If your tap water is less-than-drinkable, you can use filtration systems, special pitchers, or bottled water to clean it up. Or, you could take a chance on a new air-to-water converter now blasting its way through an Indiegogo campaign.
If you've ever emptied the reservoir from a dehumidifier, you're no stranger to the idea that water – sometimes a lot of water – can be pulled right out of the air around you. Usually the water from those dehumidifier buckets is tossed down the drain or dumped outside. But a new gadget from a company called DrinkingMaker plans to take all that water and make it completely safe to drink.
Saddled with the unfortunate name of "The Next-Gen 3- in-1 Atmospheric Water Dispenser" (we'll go with AWD), the gizmo is about the size of a countertop espresso machine. It works by passing the humidity it removes from the air through a six-stage filtration system that employs layers of cotton, activated charcoal, and other fibers to remove contaminants. Then it blasts the water with UV light to kill any remaining microbes resulting in what the makers claim leads to a 99.9% purification rate.
There is also an air filter incorporated into the machine's housing that uses HEPA technology to get the air clean as well.
So that's how the AWD earns its 3-in1 moniker: it simultaneously dehumidifies, produces drinking water and cleans the air. In a way, it could also claim a fourth and fifth ability, because the company plans to also sell cartridges that enhance the water it produces with a variety of minerals – and the gizmo can also deliver ice water with two minutes of quick chilling.
The machine will be available in two sizes. The "Primary Edition" will be able to yield up to 14 liters (about 3.7 gallons) of clean water a day, while the "Pro Edition" can manage to pull in up to 19 liters a day (5 gallons). A solar-panel add-on lets you take the AWD to environments like campgrounds and pull your drinking water in from all that fresh, clean forest air.
This is by no means the first time we've seen the commercial application of water harvesting from air. In 2021 we reported on the Watergen Mobile Box system, which was said to produce 20 liters of water per day from atmospheric humidity. Yet that device seems to still not have hit the market, where it was expected to have a US$3,000 price tag. There are even atmospheric water generators for sale on Amazon, but they have mixed reviews and high costs: one comes in at $1,949 and the other will run you $1,790.
So if you want an air-to-water machine right now, you can certainly go with one of those options. If not, you can pledge a lot less cash to the AWD Indiegogo campaign. Right now the Primary Edition is going for $329 and the Pro Edition for $339.
While there's never any telling if a crowdfunding campaign will translate into products in the real world, the team certainly provides a significant amount of collateral on the page, including a photo of it being exhibited at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, and a series of videos showing it being used in the real world. That seems to be enough for backers, who have pushed the campaign to reach over 2,200% of its initial fundraising goal, with about two weeks left to go.
If all proceeds according to plan, the AWDs, which you can see in action in the following promotional video, will begin to ship in September 2024.
Source: Indiegogo
