The billboard water fountain is one of the coolest, most innovative things I've ever seen. Before I came across this article written by Matt Peckham, I had no idea that Lima, Peru is the second largest desert city in the world -- Cairo being first. It is also Peru's largest city and is a coastal desert situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. Lima sees only about half an inch of rain every year, but because it's so close to the ocean it's very humid averaging around 87% humidity all year round.
Rapid city growth, polluted well water, and lack of rain has left the citizens of Lima without a clean, continuous source of potable water. That's when the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru (UTEC) decided they needed to recruit more engineering students to help them tackle this problem and many more like it. UTEC teamed up with advertising agency Mayo Draftfcb Lima to create this billboard.
The billboard works by using generators powered by electricity to take in the air. The water in the humidity is condensed out and then pushed through a reverse osmosis system. Five generators fill up one tank which stores about 20 liters of water.
The billboard fountain has brought the much needed exposure to the university, evident in the 28% increase in the number of applicants for 2013. And best of all, it produced thousands of liters of water for the city's 1.2 million citizens! Amazing, I love it!
This is the official UTEC/MayoDraftfcb video:
References:
1) Matt Peckham, http://techland.time.com/2013/03/05/finally-a-billboard-that-creates-drinkable-water-out-of-thin-air/
2) http://www.lima.climatemps.com/
3) http://www.limaeasy.com/lima-info/important-facts-and-figures-about-lima
4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=35yeVwigQcc
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