Australia’s water utilities are at the forefront of advanced water management, a position shaped by the Millennium Drought (2001–2010) and strengthened by two decades of operational experience. The widespread adoption of digital technologies — including smart meters, network monitoring and AI-enabled analytics — has positioned the country as a hub for digital water innovation, representing a $17.4bn market opportunity through to 2036.

A new report from Bluefield Research, Australia Digital Water Landscape: Utility Strategies, Competitor Dynamics, and Growth Forecasts, 2026–2036, projects that total expenditure on digital solutions will increase from $958.6m in 2026 to $2.4bn by 2036. At a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.6%, spending is expected to more than double over the next decade.

“Decades of infrastructure investment have established Network & Plant Management as the market’s largest segment at 43%, but the momentum is shifting,” said Leigh Ramsey, senior analyst at Bluefield Research. “Metering & Customer Management, at 32% and growing, reflects where utilities are focusing, with digital tools that directly enhance water efficiency and customer engagement.”

The digital water landscape is structurally distinctive, led by 16 large urban utilities serving 82% of the population. Three utilities — Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane — account for 40% of total digital market value. With dedicated innovation teams and significant capital programmes, these organisations are setting the technological and procurement benchmarks for the rest of the country.

Smart metering exemplifies this momentum. Sydney Water and South East Water have committed to large-scale roll-outs covering nearly 30% of the national population, while 15 of the top 20 utilities are running active pilot programmes representing a further 46% of Australians. Static meter deployments are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 15.6%, with customer engagement software expanding even faster at 23.7%, as utilities increasingly rely on real-time data to manage demand and strengthen customer trust.

Core systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and network monitoring remain central to utility investment. However, larger utilities are now layering AI-enabled analytics onto these foundations, shifting from reactive infrastructure management to predictive, data-driven decision-making.

“Non-revenue water at major urban utilities has risen by 25% in five years, and with capital expenditure up 83% over the past decade, utilities face increasing pressure to demonstrate that digital investment delivers measurable efficiency gains,” Ramsey noted.

Australia’s digital water market is evolving along two fronts: large urban utilities, which attract a diverse mix of multinational and local providers, and smaller rural utilities, typically served by domestic vendors offering end-to-end solutions and deep market expertise.

At the urban level, global players such as Siemens, Xylem and Veolia compete with locally established specialists like Taggle and Detection Services, which rely on long-term contracts and integrated service models to remain competitive. As smart metering moves from pilot phases to full-scale deployment, competition is intensifying, lowering barriers to entry and enabling new participants such as Sagemcom and Huizhong to enter the market.

Engineering firms also play a pivotal role across both segments. Companies including GHD, WSP, Aurecon, Jacobs, Stantec and Mott MacDonald are deeply embedded in utility capital programmes and significantly influence hardware and software procurement decisions. Many have secured five- to ten-year delivery partnerships with major utilities, effectively acting as gatekeepers to technology adoption.

“While smaller in scale compared with markets such as the US and parts of the EU, Australia’s combination of climate pressures, utility demand and openness to innovation makes it one of the most compelling digital water markets globally,” Ramsey added.