In California, some buy machines that make water out of air

Some residents in the drought-parched U.S. West are turning to pricey machines that developers say can produce hundreds of gallons of water a day, literally out of thin air

BENICIA, Calif. -- The machine Ted Bowman helped design can make water out of the air, and in parched California, some homeowners are already buying the pricey devices.

The air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to chill air, then collect water drops in a basin.

“Our motto is, water from air isn’t magic, it’s science, and that’s really what we’re doing with these machines," said Ted Bowman, design engineer at Washington state-based Tsunami Products.

The system is one of several that have been developed in recent years to extract water from humidity in the air. Other inventions include mesh nets, solar panels and shipping containers that harvest moisture from the air.