Disruptive technologies such as solar desalination, atmospheric water generators, and smart water grids offer transformative potential but face significant financial hurdles. To address these, we must rethink traditional funding models and embrace new approaches., Innovations in AI and advanced water systems use big data analytics and machine learning to improve water distribution, predict demand, and detect leaks early, enabling sustainable water resource management., The water industry today faces multiple challenges – from accelerated population growth, to exhaustion of our traditional water sources, and water scarcity driven by climate change and inefficient management of our available water resources., The digital overhaul of water utilities, while long underway, remains fragmented and slow-moving, according to a recent study published in the journal Smart Cities.Titled “Digital Transformation in Water Utilities: Status, Challenges, and Prospects”, the paper presents a detailed review of how digital tools, from SCADA systems and GIS platforms to digital twins and decision support systems , The innovation was explained this way: “Today’s budding water loss industry grew out of the efforts of a bunch of brilliant, obsessive, far-thinking engineers in Britain who started something called the National Leakage Initiative in the early 1990s.” “Led by a man named Allan Lambert, they developed a methodology for categorizing and , Through the Ofwat Innovation Fund, the water sector has embraced a more holistic, source-to-sea approach which recognises the interconnectivity of our water systems and the vital role of nature-led interventions. Challenge Works, the new name for Nesta Challenges, is part of Nesta, a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and .