- Paper highlights India’s water crisis scenario, NRW cases, challenges, and implications, Govt initiatives
- Outlines apparent losses , challenges faced by utilities globally
- Points out how smart water tech and real-time data monitoring systems can rectify NRW loss
- Sensus in talks with water utilities of states, to develop a tech-smart approach towards NRW correction
India, March 24th, 2021: Sensus, a Xylem brand and a global leader in smart water solutions, with 80 million+ metering devices installed worldwide, today unveiled a whitepaper and report on – “Smart Cities need Smart Water” - Reducing Non-Revenue Water with Intelligent Solutions, ahead of the World Water Day 2021 on 22nd March. The whitepaper interestingly highlights that as per estimates of the Central Water Commission, India is not a water-scarce country and the water resources potential of the country is 1869 BCM. However, more than 40% of the water produced in many cities is wasted before reaching the final consumer due to leaks or theft, emphasizing the need for smart, real-time monitoring to strengthen utilities with effective control over water usage.
Establishing India's smart urban dream would be a distant reality without smart water, the white paper details the implications of Non-Revenue-Water (NRW), lists the key challenges for Indian utilities, and reiterates the importance and benefits of smart water infrastructure deployment by utilities to reduce the high NRW. Sensus also announced that it is in talks with municipal corporations and utilities of leading states across India, to consult and help them with smart water meters and other technology deployments to enable them to reduce NRW and resultant apparent water loss. Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) chose Sensus iPERL™ smart water meters for effecting PMC’s innovative 24x7 water distribution project, aimed to ensure continuous water supply and increase operational efficiency.
Speaking at a virtual press meet to unveil the white paper on the occasion of the upcoming World Water Day on 22nd March, Nitin Bhate, Managing Director, Xylem India, said, “It is critical to raise the awareness around NRW concern. At Xylem, We are committed to delivering innovative and smart technology solutions to solve water. The pandemic has reiterated more than ever before the need to not only conserve our natural resources better but also, more importantly, adopt futuristic technology solutions that enable us in more effective management and prevention of unnecessary loss. With our metrology brand Sensus, We are providing cutting-edge technology for utilities to be able to accurately measure water consumption, communicate effectively that accurate data, and ensure early-stage leak detection, tampering and other incidents to enable utilities to save significant costs and derive better ROI.”

Amit Vaidya, Director, India – Metrology Business, Xylem, added, “The purpose of this whitepaper is to highlight the current water crisis across India in both large and growing cities, where NRW is posing a threat to utilities causing ineffective water supply and management. Globally, countries are accelerating the adoption of intelligent water solutions and it’s time Indian utilities get inspired from these global water loss program management and invest in futuristic, smart water technologies and particularly in advanced metering systems to conserve and better utilize water resources. We are glad that our Indian Govt. has been vocal and welcoming about the digital water economy and has already deployed smart water infrastructure in key cities. We are in talks with the State Governments and municipalities to enable them to deploy smart water meters.”
The Pandemic has raised water demand and water stress across India. India’s average NRW (38%) is above the global average range of 30% to 35% according to the World Bank, and almost a third of 100 cities qualify as high-risk zones by 2050. With deteriorating water infrastructure, increased operational costs, and reduced revenue, water utilities might soon find it challenging to balance the demand-supply in cities, in the years to come.
About Sensus, a Xylem brand:
Sensus, a Xylem brand, helps water utilities to reach further through the application of technology and data-driven insights that deliver efficiency and responsiveness – enabling them to do more with their infrastructure to improve quality of life in their communities. Sensus, founded in 1870, was acquired by Xylem Inc. in August 2016, as part of their global acquisition strategy to create a full end-to-end solution for the global water market. The US-based company started its India metering operations in 2014 headquartered out of Mumbai In its journey in India, Sensus has worked closely with various utility bodies and organizations offering its expertise in Smart Metering, Data Analytics, Smart Water Networks, Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Sensus brings the unique experience and learnings from its successful execution of one of the world's largest smart water projects to date - The Thames Water Smart Metering Program. Thames Water is installing 3 million+ smart water meters to address the shortfall in water supply that is predicted in London, UK, by 2040. It’s also selected as Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) technology partner to successfully implement Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) innovative 24x7 water distribution project which aims to ensure continuous water supply and increased operational efficiency. PMC has invested in over 300,000 Sensus iPERL™ smart water meters to measure and manage water supply across its network.
Learn more at: https://sensus.com/