It might sound like science fiction, but for one startup in the valley, atmospheric water harvesting is reality. In the desert valley of Las Vegas, where water is as precious as gold, a team of researchers at WAVR is working to turn the air we breathe into the water we drink.

Las Vegas

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) have developed a technology that can harvest water from the atmosphere, even in low-humidity environments like Las Vegas. The innovation uses a hydrogel membrane, which absorbs water from the air and is being advanced by the startup Waver Technologies. The team has successfully demonstrated the technology in the lab and is now working to scale it up for real-world applications, with prototypes produced using 3D printing.

Waver Technologies, launched by the researchers, has secured significant seed funding and aims to help diversify Las Vegas' economy and water supply. The technology could provide a sustainable water source for the desert southwest, where traditional water sources are under strain. Similar atmospheric water harvesting technologies are being developed elsewhere, but the team believes their approach could play a crucial role in addressing water scarcity.

Las Vegas team develops tech to harvest water from desert air

It might sound like science fiction. What is atmospheric water harvesting? Drawing water from the skies above, even in a dry place like Las Vegas. Within the first just, you know, a few hundred yards of the atmosphere above the sea, there's enough water. Even with our low humidity, there's enough water there to supply all the needs. The technology known as atmospheric water harvesting comes from a lab at UNLV. Yiwei Gao was there from the beginning. After three years, we successfully developed like the fundamental demonstration of our technology. We get a little bit more crazy idea. What about like start a company like to transfer this technology from a project to product? The company called Waver Technologies launched last year. This kind of squishy like substance here is our hydrogel membrane. A year later, prototypes like this one are made possible with a 3D printer. So a hydrogel is basically, think of like a contact lens or like any rice. It's very water absorbent, so water will naturally want to go into it. Now, these researchers are testing and tweaking to scale their work, developing it for the real world. It works in the lab. Now they want to scale and show that they can do it with bigger units and bigger volumes of water. Len Jessup, former UNLV president and new founder of Desert Forge Ventures, is working to secure seed funding 4 million so far and growing. The startup ecosystem in Las Vegas, believe it or not, has been ranked in the top five in the country recently. It's a hot startup ecosystem. Jessup tells me the goal is to diversify Las Vegas' economy, while the Waver team looks to answer the question, could Southern Nevada diversify its water supply? There's not enough coming out of the river. There's not enough in the aquifers underneath Las Vegas to sustain the growth that's happening here. Claiming this hydrogel membrane could one day source water from the skies on a great scale. As the scientist, as the engineer, what about we make some contribution to solve the issue? Similar tech has also been developed by other research universities and called an inevitable path of the future. Waver's figured out a way to tap into that. Now, this local team works to define sustainability with their product and work to secure the future of places like the desert southwest, despite ongoing water hardships. Reporting in Las Vegas, I'm Geneva Zoltek. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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