Indian utility will buy 150,000 water meters

Bangalore: Liberty Lake-based Itron has sold 150,000 automated water meters to the Indian city of Mumbai. The deal, worth about $15aEURemillion, is the first sale of the company's automated water units in India.

Itron, which develops metering systems and software used by gas, water and electric utilities, has sold products in India before, said the company's Spokeswoman Marni Pilcher. According to the company, it will provide implementation and maintenance services, in addition to training meter-readers in India. But most of those sales have been gas meters and a minimal number of electricity meters, she said.

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Prior to this sale, many Indian utilities bought water meters from Actaris Metering Systems, the European company Itron acquired in 2007. The units contain data collection technology along with communications chips, giving the meters two-way communications with system managers. In India and many other countries, metering and regulating water use is uncommon.

Marni said the decision by officials in Mumbai shows "a movement toward resource conservation." Mumbai's municipal water system undertook a pilot project in 2009 in which the company installed 3,000 residential and commercial water meters in one section of the city, all equipped with radio transmitters. That six-month test helped the company win the new contract, which is expected to be completed in about two years.