The story behind its conception is fascinating. Back in 2021, the company’s Co-Founder and CEO, Iheb Triki was involved in a four-day camping trip in the Tunisian Sahara Desert with a party of others, an undertaking that meant transporting copious amounts of water for the team. As well as seeing lots of plastic bottles discarded by previous visitors, he noticed that each morning the tents they were sleeping in were dripping wet with water droplets – in the desert! Surprisingly, the Sahara Desert can actually have a humidity as high as 80 per cent.

Being an Ecole Polytechnique Engineer, a UC Berkeley MSc graduate, and a renewable energy and water sector professional with a diverse work experience, it didn’t take long for him to envision capturing the water and overcoming the dependency on all the harmful plastic. As he thought about it, a dream began to form to devise a means of extracting water from the atmosphere so that families everywhere could have a source of fresh water.

Together with co-founder, Mohamed Ali, they perfected a system that not only produces many litres of water daily, but that also renders the water safe for drinking. So began the birth of the Kumulus Water converter, a machine that is simply connected to the mains but can also operate solely from solar panels if desired – ideal for installing in off grid locations, like the desert!

The concept was so appealing that it was selected by the Tunisian government and the European Innovation Council as one of the most promising startups eligible for EIC funding and went on to raise $1,000,000. This was the impetus the fledgling company needed to start an expansion drive with the recruitment of qualified staff and the launch of a production programme.

Both partners were conscious of the aesthetics of the project. They wanted the finished article to be beautiful, as well as practical and robust – strong enough to resist extreme temperatures – and elisted designer, Zouhair Ben Jannet to turn their prototype into a viable product. He settled on a design which is a modern reinterpretation of the amphoras which were used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for transporting and storage. Sustainably made from injection-moulded recycled plastic, the final article – the KumulusOne Amphore – looks futuristic with sensual curves in a gleaming white finish.

So, how does the machine work? It is actually a marvel of science, drawing in air from its surroundings through a circular neck which is fitted with a high-quality air filter to remove dust and particles. The inflowing air is then cooled to condense its water content, which is collected and passes through a series of filtration procedures to remove all bacteria. The cleaned water is given a mineralisation treatment and is completely safe for drinking. In fact, Kumulus Water complies with European safety standards, holding CE certification and is approved by the World Health Organisation.

Kumulus can produce up to 30 litres of water each day and works most efficiently in areas with high humidity, delivering the first litre within around an hour from start-up. The unit has a storage tank with a capacity of 10 litres which, when full, cuts the power from its source, so it can continue operating overnight without incurring any additional running cost. The water is delivered through an elegant tap which is operated from the LED touch screen, in turn being remotely controllable via the Kumulus app.

As well as providing a vital resource in times of drought, Kumulus presents a potential solution for the many people around the globe who do not have access to clean drinking water, a serious problem which looks set to exacerbate in the coming decades. It is also an enticing proposition for hotels, leisure complexes, sports clubs, gymnasiums, garden centres, educational establishments, factories, and offices.

Combining purchase, maintenance, and running costs, Kumulus Water costs less than 10 cents per litre over an initial five-year analysis, and this cost will continue to significantly decrease during the lifetime of the machine. Pretty good value for a system that, as well as its stellar looks, allows you to become self-sufficient, plastic free, lowers your carbon footprint, and reduces your water bills.