IIT Guwahati scientists use nature's techniques to harvest water from air

The team has developed novel materials inspired by plants such as lotus and nepenthes, and insects such as the beetle to design a water-harvesting technique from air

While India has made substantial improvements over the past decades in the availability and quality of potable water, the fact remains that its is facing a water crisis of gargantuan proportions. This is borne out by evidence and scientific estimates, one of which suggests that by 2030-- that's less than 10 year from now--the country will have only half the water it needs, if the current consumption practices persist. For starters, about four-fifths of the country's freshwater resources are consumed by agriculture, a sector devotes more than half its cultivable land to water-intensive crops such as sugarcane, rice and wheat.