Research and Markets: World Water Meter Report, Database & Directory Ed 7 - 2009

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e04b73/world_water_meter) has announced the addition of the "World Water Meter Report, Database & Directory Ed 7 - 2009" report to their offering.

Four new countries not previously covered are now covered in this new edition. The report now contains reviews of the water meter markets in 19 countries. The countries contained are: France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, USA, Australia, China, India, Japan. A table of the installed bases of water meters in all gas using countries has been added.

The water meter sector is beginning to change, following in the path of the advanced metering revolution taking place in the energy sector, but at some distance behind it. In the US water utilities started to deploy AMR several years ago but it has not reached parity with the energy utilities. The emphasis is now changing for both sectors, to AMI. In a time of rising water prices there is a need to control costs but another important consideration enters the equation for water, scarcity of the resource. In recent years there have been a number of critical droughts in countries scattered over the globe. In some countries which rely on hydropower this has lead to a shortage of electricity, as was the case in Brazil several years ago. In other countries it has affected both industry and the population. In Taiwan in 2008 water was rationed to industry in order to provide drinking water for the population. In China scarcity of water is a national priority at the highest level. In the Middle East, Spain, the southern states of America water scarcity is a recurrent problem. Smart water meters are being deployed to manage the resource and this is a growth area. Irrigation meters are also increasingly prominent.

Another issue which the ABS reports addresses for the first time is the penetration and increasing usage of sub-metering. Property owners have always charged their tenants for water, but mostly they include it in the rent or allocate costs by RUBs (ratio utility billing), apportioning the charge according to floor area, numbers of occupants or some such variable. Sub-meters encourage tenants to use less water and they guarantee fair charges. Sub-meters have been around for some years but their usage is growing and we predict more growth. Sub-meters are used not only to measure total consumption but to monitor individual usage points, such as taps and boilers