An industrial park in Irvine, California, may seem an odd spot to show off technology that wouldn’t be out of place in Dune, but that’s what’s happening on a sweltering September morning. … Engineers open panels to check systems and an iPad that shows a steadily ascending line that reveals the device’s purpose: harvesting water from thin air using special materials known as metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. … The materials won Omar Yaghi, the company’s founder, the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2025, and Atoco has shown they work in prototypes capable of producing gallons of water per day. What’s unique about this iteration of Atoco’s technology is what it doesn’t require. No grid connection or even electricity is needed to grab water from the air at the microscopic level, nor is it required to in turn wring the water out of the materials in a form useful for humans.

Other data center water use and regulation news:

• KTVU (Oakland, Calif.): SF approves data center moratorium, other Bay Area cities reviewing policies
• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): Humboldt County supervisors paused most new data center applications in 4-1 vote
• Denver7 (Colo.): Northern Colorado communities weigh data center moratoriums
• Government Technology: Aurora, Colo., mayor says hyperscale data center must be stopped
• The Equation (Union of Concerned Scientists): Blog: How do data centers impact public health?
• JDSupra: Legal brief: California links data center permitting and licensing to new water use disclosure and drought planning obligations