Accelerating Regulatory Processes with AI: A Public Sector Case Study

The Israel Water Authority is leveraging AI to streamline regulatory processes, accelerate infrastructure project approval workflows, and strengthen oversight of Israel’s water sector. The initiative is implemented in collaboration with Matrix DnA.

The collaboration between the Israel Water Authority and Matrix DnA demonstrates how successful AI implementation begins with the business challenge rather than the technology itself. By focusing on operational needs first, AI can streamline regulatory workflows, reduce manual workloads, and enable professionals to dedicate more time to tasks that require expertise, experience, and sound judgment.

As organizations generate and process increasing volumes of information, review and decision-making processes inevitably become more complex. The challenge is particularly significant in the public sector, where regulatory decisions rely on extensive documentation, technical standards, reports, and data. In this environment, AI is not intended to replace professionals. Instead, it helps them manage growing volumes of information while allowing them to focus on work that requires professional judgment.

The Israel Water Authority, which oversees Israel’s water sector, sets regulatory policy, and supervises water and wastewater infrastructure, is addressing these challenges through a portfolio of AI solutions developed in collaboration with Matrix DnA. Some of these solutions have already been implemented, while others are currently being advanced.

Starting with the Business Challenge

Rather than beginning with a specific AI tool or model, joint teams from the Israel Water Authority and Matrix DnA first identified operational bottlenecks and evaluated where AI could deliver the greatest business value. Only then were the most appropriate AI use cases and solutions selected.

One of the first processes targeted was the approval of imported water meters. A single application may include hundreds of pages of technical standards, laboratory test results, technical specifications, supporting documentation, and professional assessments. Previously, engineers and specialists had to review all of this material manually, making the process both time-consuming and resource-intensive.

AI as a Force Multiplier for Professionals

The AI solution implemented for the water meter approval process can read and analyze large volumes of documents, identify missing information or inconsistencies, and provide initial recommendations to subject-matter experts. This enables engineers to spend less time reviewing technical documentation and more time on professional evaluation and decision-making.

According to the Israel Water Authority, validation showed a very high level of alignment between the system’s findings and decisions previously made by the Authority’s experts.

The initiative has since expanded to include AI solutions for reviewing infrastructure project documentation, as well as invoices before they reach professional review committees, as well as automatically generating meeting summaries.

The Authority’s AI initiatives extend beyond regulatory workflows. It also operates a machine learning model that estimates groundwater recharge by combining data from multiple sources, while simultaneously advancing an aerial imagery analysis system designed to detect illegal wells and unauthorized water extraction.

From Business Challenge to Organizational Value

According to the Israel Water Authority, the objective of the initiative is to extract greater value from collected data while enabling professionals to focus on the tasks where their expertise has the greatest impact. One of the project’s key focus areas is the approval of infrastructure projects representing investments of more than NIS 1 billion annually. Streamlining these approval workflows has the potential to shorten review times and reduce delays in project approvals.

The Israel Water Authority’s experience demonstrates that successful AI implementation does not begin with technology, but with clearly defining the business challenge to be solved. When organizations identify the processes where AI can deliver the greatest value, AI becomes a powerful tool for improving regulatory workflows, supporting better decision-making, and enabling professionals to focus on higher-value work.

Further Reading

The project was also featured in an Israel Hayom article that includes interviews with Yehezkel Lifshitz, Director of the Israel Water Authority, and Dan Wagner, VP of AI & Data at Matrix DnA.