Can Al Define Water's Future?

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data is already influencing how we think about and manage some of the planet’s greatest environmental science, climate and sustainability challenges. It is forcing a re-think of assumptions about water security, food and energy production and climate modelling. AI also promises to bring new levels of trend-spotting, digital-twin modelling, accountability and transparency for decision making.

For those working in water — which touches facets of sustainability, economics and the environment — we are in the earliest days of AI, but are already seeing applications that optimise wastewater treatment, track water sources and manage risk assessments in natural and engineered water systems.

Even with such promises, when imagining an era of digital water is all the buzz, what is digital water and what could it be??

The role of AI in water’s value chain

A recent survey by GlobeScan, Circle of Blue, and WWF showed that 58% people believe that the scarcity of fresh water is a serious problem. By all accounts, that’s an understatement. By 2025, more than half of the world’s population will be living under the spectre of water stress. We are fast entering an era when, quite literally, every drop counts.

Fortunately, “smart water management” or digital water technology, is transforming the way we manage the planet’s most precious and scarce commodity. AI, even at its infancy, is quickly permeating across the value chain. For instance, Internet of Things (IoT) and AI are being deployed for water conservation from the source to the tap in major cities, and irrigation systems for agriculture.

Destination Earth: Practical Examples of AI for water conservation?

As worries over fresh water shortages rise, the European Union is creating an ambitious "digital twin" of planet Earth using AI. This model is designed to precisely emulate the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, ice, and land while offering forecasts of extreme climate events from days to years in advance. The project, Destination Earth (or DestinE), does not stop here. It aims to capture human behaviour, enabling us to explore the impacts of weather events and climate change on society and analyse the effects of different climate policies.?

AI in Agriculture

According to the World Bank, agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of freshwater withdrawals globally. At the same time, the UNFAO predicts that around 42% of water withdrawn for agriculture is wasted. This suggests that next-generation farming can dramatically improve efficiency with new technologies.

For example, some farms are using AI systems that inform optimal crop management decisions to lower water and fertiliser usage. These systems compute data from satellite imagery, climate, temperature, humidity and weather predictions. Farms are also using soil and light sensors that feed data to AI tools. These tools can help turn guesses and mysteries into strategic insights for precision irrigation. These smart irrigation systems can deliver “more crop per drop,” managing pinpoint water coverage for each plant and handling leaks preemptively.

Drinking water: A recent report suggests that the US alone wastes 7 billion gallons of drinking water per day . In order to conserve drinking water, utilities are deploying AI to analyse water flows in real time, send automated alerts about operations and trigger responses when leaks and anomalies are detected. This is reducing water wastage, saving operational costs and improving response times.? Companies like Silo and Ramboli are using machine learning environments to test and enable smarter water management.

Pressing questions?

With pressures mounting to grow more food and produce more energy globally, how will we manage the water necessary for each??

We need to answer key questions and address assumptions before we jump onto the AI bandwagon to solve this expanding water crisis.

• Global economic losses related to water insecurity resulting from heatwaves and droughts exceed ~US $470 billion annually. A whopping US $6.7 trillion investment is required to stabilise water security by 2030. How exactly do you see AI driving a faster course correction in this case?
• As AI pervades through the energy, food, climate and water nexus, how do we address concerns around transparency, auditability and bias of both data and intelligence? Without data, AI can only deliver partial pictures — where are the data droughts?
• It is essential to understand impairments to water supplies and punishing cycles of flood, drought and water pollution as the most serious threats to business and society. Global leaders, businesses and agencies need to rapidly address these intersecting pressures through systemic approaches that cross borders — both institutional and political. How can we democratise the data necessary to assess impacts on water supplies, social awareness, and basin-wide collaborations?
• In the Fourth Industrial Revolution where the physical, virtual, and biological worlds are converging through AI, how do you see balance between people, profit and planet (especially water) being managed? What does success — at scale — look like? What are the greatest challenges or elephants in the room holding us back?

Microsoft and Vector Center — combating the water crisis

As the world stumbles into an accelerating water crisis, Microsoft and Vector Center are using AI to make systems-level water data come alive. Microsoft is working with Vector Center, which is part of its Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact program, to assess risks around the world and better understand how to help solve water crises .

Water remains one of four key pillars of Microsoft’s global sustainability program.?

Microsoft has also undertaken a project ‘Clean Water AI’ which uses a deep learning neural network to detect dangerous bacteria and harmful particles in water and make drinking water more potable using real-time monitoring with AI and IoT. Microsoft, among other IT firms, is also working to reduce the copious use of water to cool data centres, which, of course are necessary to power AI processing.

Source: Microsoft

Thinking and acting as if every moment (and drop) counts

AI is transforming industries globally, but its impact is reaching far beyond business and into environmental preservation and sustainability. It’s a new frontier with great promises — and possible unintended consequences yet to be determined. What is certain is that we face a rare moment in civilization’s history when we can use tools like AI to imagine and test entirely new and brighter futures — for water and all that it touches.