Water utility launches tender for smart metering rollout
A water utility seeks suppliers to digitise its water and wastewater network with ultrasonic smart meters, signalling rising demand for advanced metering.
A water utility seeks suppliers to digitise its water and wastewater network with ultrasonic smart meters, signalling rising demand for advanced metering.
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Compania de Apa Arad S.A. is moving ahead with the digitisation of its water and wastewater infrastructure, going to market for ultrasonic smart meters and installation services. The contract is intended to deliver real-time visibility over consumption while cutting the cost of checking and repairing conventional meters, adding another notable smart-metering opportunity to the water technology pipeline.
On 30th June 2026, Compania de Apa Arad S.A. published a contract notice for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Digitization. The project centres on the supply and installation of smart metering systems, including various types of ultrasonic meters, as part of a wider effort to digitise both drinking water and wastewater assets.
According to the notice, the new meters are expected to enhance real-time water consumption monitoring and reduce verification and repair costs. That positions the contract squarely as a digitisation exercise rather than a simple like-for-like meter replacement, with metering data intended to play a more central role in day-to-day network management.
The short notice text does not set out meter volumes, service areas or preferred communications technology, so the precise scale and technical architecture of the rollout are not yet visible. Even so, the explicit focus on ultrasonic devices and real-time data places this procurement in line with a broader set of smart-metering upgrades across the water sector.
The call for “various types of ultrasonic meters” reflects a clear move away from purely mechanical devices. In June 2026, Stadtwerke Wetzikon, Institution Wasser issued a contract notice for the supply of pre-configured ultrasonic water meters with data transmission primarily through wired M-Bus, together with a remote reading system for locations without electricity meters, under its Ultrasonic Water Meters project.
Also in June 2026, Gmina Chodel launched Ultrasonic Water Meter Supply and Installation, covering the purchase and installation of 2,412 ultrasonic water meters with integrated leak detection and remote reading capabilities, along with the necessary equipment and software. Here, ultrasonic metering is explicitly tied to both leak detection and automatic data collection.
A few days later in June 2026, Wodociągi i Kanalizacja w Opolu sp. z o.o. published a notice for the gradual supply of ultrasonic water meters in diameters DN 15–40 and elements for remote reading of mechanical water meters, under its Supply of Water Meters and Accessories procurement. The emphasis on both ultrasonic devices and retrofit components for existing stock shows how buyers are blending new and legacy assets into cohesive smart-metering estates.
Compania de Apa Arad S.A.’s choice to specify ultrasonic meters therefore mirrors a wider market shift, in which utilities are looking for meters that can support remote reading, richer diagnostics and, in some cases, built-in leak detection.
Recent water-sector procurements also show meters being treated as one element within larger digital systems. In January 2026, Vodovody a kanalizace Kroměříž, a.s. went to market for a full Smart Metering System Construction project, combining software and hardware for remote data collection, communications infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance and support for its water supply network.
In May 2026, APA CANAL SIBIU SA issued a contract notice for Water Meters and Concentrators, seeking meters and data-transmission concentrators within a single specification. That combination highlights how communications equipment is now viewed as an integral part of metering infrastructure rather than a bolt-on.
Also in May 2026, Gmina Gidle tendered for Water Supply Infrastructure Management, an “intelligent management and monitoring system” that brings together advanced water meters, dedicated software and a geographic information system for data management, with explicit requirements around accessibility and sustainability regulations.
Smaller operators are moving in a similar direction. In February 2026, PRZEDSIĘBIORSTWO KOMUNALNE SPÓŁKA Z OGRANICZONĄ ODPOWIEDZIALNOŚCIĄ launched a Digitalization of Water Services project in Siemiatycze, focused on developing an electronic customer service office and a geoportal to support the management of water consumption and sewage services.
Viewed against this backdrop, the Arad notice, with its language about “digitization of water and wastewater infrastructure” through smart metering, sits closer to these system-level programmes than to straightforward hardware renewals. The stated aim of enhancing real-time monitoring points towards closer ties between metering assets and the utility’s core operational and billing processes.
