Global Smart Leak Detection Solutions Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The smart leak detection solutions market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.86% during the forecast period (2022 - 2027).

Key Highlights

• Smart leak detection solution involves pressure sensors, smart water meters, and network management software that provide users a crucial information about the health of their clean water distribution network. Further, artificial intelligence (AI) based software utilize real-time date to provide the information that user requires to identify the exact locations of failed pipes, detect risks, and minimize the real water losses, without disrupting operation of the network. This decision intelligence encourages users to make high capital and better operation decision in the water transfers and distribution management.
• The high rate of urbanization in most emerging countries has augmented the pressure on current water and wastewater infrastructure, which, in turn, has propelled the demand for smart leak detection solutions, partly to enhance asset efficiency and partially to meet water conservation goals.
• The reduction of network leakage is identified as a crucial factor in attaining water sustainability. According to Water UK, a membership organisation that represents all key statutory water and wastewater service providers, there are over 345,000km of mains water pipes in the UK alone. Throughout this extensive network, Water UK briefs that 2,954 million liters of water, approximately 20-30% of UK water production, are lost every day due to the leakage. The UK regulator, Ofwat, is leading the way worldwide through setting water companies a target to lower leakage by nearly 16% by 2025. Also, the UK water companies have been dedicated to going further, seeking to provide a 50% reduction in leakage by 2050.
• As water companies focus on monitoring their network more closely, they are significantly seeking to adopt smart leak detection devices and solutions to build a smart model, running simulations of extreme weather events and the effect on their system. This, in turn, facilitates the water companies to foresee potential overspill events and helps them prioritize decisions about network investment.
• Further, utilities' focus on a 'one-stop solution provider' for leak detection in both their wastewater and water networks is boosting solution providers to adopt new business models such as leak (or non-revenue water (NRW)) management-as-a-service (LMaaS) and technology-as-a-service (TaaS). LMaaS helps concentrate on the growth and market penetration of the smart solutions like continuous leak monitoring and proactive prevention, whereas, TaaS facilitates service providers to control and strategically expand and improve their technology offerings.

Key Market TrendsScarcity of Water and Aging Water Infrastructure is Creating a Demand for Smart Leak Detection Solutions

• The growing population and continuous change in climate worldwide are the major factors leading to water scarcity. As per the latest UN World Water Development Report, climate change affects the availability, quality, and quantity of water needed for basic human requirements, thus, damaging sanitation and safe drinking water for billions of people.
• Further, according to the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the limiting global temperature is a seriously emerging concern that increases to below 2°C and is achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. Therefore, immediate action should be taken through adopting several solutions to control water and climate in an organized manner.
• Furthermore, increasing water demand is because of economic development and population growth. As the water necessity globally is observed to be raised by around 600% over the past 100 years according to UN-Water’s SDG6 Indicator Report, this is further expected to augment over the next two decades for industrial, domestic, and agricultural usage. The water requirement for industrial and domestic usage is anticipated to grow faster than agricultural demand worldwide. At the same time, approximately 70% of the total water is utilized for agriculture globally.
• As per the statistics provided by the United Nations (UN), over 2 billion population worldwide is presently staying in countries with high water stress. In order to tackle this problem, it is essential to preserve and use water safely. Installation of smart water leak detection solutions assist in identifying the leakages in installed water pipes, which eventually evades the wastage of water via holes and cracks.
• Moreover, developed countries such as the UK, the US, and others, have a complex water infrastructure developed during 1970. Nevertheless, this water infrastructure is aging with time, thereby causing problems such as the formation of cracks, pipe corrosion, breakage, and others. The installation of smart leak detection solutions further assists in identifying the location of leakages in these aging water transit pipelines and supports in preventing wastage of clean treated water. Hence, the aging water infrastructure is boosting demand for smart leak detection solutions, which drives the growth of the market.

Asia Pacific is Expected to Register a Significant Market Share During the Forecast Period

• Asia Pacific is anticipated to hold substantial market share during the forecast period. In the last few years, the urban sewage capacity in the Asia Pacific region has grown remarkably. This growing capacity is likely to propel the demand for smart leak detection solutions in the region.
• For instance, according to International Trade Administration, China is highly focusing on building or renovating 80,000 km of sewage collection pipeline networks and increasing sewage treatment capacity by 20 million cubic meters/day between 2021 and 2025.
• Further, in order to fulfill the scarcity of water, the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), in association with the 2030 Water Resources Group, has been planning to enhance wastewater management in India and increase private investments to construct wastewater treatment plants. Also, IDE Technologies, an Israeli firm, collaborated with the government of Andhra Pradesh to set up desalination plants in several cities in the state to overcome the scarcity of water in the cities.
• The region is also witnessing the development and introduction of new leak detection technologies. For instance, in September 2021, Landis+Gyr, an integrated energy management solutions provider for utilities, announced to partner with Iota, the commercial domain of Southeast Water. The partnership aimed at offering a network leak detection sensor to help water utilities in Australia and New Zealand reduce non-revenue losses.
• Acoustic leak detection is also increasingly being used by utility companies. For instance, in July 2021, Aquarius Spectrum, a water leak detection and pipe condition assessment solution provider, announced to deploy its acoustic monitoring system (AQS-SYS) on Singapore's drinking water supply network. As per the initiative, Aquarius Spectrum will provide 900 hydroponic sensors for the installation on Singapore's large water mains, with diameters ranging from 500 mm to 2,200 mm. These sensors, designed particularly for underground installation, are deployed to perform leak monitoring on approximately 400 km of the water pipeline for the next five years.

Competitive Landscape

The Global Smart Leak Detection Solutions Market is moderately competitive and consists of several major players such as Hermann Sewerin GmbH, SebaKMT (by Megger), Halma plc, Aquarius Spectrum, Xylem Inc. etc. In terms of market share, few of the major players currently dominate the market. However, with innovations and technological advancements, many of the companies are increasing their market presence by both organic and inorganic growth strategies and also by tapping new markets. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• In February 2022, Aquarius Spectrum launched its new AQSense-Edge series of Cat-M/NB-IoT correlating sensors. The AQSense-Edge series supports all water supply pipe materials and diameters, distribution and transmission, and boasts the additional benefit of delivering extensive coverage with fewer sensors, typically up to 3 sensors per 1 km of piping.
• In May 2021, Big Sky, Montana installed a smart utility network from Sensus, a Xylem brand, to offer remote system monitoring that produces advanced leak detection and quick response to customer requirements. The technology investment combined Sensus iPERL residential water meters with the two-way FlexNet communication network and Sensus Analytics to bring in reliable, near-real-time data from across their service area.

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