“Dad! Where does water come from?”

“It comes from the tap mate.”

“Yeah but where does the tap get it from?”

“Most of it comes from the rain that lands on our roof. But some comes from the reservoir.”

“So we drink rainwater?”

“Yes, although it gets cleaned and filtered. But we also get it from the ground, from wells, and from the air.”

“The air?”

“Yeah, you know some of the tall buildings in the city have holes in them? Well these extract water from the air.”

“From the air?”

“Yes there is water in the air. You know in the morning when you get up and the grass is wet?”

“Yeah..”

“Well that’s called dew. There is water in the air, but it is water in a vapour form. It doesn’t become water until it touches something cold, like the grass. This is called condensation.”

“Like when the mirror gets steamed up in the bathroom?”

“Exactly. The buildings in the city have hollow centres, with large, cold, concrete-like pillars running through the middle. The air goes into the holes, touches the pillars, and the water in the air turns to liquid. It then drips down to the bottom of the towers and flows into the building’s water tanks, or if there is too much it flows to the reservoirs.”

“That’s clever.”

“Yes it is. It’s an ancient technology called air wells that was forgotten about for a long time. When I was a kid we had lots of droughts because we had to rely on just rain water. If it didn’t rain, we ran out of water.”

“I’m glad we don’t run out of water any more, Dad.”

“Yeah, it’s awesome. But that doesn’t mean you can waste water. Remember to only use what you need.”

“I know Dad. I’m not an idiot you know!”