The contract notice from Compania de Apa Arad S.A. highlights reduced verification and repair costs as a key outcome. Other recent tenders are even more explicit about the financial and operational drivers behind smart metering investments.
In April 2026, COMPANIA DE UTILITATI PUBLICE DUNAREA BRAILA sought turbine water meters “to enhance water consumption monitoring and reduce losses”, positioning its Turbine Water Meters procurement as a route to improved operational efficiency. In March 2026, APA CANAL S.A. went further with its Water Loss Reduction System, seeking products to accurately locate and manage water losses in underground and building distribution networks.
Alongside equipment, some utilities are procuring external expertise to help manage the transition. In May 2026, VITAL S.A. BAIA MARE published a notice for Technical Assistance for Water Services, covering digitisation, cybersecurity and energy efficiency measures in the water and wastewater sector, with the stated aim of improving operational efficiency and sustainability.
The Arad tender does not mention water-loss reduction targets, but its focus on lowering verification and repair costs is consistent with these broader pressures to control field-work expenditure and to make better use of metering data in planning maintenance.
Smart metering programmes are also advancing in the energy sector, suggesting a degree of convergence in expectations across utilities. In January 2026, SPEEH HIDROELECTRICA SA published a contract notice titled Smart Metering System Implementation, covering a smart metering system for customers connected to its installations. In April 2026, DELGAZ GRID S.A. issued a Smart Distribution Expansion notice to extend smart electricity metering and remove single-phase meters at various property boundaries, including design services, works and material supply.
These electricity-sector contracts echo the water tenders in their focus on large-scale device deployment and the replacement of legacy meters. For metering and communications suppliers, they signal a market in which technical approaches and expectations around data are increasingly shared across water and energy networks.
Beyond Arad, the volume of smart water metering work is notable. In February 2026, Tuomi Logistiikka Oy went to market on behalf of Tampereen Vesi Oy for approximately 13,500 remote-readable NB-IoT water meters, with a framework agreement allowing up to three suppliers per meter-size area, under the Remote Readable Water Meters procurement. On 19th February 2026, UAB "Jonavos vandenys" (PV) followed with a tender for Smart Cold Water Meters, while in March 2026 Serviços Municipalizados de Água e Saneamento de Sintra sought multiple lots for the Acquisition of Water Meters of different types and specifications.
More complex programmes are also emerging. In March 2026, Ajuntament de Castelló d'Empúries published a Digital Meter Installation contract to improve the digitalisation of its water supply network, extend tele-reading and implement decision-making and efficiency-control mechanisms. In July 2026, sorical spa launched a multi-lot Smart Meters Supply and Installation procedure covering supply, installation and connectivity of smart meters for potable cold water, alongside user census services and the updating of municipal databases.
Across these notices, buyers are no longer procuring meters in isolation. They are specifying data-transmission concentrators, leak-detection features, geographic information systems and even cybersecurity and advisory support, as seen respectively in tenders such as APA CANAL SIBIU SA’s meters-and-concentrators contract, Gmina Chodel’s ultrasonic meters with integrated leak detection, Gmina Gidle’s GIS-enabled monitoring system and VITAL S.A. BAIA MARE’s technical assistance framework.
For Compania de Apa Arad S.A., the smart-metering contract signals a shift towards treating metering as a digital service embedded in the wider operation of its water and wastewater networks. The focus on real-time consumption data and reduced verification and repair costs suggests that the utility intends to rely more heavily on continuous monitoring rather than periodic checks of individual meters.
For suppliers and other utilities watching the market, the Arad notice adds to a dense stream of procurements that link hardware, communications, software and specialist services. How this contract ultimately frames its technical requirements will offer a useful indication of where smart water metering is heading next, and how far utilities are prepared to go in turning infrastructure digitisation into routine operational practice.
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