Arad Technologies wins lucractive water metering deal in India

Arad Technologies, a Yokneam, Israel-based wireless water meter manufacturer, and Luxembourg-based meter maker Actaris Metering Systems were jointly awarded a deal to provide 150,000 water meters to the city of Mumbai, India according to Globes.

Citing the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute, Globes reports that the deal is part of a $128 million project to install 1.2 million water meters in Mumbai, though contracts for the remainder of the project have not been distributed. Arad and Actaris, however, are expected to win the follow-on tenders, because of logistical difficulties in coordinating different meter systems and technologies in a single municipal network.

Arad Technologies—a subsidiary of Tel-Aviv stock exchange listed water measuring technologies manufacturer the Arad Group —specializes in Web-based automatic meter reading technology for municipal water networks, and also has expertise in electric and gas meters. According to Arad Technologies, its products help to reduce operating costs, allow for more accurate measurements, and increase the lifetime of meters for its customers.

According to a report in Reuters, Arad Technologies sold more than $100 million in water meters in 2008 and is developing a fly-by system using small pilotless aircraft to collect data from water maters in real time.

Arad Technologies participated in the tender through the Export Institute and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor's Foreign Trade Administration and Israel NewTech program for promoting the water technology and renewable energy industries.

Arad Technologies president Dan Winter said, "Winning this tender is a breakthrough for us, which opens a new market that is full of opportunities. Arad is in the final stages of two other tenders in India, and in view of the heavy demand, we are considering moving some production there."

Actaris is a subsidiary of Itron (Nasdaq:ITRI), which offers products and services including metering, data collection, and software to utilities worldwide in the energy and water markets

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Bloomberg: "Blooming Deserts Turn Israeli Water Industry Into Money Magnet"

Bloomberg.com recently published a positive article about the prospects for Israel's water industry.

According to Bloomberg, "Some 300 Israeli companies make equipment to deliver water or purify it with lasers or diffusion, putting them in a position to profit as climate change, population growth and food shortages strain supplies. With agriculture accounting for about two-thirds of global water use, the Israeli government predicts overseas sales of the technology will top $10 billion by 2017."

The article mentions Netafim, a world leader in irrigation solutions; Amiad Filtration Systems, which will help manage sewage treatment at the Beijing Olympics; and Desalitech, a Tel Aviv-based startup that has apparently invented a way to take salt out of water using 20 percent less energy than standard reverse osmosis.

The article also includes interviews with Nir Belzer, managing partner at the AquAgro Fund, and Oded Distel, director of NewTech, Israel's national program to promote water technologies.

Busy week for water technologies

More than 2000 visitors and 100 delegations from 80 countries worldwide attended the WATEC conference last week in Tel Aviv to survey the latest developments in water and environmental technologies.

Israel is a global leader in the water sector, and a number of new deals and agreements were announced at the conference. Below is a summary.

• Government launches new water R&D program. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor today launched Israel NEWTech - Novel Efficient Water Technologies, the government program to promote Israeli water technologies. The program aims to double water technology exports to $2 billion by 2010.
  

• Mekorot nearing strategic cooperation with GE. Water industry sources inform ''Globes'' that Mekorot National Water Company is in advanced negotiations for a strategic cooperation agreement with General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) for the construction of the $450 million 100-million cubic meter desalination plant at Ashdod.

• Arison unit CEO sees water potential in purified wells. “Israel has 50 million cubic meters of untapped polluted water in the coastal plain alone, which can be treated, thereby saving local authorities a great deal of money, as well as helping raise money for the construction of desalination plants,” says Blue-Green CEO Amir Levi. Blue-Green is a division of the Arison Business Group.
  

• Aquarius CEO urges water start-ups to float shares. “The water industry doesn’t need better technology for the production of drinking water. Today’s technologies are excellent. The challenge is to improve the energy consumption needed to produce water,” says Aquarius Technologies Inc. president and CEO Thomas M. Pokorsky.

• U.S. investor acquires 17% of water management solutions company Arad. US Jewish businessman Bill Davidson is expanding his holdings in Israel and is reportedly acquiring 17% of water measurement and management solutions company Arad Ltd. at a value of $120 million.

• Israel-China 'water-trade' to rise significantly. Israel expects "to significantly increase" its water technology exports to China over the next few years following a successful round of meetings between National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Chinese water-technology leaders attending WATEC Israel 2007.

• Israel and Mexico in water treatment deal. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, and Mexican National Water Commissioner Jose Luis Luege Tamargo have signed a water cooperation agreement between Israel and Mexico, NEWTech - Novel Efficient Water Technologies director Oded Distel told “Globes”.