FAQ

What is an Atmospheric Water Generator?

I’m glad you asked. According to Genesis Systems, the leading developer of this technology, there is “37 million billion gallons of water vapor within the atmosphere” (Genesis Systems). I don’t even know how many zeros I would need for 37 million billion. The atmospheric water generator (AWG) causes that water vapor to condense and then distills that water to purify it further. There are a number of geological and biological—natural—examples of this in the world around us. Rain is the obvious example of the process. My favorite creature that naturally pulls water from the atmosphere is an Australian lizard called a thorny devil. Its skin evolved to collect the water vapor into pools that flow toward its mouth through what is called capillary action. Similarly, our AWG pulls air through it, condensing the water vapor from the air, and then distills that water to remove any impurities that might have been caught up in the process. It produces clean, healthy water that is drinkable straight from the generator. The AWG that we plan to build in Puerto Escondido will be able to generate five million gallons of water a day. That’s 18,927,060 liters a day, which is about the total amount of water the central district of the Costa Region of Oaxaca needs each day.

Why didn’t you build a generator to supply all of the water the Costa Region needs?

First, our goal is not to take over the water production for the cities on the coast of Oaxaca. It is to supplement the coast’s needs. The cities use the revenue from their water plants to implement development, repairs, and other necessities. The second reason is because of logistics of moving and delivering the water to the other major population centers on the coast. Even though we are using electrically powered trucks and are trying to remain carbon neutral, there is the problem of time and how long it takes to travel up and down the coast by vehicle. In the long run, we think it will be better for the environment to build several AWGs on the coast of Oaxaca than it would be to build one huge one near Puerto Escondido and move the water by truck. We may evaluate expanding the plant and building water pipelines, but for now, we think it is best to build additional plants that employ locals to distribute water to their neighbors.

What environmental impact will the AWG plant cause?

The plant will be fairly big especially once we expand to bottling the water as well, so it will have the traditional impact of turning farmland or undeveloped land into a manufacturing plant, which will include pavement and concrete. These increase the surrounding temperature incrementally and disrupt wildlife. We will keep as small a footprint in the environment as we can and support the local efforts to protect the habitat as much as we can as well. We also plan on building a solar power plant to supply power to the water plant, so we will not increase the demand on the current electrical grid. As far as byproducts from the AWG, there are none. There are filters that will need to be cleaned and changed, but overall, the process is very ecologically friendly. It will be interesting to study the effects of pulling so much water vapor out of the air in one location and for an extended period of time, but as we learn of impacts from that process, we will find solutions to reduce any issues that arise from it. The bottling plant, once it is built, will have machinery that will sterilize and clean the return bottles, and there will be chemicals related to that. As we learn more about that process and the laws that govern the disposal of these chemicals, we will create a page on our website to explain what is happening in the process and what we are doing to mitigate our impact. If possible, we will even track how the byproducts from our plant are handled after they leave us. We will never leave or dump any environmentally harmful or hazardous waste. Our goal is to produce clean, healthy water for all of us and our environment. I do envision us watering the surrounding landscape to bring out its natural beauty and fertility.