Water is becoming one of the most important sustainability challenges of this century. Cities need more reliable supplies, agriculture needs water to remain productive, and utilities face the constant problem of leaks, energy use and ageing infrastructure.

Now, a new international initiative is asking whether artificial intelligence can help solve some of those problems.

On September 8, the Digital Cooperation Organization, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the Research, Development and Innovation Authority, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology launched Future Makers: AI Challenge for Critical Sustainability. The programme invites innovators, researchers and startups to develop AI based solutions for real world water challenges.

The central question is simple: Can AI help secure the future of water?

The Water Problem Is Bigger Than Shortages

When people talk about water security, they often focus on how much water is available.

But the problem also involves how efficiently we use it.

Water systems can lose significant amounts of water through leaks and inefficient operations. Pumping and treating water also requires energy. Poorly managed systems can therefore create both water and energy losses at the same time.

That is where digital technology could make a difference.

AI can analyse large amounts of information from sensors, infrastructure networks, weather data and operational systems. In the right circumstances, those systems could help identify problems earlier and support better decisions.

The Future Makers initiative specifically looks for solutions that could improve water system efficiency, reduce water losses and energy consumption, strengthen resource efficiency and support circular approaches to water management.

Moving AI From the Screen Into the Water System

The interesting part of this initiative is that it is not simply another call for AI ideas.

The organisers want solutions that can move beyond demonstrations and into real world validation.

The challenge is being delivered through NexaBridge, an open innovation programme operated by the Digital Cooperation Organization. It connects governments facing practical problems with innovators who can develop and test potential solutions.

That approach matters because many promising technologies never make it beyond the prototype stage.

A company might develop an impressive AI model, for example, but still struggle to integrate it with an actual water utility, adapt it to local infrastructure or demonstrate that it delivers measurable savings.

Future Makers is designed to create a pathway from development to validation and potentially wider deployment.

What Could AI Actually Do?

There is no single AI solution for water security.

Instead, the technology could support many different applications.

An AI system could potentially analyse sensor data to detect unusual water losses. Another could forecast demand and help utilities plan operations more efficiently. Machine learning could also help identify patterns that indicate infrastructure problems before they become major failures.

AI could also support decisions around energy use.

Water treatment, pumping and distribution can require substantial amounts of electricity. Better forecasting and optimisation could help operators coordinate these systems more efficiently.

The challenge also includes circularity, meaning solutions that help water systems use resources more efficiently and reduce waste across the wider water value chain.

The exact technologies that emerge from the programme will depend on the innovators who participate.

Why Saudi Arabia Is an Interesting Testing Ground

Saudi Arabia faces a particularly important water challenge because of its arid climate and limited natural freshwater resources.

At the same time, the country has invested heavily in digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence and water technologies as part of its broader development strategy.

The initiative therefore brings together two areas that are increasingly connected: digital transformation and environmental resilience.

Solutions developed through the challenge will have the opportunity to be validated in Saudi Arabia and potentially adapted across other DCO member states.

That could make the programme more significant than a single country’s technology competition.

A water management solution that works under difficult conditions in one region could potentially provide lessons for other water stressed communities.

This Is Still an Innovation Challenge, Not a Finished Technology

It is important to keep expectations realistic.

Future Makers has just launched. The programme does not yet prove that AI will solve water shortages or that a particular technology will deliver large water savings.

Instead, it creates a testing ground for solutions that could eventually do so.

Applications remain open to innovators, researchers, startups and technology teams across DCO member states, with submissions closing on October 4, 2026.

The real test will come later, when proposed solutions move into practical environments and researchers can measure whether they actually reduce losses, energy use or operational costs.

A Bigger Shift Is Taking Place

The most interesting part of this story may not be AI itself.

It is the shift toward problem driven innovation.

Instead of developing technology first and searching for a problem later, governments are putting real environmental challenges in front of researchers and asking them to build something useful.

That model could become increasingly important as sustainability challenges become more complex.

Water security requires engineers, scientists, governments, technology companies and local communities to work together. No single organisation can redesign an entire water system alone.

AI will not create new water.

But if it helps societies understand their water systems better, detect losses sooner and use existing resources more intelligently, it could become a valuable tool in building more resilient water infrastructure.

The next generation of water technology may therefore depend not only on finding new sources of water, but on getting much smarter about every drop we already have.