Extracting Water from Air as an Answer to Water Scarcity

Philippine Panorama
Manila Bulletin
1 April 2012
Vol. 41, No. 14


Extracting Water from Air as an Answer to Water Scarcity

By Prospero Pulma Jr.

A group of engineers and technicians are rigging an apparatus called an atmospheric water generator in a desert. Air-bearing water in the form of humidity passes through a collecting system loaded with a desiccant such as lithium chloride that extracts water from the air. The collected water runs through several treatment procedures before it becomes potable. Water soon starts wetting land that had not tasted cooling rain and felt rivers or streams flowing vigorously on its surface for many months or years.

Some people in the 1980s probably treated the above scenario as science fiction fantasy. However, ancient man had harvested water from air, as proven by the discovery of air wells in the ruins of Theodosia and the Incas’ fog fences. While today’s water harvesting technology is space age compared to its predecessors, it still answers one of man’s basic needs: clean drinking water during a period of water scarcity. Harvesting water from air humidity could not have come at a better time, especially for the Philippines that is facing a looming water crisis.

With a population projected to exceed 100 million in 2015 and only one-third of the archipelago’s rivers identified as possible sources of potable water, the Philippines is predicted to experience a freshwater crisis in 2025. Filipinos need not wait for 2025 as groundwater contamination with coliform and other pollutants, the unregulated extraction of groundwater, and worsening water pollution can trigger a premature freshwater shortage. The chaotic scenes created by summer water shortages that had struck Metro Manila and other cities provide a chilling preview of the upcoming water shortage that is anticipated to extend beyond the metropolitan areas.
Many facets of human life are associated with water and its consumption. It is plausible that a freshwater shortage will spark a radical lifestyle change in many people. Part of that lifestyle shift is consuming water harvested from the air.

Companies and individuals are currently improving water purification techniques to the point where polluted water can be drinkable again. What good would a water purifier be if there is scant water to purify and when every water source ignites a water war? Air, on the other hand, is abundant, flows freely, and carries water that atmospheric water generators can extract to nourish thirsty mouths and parched lands with life-sustaining water.


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