Billboard Transforms Air into Drinking Water

An innovative billboard in Lima, Peru is producing drinking water out of thin air. The billboard project is a joint venture between researchers at Lima’s University of Engineering and Technology and an ad agency Mayo DraftFCB. With nearly 8.5 million residents, Lima is one of the largest capitals in the world. As a coastal desert region, it rarely rains in the city.Some places of the city receive less than an inch of rain annually. However, the atmospheric humidity in the coastal city is around 98 percent.



The process utilizes this humidity by filtering the air within the billboard. The moist air condenses the water through a series of reverse osmosis machines installed in the billboard. The billboard also accommodates an air filter, condenser and carbon filter.

The water thus produced flows into a storage tank. It can be tapped out of a faucet at the bottom of the billboard. Within three months the billboard has generated about 9,450 liters of clean water.

The project not only gives life-giving water, but also lends some much-needed bolstering to the battered image od billboard advertising by giving it a more significant role in society.