Sandra E. Rowland
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Xylem
Thanks, Patrick. Please turn to Slide four, and I'll give some additional color on our first quarter results. Given the quarter's challenges, the team did a great job delivering on our commitments with particularly strong performance on price and backlog execution. Revenue growth was healthy in all regions, led by a double-digit result in Western Europe and mid-single-digit gains in the U.S. In emerging markets, revenues grew high single digits excluding China, which was affected by COVID shutdowns.
In a moment, I'll offer detailed performance by segment. But in short, utilities was down 3%. Strength in Western Europe was offset by ongoing chip supply constraints and their outsized impact on our smart metering business in the U.S. Industrial grew 10% on increasing activity in all geographies, excluding China, with particular strength in Western Europe. Commercial was up 11%, led by healthy growth in the U.S., and residential was up 15%, also driven by the U.S. Organic orders were up 14% in the quarter.
As Patrick mentioned, the quarter set historically high order intake with robust demand for our technologies across all segments. EBITDA margin was 14.2%, which was above our guided range, primarily driven by stronger-than-expected price realization. Year-over-year EBITDA margin contracted 290 basis points. We got healthy price realization and productivity benefits, but they were more than offset by inflation, and lower volumes from chip shortages impacting our higher-margin smart metering solutions.
As previously mentioned, we'll continue to offset inflation with progressive price realization. Our EPS in the quarter was $0.47. Please turn to Slide five, and I'll review the quarter's segment performance in a bit more detail. Water Infrastructure orders in the quarter were up 12% organically versus last year, with growth underpinned by sustained demand in our wastewater utility business in the U.S. and Western Europe and increasing demand for dewatering, particularly in emerging markets. Water Infrastructure revenue was up 8% in the quarter.
Industrial remained strong, and we saw revenue acceleration in our U.S. wastewater utility business as prior quarter order-to-revenue conversion delays eased. Geographically, results were mixed for the segment. The U.S. and Western Europe were up mid-double digits driven by treatment deliveries in the U.S. and healthy utility opex in both regions. Emerging markets was down low double digits due to a challenging prior year compare in China and impacts from the recent COVID lockdown. EBITDA margin for the segment was down 140 basis points, a strong price realization and productivity benefits were more than offset by inflation and investments.
Please turn to Page six. In the Applied Water segment, first quarter orders were up 8% organically, led by price and underlying global demand. Revenues increased 10% on strong backlog execution across all end markets, along with solid price realization. Geographically, the U.S. was up mid-double digits. All end markets showed strength, and we benefited from the traction of new product launches. Western Europe delivered high single-digit growth with healthy gains across all end markets, and increased activity in large industrial accounts.
Emerging Markets was up mid-single digits on backlog execution and activity. Segment EBITDA margin declined 380 basis points in the quarter. Similar to Water Infrastructure, we delivered solid price realization and productivity benefits, but they were more than offset by inflation. And now let's turn to Slide 7, and I'll cover our Measurement & Control Solutions business. M&CS orders grew 25% organically in the quarter, reflecting continued strong demand for our metrology solutions as well as healthy demand in pipeline assessment services. While a portion of our M&CS backlog includes orders that have been delayed due to chip shortages, our M&CS backlog is up 60% versus the prior year. It is now more than $2 billion.
As we anticipated, revenue declined 9% due to constrained chip supply. We are encouraged by the gradual improvement in availability, and we realized significant quarter sequential gains. It's worth noting that the growing metrology backlog is both margin accretive and resilient. There have been no cancellations of AMI awards. Geographically, Western Europe and Emerging Markets were flat with some growth from our pipeline assessment services business. Chip shortages pressed U.S. revenues down 14%. Segment EBITDA margin in the quarter was down 470 basis points compared to the prior year, but higher than last quarter.
As we've noted in previous calls, the business gets very strong operating leverage from higher volumes and revenues, and those are still being held back by the supply-constrained conversion of orders. We were able to partially offset those effects with price and productivity gains. And now let's turn to Slide eight for an overview of cash flows and our balance sheet. Consistent with typical seasonality patterns, we used cash in the first quarter.
This year, we also strategically increased safety stocks to mitigate supply chain volatility and are carrying higher inventory balances. Our financial position remains robust with $1.1 billion in cash and available liquidity of approximately $1.9 billion. Net debt-to-EBITDA leverage is 1.5 times. And please turn to Slide nine, and I'll hand the call back over to Patrick to look forward at the rest of the year.
