Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc. announced it has sold 150,000 automated water meters to the Indian city of Mumbai.

The deal, worth about $15 million, is the first sale of Itron’s automated water units in India, company officials said Monday.

Itron, which develops metering systems and software used by gas, water and electric utilities, has sold products in India before, said spokeswoman Marni Pilcher.

But most of those sales have been gas meters and a minimal number of electricity meters, she said.

Prior to this sale, many Indian utilities bought water meters from Actaris Metering Systems, the European company Itron acquired in 2007.

The units use wireless technology for the utility to collect meter information remotely. The meters also provide regular updates on water flow, possible leaks or malfunction.

In India and many other countries, metering and regulating water use is uncommon.

Pilcher said the decision by officials in Mumbai shows “a movement toward resource conservation.” An Itron news release noted that water theft, illegal connections and leaks account for the loss or unmetered use of 185 million gallons of water per day in Mumbai – formerly known as Bombay – alone.

Mumbai’s municipal water system undertook a pilot project in 2009 in which Itron installed 3,000 residential and commercial water meters in one section of the city, all equipped with radio transmitters.

That six-month test helped Itron win the new contract, which is expected to be completed in about two years.

Itron will provide implementation and maintenance services, in addition to training meter-readers in India, the news release said.