Billboard Generates Clean Water Straight from Air

In Lima, Peru, a billboard uses a filtration system to create clean water for the water-starved city--and advertises for an engineering school. Universities usually try to attract students with successful alumni, traditional advertisements, and in the case of elite schools, a positive track record. UTEC, the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru, decided to pull off a clever engineering stunt to attract a new class of techie do-gooder students: create a billboard on the Pan-American Highway that generates potable water out of thin air. Lima is the ideal place for a water-creating billboard--it almost never rains in the desert environment, so there is a lack of fresh water. And yet atmospheric humidity can climb up to 98%, so the air is thick with potential droplets. The billboard contains five generators that churn out purified water through a reverse osmosis system. The system sends water to a tank that can store up to 100 liters per day. As you can see in the video clip attached to the article, people are actually using the billboard to get fresh water. In three months of operation, the billboard has produced thousands of liters. (Editor’s note: This is not new technology, per se—but it is a brilliant way to attract the type of students the school was looking for and a sorely needed service in a very poor area of Lima.)