Smart water management market to post strong growth in India
Boosted by increased spending by public water utilities across major Asian countries like India, China and Japan, the smart water management market is seen posting strong growth in the next five years.
The Asia-Pacific region is undergoing rapid market growth and most of the Asian countries are leveraging information-intensive technologies to meet the rising demand for the water utility sector. In 2019, the global smart water management market was worth an estimated $2.49 billion and it is expected to show CAGR of 12.5 per cent during 2021-26 to reach over $5.7 billion by end-2026, according to a research report.
With water stress rising due to increased demand, pollution, and unequal resources, the growth of the smart water management market is seen accelerating in the next few years, said industry officials, adding that intelligent and effective management of water is expected to be a key challenge, driving more investment to the solutions market.
“Some of the factors driving growth upwards in the smart water management market are growing water scarcity and the need for water conservation besides aging & decaying water infrastructure, enhanced regulatory compliances & implementation of stringent environmental standards”, said an industry official.
In India, experts see strong growth in the smart water metering market. Overall, the smart water management solutions hold vast potential for substantial financial savings for water utilities.
“Proper water metering based on smart technologies is a must for Indian public water utilities, which are looking to cut down apparent losses, address the issue of high non-revenue water (NRW) and boost revenues”, said the official.
“Smart meters definitely play a critical role as they help addressing apparent losses, which is one of the big sources of NRW. This is why utilities should consider smart water meters as an essential factor of success to their NRW reduction program,” said Amit Vaidya, strategic accounts director at Sensus, a Xylem brand, at a recent industry webinar.
Experts said water challenges are increasingly impacting various regions in India. But, there has also been a rapid increase in innovative & smart solutions, which promise to provide a way forward and resolve many of these issues.
Globally, it is expected that the development of the IoT, smart cities across different locations will fuel the smart water management market size. Smart meter-related technical developments and their incorporation with communication solutions such as SCADA and GIS have transformed water management systems to overcome the challenges faced by erroneous billing and water management by water providers, people, and industries, according to the research report.
Expensive initial investment requirements and low return rates are the main constraints faced by smart water management. In addition, the demand for smart water management is slowly growing due to the lack of knowledge and talent supply.
The report said the commercial segment is expected to hold the largest market size in coming years. Also, there is expected to be strong competition in the market due to the presence of existing dominant smart water management device manufacturers and service providers and entry of new solution providers.
