Tech to the Rescue: Creating Water for a Thirsty Planet

Worldwide water shortages, exacerbated by a warming climate, cause political conflict, economic damage and health risks. A new solution can ease the strain.

When historian and George Washington University professor Dr. Eric Cline researched the causes of the decline and elimination of past civilizations, he found that a common element was water, often in the form of “hydro political conflict.” In other words, people fighting over water access. 

Given increasing water shortages, a 75% increase in global conflicts over water is anticipated in the coming decade, says David Stuckenberg, a water security expert and co-founder, president and chief operating officer of Genesis Systems , developer of a system that produces water from the atmosphere.

“Water is the economic engine of every country,” Stuckenberg says. “We can only access one-fourth of one percent of the freshwater on the planet and yet governments and industries have consistently mismanaged this vital resource.”

Today, water scarcity impacts nearly every continent and more than 40% of people around the globe, according to Genesis Systems’ research. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in regions with water scarcity and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water stressed conditions.

The World Economic Forum lists natural resource shortages, including water shortages, as the fourth biggest risk facing the world over the next decade. Almost the entire U.S. Southwest, including states such as California, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, faces extreme water stress issues by 2030, according to a report by BlackRock .

“The first question developers ask is no longer about whether a location will be appealing to buyers, it’s whether they can get water to a new community,” Stuckenberg says. “In some places, development has stopped because of water issues.”

Genesis Systems focuses on providing a solution to create resilience to water shortages.

Renewable Water from Air

While most people look for water sources such as lakes, rivers, and slow-moving glaciers, Stuckenberg and Genesis Systems analyzed the “fast side” of the water cycle: the amount of water in the air, which is 100 times all the water in lakes, streams, and rivers.

“Think about the water vapor you see when you drink a glass of lemonade on your patio on a hot day,” Stuckenberg says. “We’ve developed a technology that is affordable, efficient and can take down enough of that water vapor at scale to be meaningful for humans.”

Genesis Systems introduced the world’s first whole home waterless well at CES in 2024, a machine that captures the water in air called the WaterCube®.

“The average U.S. household generates 100 gallons a day with the WaterCube,” Stuckenberg says. “When you pair these systems with other things like rainwater, recycling systems, or other things, you'd have an abundance of water, and you can essentially be off grid. Or you can have those systems as backup systems not unlike a backup generator.”

Each American uses an average of 82 gallons of water a day at home, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The WaterCube systems are stackable and modular, so you can generate more water for a large home or a bigger household.

“They’re designed to be consumer-friendly and look like an air conditioner,” Stuckenberg says. “They sit outside the house and are very quiet, so it’s out of sight, out of mind.”

Builders and homeowners have made the transition in many cases to a tankless water heater. Stuckenberg says this system is similar in size and efficiency.

The WaterCube includes smart enabled technology so that homeowners can access information through an app or Alexa to find out how much water was made, how much water was used, the humidity in the air and more, he says.

“The WaterCube produces filtered, drinkable water on demand, so no one needs an additional filtering system,” Stuckenberg says. “The fully automated system requires electricity to run, which can be solar or wind powered or from a generator in an emergency.”

The technology allows the WaterCube system to work in nearly any region, including arid climates.

“Homeowners and builders can configure the system in an infinite number of ways, such as just to provide water for a swimming pool or for landscaping or for the whole house,” Stuckenberg says. “It can be configured to provide water for storage, too.”

Affordable Solution for Water Resilience

New homeowners in South Carolina called Genesis Systems when they discovered their recently completed home didn’t have access to water.

“Post construction, they went to drill the well and discovered they don’t have any water,” Stuckenberg says. “If they didn’t have access to our system, their investment would have been lost.”

Generally, it costs $60,000 to $100,000 to drill a well, Stuckenberg says.

“Fifty percent of wells fail within five years,” he says. “Our system has a design life of about 10 to 15 years. It’s warrantied, dependable, and reliable.”

The WaterCube costs about $20,000 to install, although Genesis is working to bring that cost down.

“Our system isn’t a small change,” Stuckenberg says. “There are little systems that you can buy that make a few gallons of water, which is great, but more of a novelty. We’re taking things further. We call it ‘water on the edge’ because we think globally it’s going to catch on so that everyone controls their own water supply.”

Rather than having water supply centrally managed or water usage monitored, the WaterCube can democratize water, he says.

“Builders who are future oriented, concerned about resilience and intelligent about the distinctive features they’re offering on their homes, are likely to consider WaterCube for their customers,” Stuckenberg says. “We believe that WaterCubes will allow those homes to stand out and will give homeowners peace of mind.”

Eventually, he hopes a WaterCube will become a common upgrade or even a standard feature like a tankless water heater.

“We want to be a replacement for city water,” Stuckenberg says. “Instead of spending money on infrastructure such as digging up streets and laying pipes for water, developers could install WaterCubes throughout a community at a potentially lower cost.”

Secure Resilient Water Supply

WaterCube includes a comprehensive system for security and surge protection with remote monitoring, automated fault detection and built-in safety mechanisms.

“The next step we’re working on with the Defense Department is to create methods to prevent chemical, biological or nuclear threats to the water,” Stuckenberg says.

When the WaterCube system becomes widespread, it can provide economic resilience, self-reliance, and social and political stability around water issues, Stuckenberg says.

“Southland Holdings, the ninth largest water installation company in the U.S., is one of our early investors,” Stuckenberg says. “Developers are paying attention to us because they don’t want to see any more projects on hold because of water issues.”

Eventually, Stuckenberg hopes that like solar installations, building homes with WaterCube will generate incentives and tax credits.

“We’re taking the pressure off historic infrastructure when each customer can generate 36,000 gallons of water annually,” Stuckenberg says.

Images courtesy Genesis Systems

Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corporation takes sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.