Karnataka govt to test tech that makes water out of air

After resorting to cloud seeding to fulfil farmers' needs, the state government is all set to test the ground for wider adoption of a new technology that makes drinking water out of thin air.

For a state facing drought situation in 30 taluks despite heavy rain in most of its districts over the last two months, Karnataka has embraced the latest experiment by the Union government in which Zero Mass Water, a United States-based company, will deploy solar-powered 'hydro panels' that capture moisture in the air and turn it into water.

The Urban Development Department has sent out a notification in this regard, appointing a nodal officer to prepare a feasibility report for implementing the technology in the state.

"The central Directorate of Economic and Statistics wants to test the scheme that seeks to prepare a feasibility report for deploying the technology. Considering that we face drought regularly in several taluks, the department has appointed the chief engineer of Karnataka Urban Water Supply Development Board as the nodal officer to coordinate the same," a senior official in the department said.

As per the proposal, the nodal officer will suggest the drought-hit areas to test the hydro panels. Besides the benefits of the technology, the official said, the study will also look into the potential health effects on people who consume water generated by hydro panels.

The state government has spent Rs 1,300 crore for installation of about 16,500 reverse osmosis plants. Of these, about 3,000 to 5,000 plants do not work on any given day due to lack of maintenance.

The technology was first tested in the state in 2010 when a similar device, though not solar-powered, was installed at Shidlaghatta town municipal council. However, the machine broke down in three months.

A senior official in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department said that investing in capital-intensive technology while neglecting conservation of rainwater will be detrimental. "Such machines may be inevitable in a desert. But no area in Karnataka has reached that state. We can do better with conservation of water," he said.

The Union government has taken up the programme after the Consul General of India to the US made a request to the NITI Aayog to look into the technology of the company.

Environmentalist and writer Nagesh Hegde said while the need of the technology is debatable, the question remains as to why Karnataka should adopt it from a US company. "If Bengaluru is the tech capital of India, why are we still looking for their technology? We need homegrown technology that caters to our needs," he said.