Applications, Challenges, and Future Trends of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT)-Enabled Water Quality and Resource Management

Safe and sustainable water sources are a serious global concern because of growing population, urbanization, industrialization, and climate change. The conventional water surveillance systems that rely on periodic sampling and laboratory analysis fail to provide time-sensitive and high-resolution data utilized for proactive water management. Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) offers a viable solution, as they can provide tools of constant active monitoring and predictive analytics. The integration of IoT sensor networks with machine learning (ML) methods enables real-time data-driven water resource monitoring and intelligent decision-making, enhances water quality assessment, supports early detection of anomalies, improves predictive capabilities for floods and droughts, and facilitates efficient irrigation and reservoir management, ultimately leading to sustainable and resilient water management systems. The paper presents an extensive overview of AIoT solutions for water quality monitoring and water resource management, including IoT sensor networks for real-time data acquisition, machine learning methods for prediction, classification, anomaly detection, and edge computing platforms for data processing and decision support. This study also highlights existing possibilities, obstacles, and research gaps identified through a review of the recent literature. Key challenges reported across multiple studies include limited data availability, sensor calibration bias, integration of heterogeneous data, and insufficient model interpretability. Advanced paradigms such as digital twin systems, TinyML, federated learning, and explainable AI (XAI) are examined as enabling technologies to enhance system efficiency, flexibility, and transparency. Future research directions are outlined to develop scalable, interpretable, and real-time water management solutions.