People living in arid, drought-ridden areas may soon be able to get water straight from a source that is all around them - the air, US researchers say.

Scientists have developed a box that can convert low-humidity air into water, producing several litres every 12 hours, they wrote in the journal Science.

Chemistry professor Omar Yaghi envisions a future where the water is produced off-grid for individual homes and possibly farms using the device. Credit:Reed Hutchinson/Wikimedia

"It takes water from the air and it captures it," said Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-author of the paper.

The technology could be "really great for remote areas where there"s really limited infrastructure", she said.