ASTANA, Kazakhstan, February 2. The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Olzhas Bektenov, has tasked the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation with the development and execution of a project focused on incorporating artificial intelligence technologies into water resource management, scheduled for implementation by May 2026, Trend reports via the press service of the Kazakh government.
The initiative will be implemented in cooperation with the Ministries of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, alongside the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Prime Minister Bektenov also tasked the Ministry with working in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences to prepare a comprehensive mapping of Kazakhstan's water-energy resources by the close of 2026.
To date, Kazakhstan has identified over 4,000 underground water sources, with validated operational reserves totaling approximately 15.7 billion cubic meters per year. In 2025, the country’s regular water intake for irrigation during the growing season reached 11.1 billion cubic meters. Furthermore, the adoption of water-saving technologies has covered 543,500 hectares, with around 150,000 hectares of new land irrigated each year.