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A large roadside billboard against a pale sky promotes a water-producing panel. The text reads “UN PANEL QUE PRODUCE AGUA POTABLE DEL AIRE. ES INGENIO EN ACCIÓN.” and features the Utec logo.

Refreshing and inspiring – the billboard that generates water from air

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Date
1 March 2013

Often billboards do no more than clog up the sky with uninspiring advertising. But in Lima, in the midst of the Peruvian desert, one has been made that does nothing less than create drinking water from thin air. There’s a dire lack of clean water in the region and rarely any rainfall. Atmospheric humidity, however, is at 98 per cent.

The local University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) teamed up with creative agency Mayo Draftfcb to create this brilliant billboard – generators capture the air’s humidity and turn it into 100 litres of clean drinking water every day which is then stored in five easily accessible tanks. At the same time, it also advertises the kind of engineers UTEC want to be recruiting. Such a great idea!

A large billboard at night features an advertisement for Utec. Below the sign, a blue neon light in the shape of a water drop reads “AGUA”. Text to the right reads “Utec presents: the first billboard that produces drinking water out of air”.
Above

UTEC: Potable Water Generator (still)

A technical diagram in blue and white showing a water filtration process. Air passes through an “air filter”, a “condenser” and a “carbon filter” before collecting in a “cold tank” labelled “96 lts”.
Above

UTEC: Potable Water Generator (still)

Two people work on a sandy site next to a green fence. One person pushes a wheelbarrow while another fills a container from a water station. Large text laid over the scene reads “9450LT. IN 3 MONTHS”.
Above

UTEC: Potable Water Generator (still)

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Anna Trench

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