Incan tech reborn with cloud water for all

TDT | Manama         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Julia Cassano

You don’t have to master the Incan art of making water from the clouds to live in a place with scarce water resources today, as a machine worth around BD565 ($1,500) can now make 30 litres of drinking water a day from the air, says Watergen, a company based in Israel.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Tribune, Dr. Michael Mirilashvili, President of Watergen, said his company presently produces machines for use in homes and large companies.

The innovative technology works even when the humidity is as low as 20 percent, and the machines last for seven years, he added.

Wide range

The machine intended for home use is the smallest, which costs around $1,500 and can produce 30 litres a day.

The larger machines for commercial use can produce up to 6,000 litres a day and sell for around $108,000 (BD41,000), the company said. The larger machines have been introduced in markets such as China, India, and Morocco, he added.

The company is presently looking at entering the Bahrain market, considering the low availability of clean drinking water and the high cost of the desalination process.

Bahrain is one of the top 10 countries that are likely to face a water crisis in the next 25 years, and new solutions are a must as most of the available water sources are contaminated or filled with bacteria and dust, he explained.

Solution for water crisis

According to Michael, the true solution to the water crisis is to make water that wouldn’t have existed without cutting-edge technology, rather than removing the valuable resource of water from sources that are already vulnerable.

Air quality and water

One of the advantages of the technology is that poor air quality does not affect the quality of the water, company officials said.

Roni Litinetsky, vice president of sales, said, "We have three academic research centres with dozens of machines spread all over the world in Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, and many other locations to conduct tests to compare the quality of the water from the air and the ground.

Water generated by our machines is always of higher quality than water obtained from the ground." He added that cleaning the water extracted from the air is much cheaper, easier, and cleaner than doing so with groundwater.

A tough market

Despite having these technological advantages, breaking into the Bahrain market has been a difficult task, reveals Michael. "Although we have had success in the UAE, we cannot say the same for Bahrain.

The people-to-people connection is the problem we have struggled with the most; however, it is also impossible to implement this technology into every single country and location at once; these things take time," he revealed. The company still has huge aspirations for Bahrain and views the Kingdom as a gateway to Saudi Arabia, he stated.

Lessons from Gaza

Michael cited the example of the company’s experience in Gaza to explain how solutions can be achieved despite differences in opinion. Palestinians had to rely on local vendors who sold groundwater that was desalinated following the border blockade.

UNICEF has said two-thirds of the water being delivered is contaminated, he pointed out. A year after getting permission to supply Gaza, the machines were delivered in 2020, and drinking water became easily available, he said.

"From a young age, I have understood the importance of water. This technology can be used to end the water crisis many countries are facing, helping towards a better future," Michael said.