Water is the world's most critical yet overexploited natural resource. According to a report from the World Resources Institute, one-quarter of the world's population—approximately 17 countries—faces extremely high water stress. China, with only 2,200 cubic meters of water resources per capita—just one-quarter of the global average—is classified as a severely water-scarce nation.

Recent data from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) reveals that 47% of Europe is under drought "warning" conditions, while 17% has reached "alert" status. Scientists state this is the most severe drought in at least 500 years.

In Asia, Kazakhstan alone faces a water deficit of 23.2 cubic kilometers—equivalent to the country's total annual water withdrawal. The entire Yangtze River basin is experiencing its most severe drought in 61 years, necessitating strategic preparations for "fighting a major drought and a prolonged drought."

Water conservation has become one of the most urgent needs today. Meanwhile, severe water leakage, inefficient water resource utilization, and outdated water management methods present significant challenges for public utilities departments. Smart water meters offer promising solutions to mitigate the impacts of water scarcity and drought disasters by preventing water waste to the greatest extent possible.

According to a recent report, a smart water meter joint initiative involving just 40 large water users in Australia helped save 169 million liters of water within one year, with dozens of major consumers reducing their water bills by up to AUD 50,000 (USD 33,869). This demonstrates the effective role of smart water meters in water conservation. For residential users, Australia is also actively promoting the installation of household ultrasonic water meters. In 2021, South East Water installed IoT smart ultrasonic water meters for nearly 30,000 households in Melbourne's southeast, helping users save an average of AUD 150 in unnecessary expenses while reducing water waste.

A smart water meter is a new type of meter that utilizes modern sensing and signal processing technology, communication technology, embedded computers, and software technology to measure water consumption, transmit usage data, and facilitate settlement transactions. It features real-time communication, scheduled reporting, remote price adjustment, tiered pricing, remote meter reading, remote valve control, and alarm linkage capabilities.

Traditional mechanical water meters only provide basic measurement functions and  regular manual on-site meter reading and fee calculation. This traditional approach faces numerous drawbacks, including difficulty accessing homes, disturbance to residents, low efficiency, high costs, and inability to detect anomalies in a timely manner. Additionally, human factors often lead to issues such as missed readings, incorrect readings, under-readings, and preferential treatment in meter recording.

Additionally, water supply network leakage has long been a serious and widespread issue in the water industry. Pipeline leakage not only wastes water resources and increases costs for water supply enterprises but also affects water quality, posing risks to drinking water safety. According to the "2019 Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook" released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the water loss from public water supply networks in over 600 major cities across China reached 8.164 billion cubic meters in 2019, with an average leakage rate of 14.12%, indicating a severe leakage situation.

Smart water meters play a crucial role in water conservation through early and accurate leak detection. These meters are equipped with sensors that detect leaks based on water flow rates at any given point in time. This, in turn, helps local utilities track individual user consumption, detect losses or changes in consumption levels, and identify unexpected pressure drops within the water network, enabling leak identification before the metering point.

According to a research report from TransformaInsights, the total number of smart water meter connections will reach 700 million by the end of 2030, up from 196 million at the end of 2021. Throughout the forecast period, Greater China will be the region with the highest number of devices, accounting for 31% of total connected devices by 2030. North America will hold a 29% share by 2030, followed by Europe with a 28% share by the same year.

The overall transformation and upgrading of the domestic water meter industry is accelerating, with market demand for smart water meters growing rapidly. According to market research, first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have shown strong momentum in retrofitting in recent years. Currently, the penetration rate of smart meters in Guangzhou and Shenzhen is only around 20%-30%; both Shanghai and Beijing have plans to complete the retrofitting process within a few years. It is projected that China's smart water management market size will exceed 20 billion RMB after 2022.

In recent years, with the continuous integration of new technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, and mobile internet into traditional industries, intelligence has become the main direction for traditional industry transformation. In this context, favorable policies related to the water industry have been continuously introduced. In January 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Water Resources issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Water Security Assurance," explicitly emphasizing the need to strengthen smart water conservancy construction and enhance digital, networked, and intelligent capabilities.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China will promote major projects in new urbanization, transportation, and water conservancy, accelerating the informatization, intelligentization, and networking processes for water supply and drainage enterprises, as well as water usage and conservation in industry, agriculture, enterprises, and public institutions. This will undoubtedly provide broader market opportunities for the intelligent development and upgrading of water meters. In the future, with the promotion and popularization of smart water meters, "leading" enterprises can leverage their technological and product advantages to capture more market share.