California Couple Creates Water Out of Thin Air

The Skysource/Skywater Alliance co-founders David Hertz, left, and his wife Laura Doss-Hertz pose for a portrait next to the Skywater 300 in Los Angeles, on Oct. 24, 2018. The company received the $1.5 million XPrize For Water Abundance for developing the Skywater 300, a machine that makes water from air. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

LOS ANGELES—It started out modestly enough: David Hertz, having learned that under the right conditions you really can make your own water out of thin air, put a little contraption on the roof of his office and began cranking out free bottles of H2O for anyone who wanted one.

Soon he and his wife, Laura Doss-Hertz, were thinking bigger—so much so that this week the couple won the $1.5 million XPrize For Water Abundance. They prevailed by developing a system that uses shipping containers, wood chips, and other detritus to produce as much as 528 gallons of water a day at a cost of no more than 2 cents a quart.