By Laxmi Devi

New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) Imagine an appliance that pulls out water from air! Kolkata-based Vikram Solar has teamed up with Israel's WaterGen to manufacture a harvester to address safe and clean drinking water issue

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been signed between the two firms to form a joint venture for manufacturing solar-powered water harvester using the Israeli technology that will suit the Indian conditions

The technology is relevant to countries like India where a large part of population still does not have access to safe and clean drinking water

"We are working seriously to finalise the joint venture

Hopefully, the deal will get through in the next few days," WaterGen Business Development officer Maor Zrahyahu told PTI

A product with the unique water solution technology will be developed in a such way that is energy efficient and cost effective, he said without disclosing about investment

This would help provide drinking water access to people in remote places making best use of easily available natural resources -- air and humidity, he added

According to WaterGen, the water harvesting device can be of different sizes depending on the extent of water to be harvested from atmosphere

A small device, which can be used at home, can produce produce up to 20 litres a day, while a medium-sized device can produce up to 450 litres and a large device up to 3,000 litres a day, he added.

WaterGen said it has systems that can produce up to 7,000 litres of clean drinking water a day depending on temperature and humidity conditions. The drinking water harvested from atmosphere is safe and can be tested for the quality

Besides India, the Israeli company has entered into strategic partnerships with companies in other countries including Vietnam and North America.