Watergen, an Israel-based company that creates clean water out of air, is now providing a source of freshwater for more than 120 children living in an orphanage in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The GEN-350 atmospheric water generator can produce up to 900 liters of water per day.

A popular tourist destination, Bukhara has an arid environment and has recently been experiencing serious water shortages. The entire city, including hotels, was left without drinking water for almost two days earlier this month.

Since the local underground water is unusable, freshwater is currently supplied to Bukhara from the Samarkand, almost 300 kilometers away.

Watergen’s GEN-350 was installed at the orphanage as part of a two-month test pilot requested by Uzbekistan’s water utility company. The unit installs easily, requiring no infrastructure except a source of electricity to pull in ambient air, extract water vapor, and treat it via an internal system so it’s safe to drink.

Watergen’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Michael Rutman, said results are good so far. “The children were very excited to drink the high-quality water from the GEN-350,” he said.

“Although there is only 20% humidity in the air of Bukhara, the GEN-350 was still able to generate hundreds of liters of high-quality drinking water,” said Watergen President Michael Mirilashvili. He added that the utility company has requested additional pilots in several other regions of Uzbekistan.

Founded in 2009, Rishon LeTzion-based Watergen was included on the World Economic Forum’s list of the world’s top technology pioneers in 2018.

Earlier this year, a group of donors arranged for a GEN-350 to be installed at a girls’ school in Sierra Leone. Last November, a unit was sent by American subsidiary Watergen USA to provide fresh drinking water for police and firefighters dealing with the aftermath of two massive wildfires in California.