As Mother City wilts under drought‚ local company makes water from air

19 April 2017 - 17:16 By Tmg Digital
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Image: Gallo Images/iStockphoto

While Cape Town continues to suffer the effects of a ravaging drought‚ a local company is selling machines that make water out of the air - and lots of it.

“We can create rain during sunshine‚” the company‚ Water from Air‚ avers‚ adding that it has already sold over 1‚000 machines that draw in the air‚ cool it down‚ and use the condensation to create filtered mineralised water.

“The water is 100% pure and clean‚” says Water from Air’s Ray de Vries.

The machines extract the humidity from the air‚ filter and sterilise it with UV light‚ remineralise it and then store it‚ ready for drinking‚ he says.

  • Free water from thin air? US scientists turn on the tapTo drought-hit areas of South Africa it sounds like the holy grail: a device that extracts water from air using only the power of the sun. 

The smallest machine makes up to 32 litres a day‚ while the largest one makes up to 1500 litres per day. They retail for R26‚500 and R785‚000 respectively.

De Vries says while there are other companies using the same technology overseas‚ Water from Air was the first to assemble and manufacture in South Africa.

“South Africa has a very harsh climate and is a water scarce country so we have a number of home grown innovations to suit our homes and offices” says De Vries.

The latest innovation about to be released is a machine that purifies any water as well as makes water from air. The machine can be connected to borehole‚ rain‚ river or municipal water and‚ because the machine is a purification plant in itself‚ it produces 100% safe and pure water.

“Our machines are actually built for convenience and purity‚ but in places like Cape Town where there is very little water left‚ people are buying the machines to make sure they have an uninterrupted supply of pure drinking water‚” adds De Vries‚ describing business as “brisk”. “This making water from the air is nothing short of miraculous. Who would have thought that the answer to man’s biggest challenge is right under our noses – in the air?"

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