Say Goodbye to Bottled Water?

Elizabeth Royte‘s new book is called Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. I haven’t read it yet, but I gather that it ably summarizes the growing economic and environmental backlash against bottled water.

So maybe the world is ready for the Xziex Atmospheric Water Generator, a tiny machine that makes “fresh clean water from thin air” and encourages people to “say goodbye to bottled water.”

This is certainly an interesting idea, but — aside from the fact that “Xziex” is impossible to pronounce and that its website’s language sounds like a late-night infomercial script — I wonder if it will flourish because:

1. It doesn’t fulfill one of the main conveniences of bottled water, which is portability.

2. If you are dissatisfied enough with your tap water to drink bottled water, will you really be willing to drink water from the air that may be similarly polluted?

On the other hand, in parts of the world where clean water of any kind is in great need, I can imagine that such a machine would be an absolute godsend.

I would love to hear more from readers who know the science, politics, and economics of water.