Utah looks to expand cloud seeding to help with drought, Great Salt Lake

Solar-powered machines called hydropanels draw water vapor from the air to create drinking water for those without access to water from a utility and those living in a drought.

As governments and residents wrestle with drought and dwindling water supplies, atmospheric water generation systems are popping up throughout the United States as a way to convert air into water. One product, called WeDew, collects water droplets that are formed when warm air meets a cool surface. That water can be used to water plants or create safe drinking water. These air-to-water generators are being used in places from California to Uganda.

El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua is leading an initiative to install fog catchers in communities across Peru that lack access to water as they continue to face a drought. The nonprofit provides communities with a netted device, a network of tubes, and storage containers that they put together to harvest water from fog.

Communities around the world are developing innovative technological solutions to the growing water crisis. In California, for example, the Orange County Water District runs a wastewater recycling plant that purifies the water enough to be released back into the underground aquifer that supplies drinking water.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

As the drought in Kenya drags on, people are collecting water from the air by using plastic to funnel fog off of trees into buckets at night or a machine that pulls water from hot, moisture-filled air like a dehumidifier would.

Farmers in Iowa are slowly turning to irrigation systems instead of relying solely on rain to combat more frequent droughts.

A nonprofit in India focused on supporting farmers, Urmul Seemant Samiti, is helping pastoralists transition to using hydroponics to grow fodder for their livestock amid increasing droughts. Alongside hydroponic fodder startup Hydrogreens, the organization trains pastoralists to use sprinkler systems to create fog that waters their indoor crops.

Farmers facing drought turn to cloud seeding, a process in which silver iodide is released into clouds, to help produce rainfall for their crops.

Israel experienced extreme drought a few years ago and its water supply was very low. National campaigns to install desalination plants have helped Israel turnaround its inadequate water supply into a surplus. The water scientists who have helped make this surplus see an opportunity for water diplomacy and the de-politicization of water in the Middle East so that more of it can be shared with other geographies.