Desert Air Yields Hope: New Technologies Aim to Combat Global Water Crisis
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA & ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE – Facing a world increasingly gripped by drought and with over 2 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water, researchers are intensifying efforts to harvest moisture directly from the air, even in arid climates. While mist-catching techniques have existed for centuries, recent advancements in materials science are driving a new wave of innovation, with testing underway in some of the planet’s driest locations.
Shrinking reservoirs, drying wells, and erratic rainfall patterns are fueling the search for alternative water sources. Scientists are focusing on desiccants - materials that absorb water – with a particular emphasis on hydrogels, a sponge-like substance already used in everyday products like diapers.
Researchers, including those led by Professor Evelyn Wang at MIT and Professor Paul Westachoff at Arizona State University, are demonstrating the potential of hydrogels to extract water even in extremely dry environments. Professor Westachoff notes that hydrogels can expand their volume by approximately 10 times when absorbing moisture. professor Wang highlights the material’s affordability and low energy requirements for releasing the captured water.
Recent field tests have yielded promising results.In Chile’s Atacama Desert, considered the driest non-polar region globally, a water collector utilizing hydrogels and inorganic salts produced roughly 380 ml of drinking water per square meter per day, according to results released last month. A separate study in Las vegas, Nevada, reported that hydrogel membranes inspired by frogs and air plants can generate approximately 3.6 liters of drinking water per day.
Despite the encouraging progress, challenges remain. Some experts caution that significant hurdles related to “cost” and “collection volume” must be overcome before these technologies can be widely deployed as a viable solution to global water scarcity.
