Water infrastructure: Better 'snapshot' technologies needed
29 Mar 2011
Boston, Massachusetts – The market for technologies that help inspect and repair the world’s aging water infrastructure is approaching $20 billion worldwide and is growing at a healthy 10% a Lux Research survey has found.
That growth is currently mostly paid for by spiralling consumer water bills rather than government grants, leading municipalities to desperately seek more cost-effective new ways of maintaining their pipe networks.
In a new report, Lux Research suggests that the most cost effective solutions will arise from technologies that can monitor the entire water infrastructure and allow owners to target sections in most urgent need of repair.
The study, titled “Plugging the Leaks: The Business of Water Infrastructure Repair offers a “reality check” on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the inspection and repair of aging water infrastructures, said Lux Research.
“Outdated water infrastructure and record high government deficits are both fueling demand for low-cost inspection and repair solutions - namely software and sensor technologies that can provide a snapshot of a utility’s entire infrastructure,” said Brent Giles, a Lux Research senior analyst and the report’s lead author.
“Without this holistic view, utilities cannot prioritise the most critical repairs - and may end up throwing money down the drain to address the leaks that are visible today rather than the ones that could prove catastrophic tomorrow,” Giles claims.
During its analysis, Lux Research surveyed technology providers, including those offering pipe-repair and monitoring technologies. It developed scores for the maturity and technical value of individual companies, and used these scores to position each company.
(See also fact file, below)
Among the key findings of the Lux Research study:
- Pipe repair technologies lack innovation. The landscape of pipe repair technologies indicates an industry facing stagnation. While the quadrants for “current winners” and “incumbents” are well-occupied, few companies land in the quadrants for “future winners,” or even “long shots.” Pipe monitoring and characterization benefit from advances in information technologies, but pipe rehabilitation methods remain a trailing technology.
- Smart meters currently win the monitoring category, but for how long? Smart water meters have yet to see major market penetration, but the presence of massive companies in the market with little technological differentiation limits opportunities in the market. “Future winners” in the drinking water industry will facilitate smart-meter sales and ride the coattails of their success, including algorithmic event predictors, leak locators, and other methods for automating collection and application of smart meter data.
· The big move is toward smart infrastructure monitoring options. Possessing a clear and comprehensive picture of the entire infrastructure could save a water company tens or hundreds of thousands in repairs each year. The first part of that goal is now widespread: Survey-quality GPS, sometimes combined with electromagnetic or ground-penetrating radar, can map pipe infrastructure, creating three-dimensional maps that show exactly where the pipe is, correcting the widespread errors in existing maps, and at least ensuring that repair crews will find a pipe when they dig.
