Russian-Israeli billionaire Michael Mirilashvili built a new water project in the densely populated Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory located on the east coast of Mediterranean Sea, which long lacked of drinking water.

Mirilashvili's company, Watergen, has created atmospheric water generators, which can produce from 5,000 to 6,000 liters of drinking water daily, depending on air's humidity.

Watergen machines extract drinking water from air

The water project helps alleviate the shortage using solar power to extract potable water straight from the air. Although there are only few Watergen machines operating in Gaza Strip, it is far from meeting the water demand to support two million people living in crowded coastal enclave between the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, and Israel.

"But, it's a start," said Engineer Fathi Sheikh Khalil who works with Damour, a Palestinian civil society group, which operates one of these machines in since Israeli firms cannot work in Gaza as reported by Straits Times.

The strip has been experiencing worsening water crisis on top of regular power shortages and economic woes. Its overused aquifer has already by contaminated by pollutants and degraded by saltwater intrusion. Multiple studies are linked the consumption of sub-standard water in Gaza with the increasing cases of diarrhea and kidney stones.

In fact, according to the United Nations, only 3% of Gaza's water meets the international standards in 2012 predicted that ecological pressures could make the strip "unliveable." This made most of the available water salty and highly dangerous to drink while forcing the government to import bottled water.

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Watergen extends help to Gaza Strip

Meanwhile, several players work to resolve the water shortage in the area such as the European Union, which backs a huge seawater desalination plant. Watergen's company CEO and president has spent time in Russian prison after he was convicted with kidnapping in the European Court of Justice, which was later found as flawed.

In 2009, Mirilashvili bought the company after he moved to Israel and the company began exporting water machines to over 80 countries. Watergen's technology suits Gaza Strip because it runs on solar panels, unlike the power plant that requires imported fuel, so it lacks the capacity to meet the demand.

After learning about the water crisis in Gaza, Mirilashvili told AFP that he wanted to help. "Our goal was that everyone on Earth could be supplied with drinkable water," said Mirilashvili, according to a Straits Times report. He added that it was immediately clear that they first had to help their neighbours. 

Watergen has already sent two machines, which cost $61,000 each, to Gaza while Arava Institute for Environmental Research donated the third machine. Watergen's machines can produce about 5,000 liters of drinking water when the air's humidity level is more than 65%. After capturing the humidity, the machine condenses the air into water and filters it into drinkable water instantly.

However, since Israel's importation to Gaza is tightly controlled, it took Mirilashvili some time to have his machines approved since Israel's army "needed to check the equipment," although they liked the idea.

However, since Israelis are not allowed to enter the strip, Mirilashvili wailed over the fact that he will not be able to see his machines at work.

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Written by CJ Robles