India's digital journey of water is gaining momentum, there is a need for more constructive efforts.

- Amit Vaidya

Director, India - Metrology Business, Sensus, Xylem Brand

Can you give us an industry overview about sustainable urban development initiatives taken by the government both at the Central and state level and how they will they transform India's future?

The government proposed the sustainable urban development initiatives to meet the economic and societal needs, with the aim of building a sustainable society. Understanding the present infrastructural scenario in the various towns and cities of India would need a relook and sustainable tech adoption to meet the rapidly expanding urbanization and population, these initiatives were undertaken.  Key initiatives like Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) project were few among such vital initiatives that were introduced to promote smart infrastructural lifestyle and improve the quality of living for citizens. Advanced smart metering solutions were also implemented by Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) 24X7 water distribution project which aimed to ensure continuous water supply and increased operational efficiency in the city. PMC was the first municipal corporation in India to implement a program aligned to India's Smart City Mission and invest in over 3,00,000 Sensus iPERL smart water meters to measure and manage water supply across the network.

Comprehending the massive benefits that utilities can avail with the adoption of smart water technologies, the government is encouraging and promoting the advanced innovations in this space that can truly develop India into a water independent nation. Taking cognizance of the growing need and significance of the urban development, building cities that are inclusive, healthy, resilient, and sustainable is crucial to meet the requirements of the citizens and these thoughtful projects are good steps in that direction. To achieve this goal effectively, it is imperative to include smart water infrastructure in the agenda of state utilities because without efficient water management and rising non-revenue-water all of the other smart projects might fall short in achieving its ultimate objective. 

How do you foresee private investments coming in the urban development sector?

Jal Shakti Mission, clean water for all and Swatchh Bharat Mission are the visionary projects that has been in the making for a while. Firstly, it gives significance to smart infrastructure and secondly, it accepts that, in order to safeguard the depleting resources strong participation by all private stakeholders is essential. The recent pandemic has duly exposed not only the continued negligence of efficient water management and low adoption of smart water solutions into our infrastructural system but also the magnified long-standing social and environmental stressors. The massive economic fallout of the pandemic has made it crucial to focus on necessary and well-designed investments. In an infrastructure-intensive sector, improving access and service quality to meet the SDGs cannot be done without massive investment into smart water technologies. These investments would enhance the water utilities expertise in crucial areas, like non-revenue water and pressure management and further increase efficiencies and overall service improvements.

Going forward, the realization of a smart water future will have to be achieved with collaborations and private sector partnerships. According to estimates, India's water sector requires investment worth USD 13 billion. The major factors that will drive this demand will be increasing water consumption, aging infrastructure resulting into water losses, utilities focusing on reducing non-revenue water, supportive Government policies and the need for improvement in water utility usage and efficiency.

Tell us about the opportunities available for players like you in this space in India.

There are immense opportunities for smart water tech solution players like Sensus, a Xylem brand, to introduce cutting-edge technologies that map and address the current need in the water sector of India. There is a huge demand for continuous water supply owing to the modernization and industrialization across many cities in India coupled with the need to update the existing water infrastructure. Over 120 million households in India already lack access to clean water near their homes, which is as per UN-Water Index, the highest in the world. With India's overall population expected to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2050, matters for the water industry are likely to worsen. There is a colossal opportunity to develop solutions and products that can empower water utilities to win the battle against inaccessibility to clean drinking water, over exhaustive water resources, depleting groundwater levels, NRW, water pricing woes.

Innovations in smart water technologies that help better water infrastructure and management capabilities and takes care of the data accuracy concerns will not only imply greater growth for the water tech players but also enable states to tackle NRW challenge better and improve functionalities. As per Sensus' Whitepaper -“”Smart Cities need Smart Water” - Reducing Non-Revenue Water with Intelligent Solutions”, reducing water losses is significant for the operational efficiency and financial sustainability of utilities in India. Although it is not possible to banish it completely, eliminating it by half of the current level in the cities appears to be an attainable target.

The average NRW in India is about 38%, just above the global average range of 30% to 35% reported by the World Bank. These players can touch these untapped segments to enhance the water efficiency in India. In 2019, the global smart water management market size was USD 2494.3 Million, and it is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 14.7% during 2019-2025.

Can you tell us about the challenges in the segment?

The reliability of the water utilities on the unconventional meters and mechanisms considering the difficulties that they apprehend in integrating the new advanced meters into the billing system is certainly a challenge. India's diverse geographic terrain also adds to water supply issues and along with that infrastructural deployment and every smart water metering solution has to be customized based on the functional need and requirement of a region/state utility. The low awareness level among the prospective stakeholders on the benefits such of smart water metering in terms of transparency of billing, accurate and remote meter reading option, early leak detection and low maintenance costs is an additional challenge. Presently, the demand for freshwater has increased considerably in India owing to increasing urbanization and lifestyle changes. By enabling smart water technologies, cities can efficiently balance the demand-supply conditions and transform the economies of water.

The pandemic has have knelled the bell and made water utilities realize that digital water technologies can generate direct savings for utilities and create both internal and external value across utilities' supply chains. As a result, we are seeing a growing interest in smart water infrastructure. Our technology is available using also data management and analysis that allow utilities to reduce non-revenue water, and ensure a constant supply of water for their citizens.

Can you give your outlook for the sector by 2025 and also in terms of demand for better technology-driven products?

Ans. Today, smart water meters provide several important functions that were formerly not possible or had to be performed manually, such as the ability to automatically and remotely read the measured consumption, detect tampering and leaks, and identify other supply issues. Going forward, remote meter reading will be further tech enabled to generate more consumptions patterns and arrive at more advanced insights and predictions. Large-scale deployments and utilities with low customer densities or geographically dispersed territories will be able to capitalize on this and improve their savings potential. 

Although India's digital journey of water is gaining momentum, there still lies a blatant need for more constructive efforts and extensive collaboration within water industry stakeholders to accelerate this transformation, mitigate NRW concerns on the ground and create a more sustainable environment for present and future generations. To address the biggest challenges of our time, we need to tap into the bold thinking of our youth. We at Xylem are for example offering programs like Xylem Ignite to engage with our customers, governments and young creative and innovative thinking people.

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