Smart Water Meter Market Set To Surpass $1 Billion

The smart water meter market is growing faster than any other part of the water meter industry, and that trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

"The worldwide market for two-way smart meters is set to surpass the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2019, with managed services, analytics, and smart water network adoption all combining to accelerate growth," according to the description of a new report from IHS Technology.

Last year, the two-way smart water meter industry was valued at $575 million. In 2019, it is expected to surpass $1.1 billion. By the end of the same decade, about 29 percent of water meters are expected to be smart devices, compared to 18 percent in 2013.

"North America continues to be the leading adopter of two-way water meters used in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) networks, but stronger growth is occurring in Europe. France is the fastest-expanding market of all major countries worldwide, with smart meter penetration approaching the 50 percent mark," the summary said.

San Francisco is installing smart water meters as a way to help survive the effects of the drought. It will become "one of the first major cities to roll out technology that allows water customers to track their use, and how much they conserve, in real time," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

An Environmental Defense Fund manager explained the upside of smart water meters.

"Traditional water meters are not only less accurate than smart meters, but they also tend to lose accuracy as they age. The equipment must be replaced every 15 to 20 years on average, and many water utilities are now facing a natural replacement of their equipment," she wrote in a Forbes column.

Check out Water Online's Instrumentation Solution Center.