An air-to-water system was successfully piloted and then fully implemented at Sharjah English School in the UAE to provide a sustainable source of drinking water for students and staff. The pilot program was well received, leading the school to approve the full scale installation of three separate air-to-water systems. The project eliminated the need for plastic bottled water and provided lessons learned that can be applied to future projects.

1. Innovation Storyboard
Liquid of Life LLC
Implementing a sustainable source of
drinking water
Started: January 2011
Completed and implemented: May 2011

2. Liquid of Life
• Established in 2009, located in Dubai and Sharjah
• Provider of sustainable, cost effective, quality
drinking water solutions
• Products: Air-to-water systems, bespoke water
filtration systems
• Educate, inform and advise on issues of water
management
• Clients include: TDIC, Microsoft, Crown
Relocations, Pampa Industries, Matrix PR…

3. Implementing an Air-to-water system in
a school in Sharjah - Background
• Sharjah English School (SES), committed to reducing
and eliminating the use of plastic bottled water
throughout the school.
• SES had previously installed a water filtration system
which was inadequate leaving no option for the
school but to revert back to purchasing plastic
bottled water.
• An air-to-water system was considered as a potential
solution to meet the drinking water needs of the
school.
• The project was given a high priority and a pilot
project was agreed and implemented.

4. Implementing an Air-to-water system in
a school in Sharjah - Background
• A number of alternatives were considered including a
reverse osmosis system, however there would be a
high water wastage associated with such a system as
it would waste 4 liters of water for every 1 liter
dispensed.
• Conventional filtration systems were inadequate due
to the quality of the output water as the quality of
the input water was very poor. The input water
supply had a high TDS level.

5. Air-to-water Pilot
• A team of engineers were trained to install a
pilot system which consisted of one large
water generator, one StandUp Dispenser.

6. 1. Water is extracted from the humidity in the air
2. Purified and stored
3. Kept pure, healthy and clean with Ozone
6

7. Air-to-water Pilot
• The Pilot project was supported entirely by
Liquid of Life.
• The Pilot was important to gauge feedback
from students, staff members, parents and
also the Board of Governors.
• The Pilot also gave us an opportunity to test
the water output specifically for the school
to ensure quality drinking water standards
were maintained.
• The Pilot lasted for one month.

8. Process
• Site survey was conducted to feed into a feasibility
report, including installation plans, costings as well
as environmental and social benefits.
• Risks in the system were identified, including water
generation capacity on a fuller scale and water
quality assurance.
• Adequate water meters were sourced to determine
correctly when filter changes would be required.
• High quality external and internal piping was
sourced to keep future maintenance costs down.

9. Pilot Results/ Full
Scale Implementation
• The Pilot was extremely successful with positive feedback from staff and students.
• Zero complaints
• Full support and financial sign off was obtained from the Board of Governors at the
school following various meetings.
• Further site surveys were conducted to implement a full scale air-to-water system.
Three separate air-to-water systems were implemented in the Primary School section,
Foundation and Sports hall. A more centralized system would not have been feasible and
would have required more infrastructure.
• Ideal locations were selected to keep the water generators in areas which were well
shaded and also away from students.
• Additional shading was built for some dispensers which were placed outside, namely in
the playground.
• 3 quality 7-layer external water tanks were sourced capable of holding a combined
capacity of over 2,000 liters.
• Implementation of the system was supervised in full by the Technical Director of Liquid
of Life.
• The hot water switch was turned off on all dispensers so that students would not burn
themselves.
• Each dispenser was checked for water pressure and water quality, especially taste.

10. 10

11. Results
• The current system is running as planned and Sharjah English School
became the first school in the region to have a completely
sustainable source of drinking water.
• The school no longer pays for plastic bottled water, and does not
have the administration headache of moving plastic bottles all over
the school.
• The school had fantastic media coverage, including a whole page
spread in The National
• Children at the school are more aware of water and the environment.
• Follow up meetings have been held to ensure the system continues
to provide an adequate supply of water.
• Keep in regular touch with staff and students and member of the
Board of Governors.
• As per Municipality Laws, the tanks and the systems were cleaned
and maintained over the summer break ready for the start of the new
academic year.

13. Before Pictures…..

14. After pictures…

15. Learning
• Overall the project went well and was successful.
• After initial implementation there was an issue with some of the water
pumps from the water generators to the dispensers as they were not
powerful enough to pump the water to all the dispensers in the school so
additional pumps were sourced which are working extremely well.
• Lessons Learnt?
• Over-estimate the water generation requirements.
• Install a computerized board in the water generators which switches the
water generators off for a few hours when the humidity is less. This gives
the compressors a rest and will help to prolong their life span.
• Paint the units white using a special paint available from Jotun Paints
which reflect sunlight and will keep the water generators cooler inside
prolonging their life span.
• What would you do differently the next time you do a similar project?
• Submit more detailed plans on implementation, to reduce installation
times.

16. Way Forward
• Future development of the idea
• Create mobile units
• Attach solar as an energy source
• Using the same idea in different
applications
• Reducing humidity in large open
offices and hotels, as AC units are
struggling.

18. Thank You