Do a Google search on analog to digital data acquisition. That will give you an idea of (a) what it is and (b) what is available out there for (say) U$49... the world is FILLED with analog-to-digital acquisition, it's EVERYWHERE, in every automobile, every hospital, every telephone, and soon... every glasshole :)

Then, you probably have to determine who is going to be responsible for picking/designing/implementing the data acquisition solution. You? Your client? The pump manufacturer?

No matter what the digital data looks like, SQL Anywhere can handle it... but not the analog data, not directly, not the waveforms.

I'll bet someone already has a data acquisition solution in mind, you just need to ask the right questions of the right people :)

Once you find out what physical equipment is going to be used to produce the digital data, then you can find the documentation that describes what the data looks like and how the interface to a digital computer works and what software utilities or SDKs are provided or available to use on the computer, and then you can design a program to (a) receive/read the digital data from the interface and (b) INSERT it to a SQL Anywhere database.

For the record, water meters exist that were buried in the ground many years ago, together with SQL Anywhere 5.5 databases to record and transmit data, and AFAIK they are still operating today... so if you're looking for low maintenance, SQL Anywhere's your choice :)