the U.K. is speedily purchasing smart water meters as is Rogers Water Utilities in the U.S., which plans on replacing all its water meters with smart variants by 2021. Further, Keystone Utility Systems was to install 18,000 smart water meters in the U.S. by late 2016 under a contract with Sammamish Plateau Water. Thus, with increasing installation of such devices across the world, the smart water meter market is projected to flourish further.
These factors are also the reason that among all the regions, North America led the market in terms of sales volume as well as value, followed by Europe. Same is the scenario expected during the forecast period, but Asia-Pacific and Europe are predicted to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% each in terms of sales volume during this period due to the increasing initiatives by the governments in regional countries to conserve water.
Therefore, the deepening water crisis is expected to drive the market for smart water meters.
