Dear Shri Devendra Fadnavis ji & Prof Omar Yaghi :
1,000 Litres Per Day from Thin Air —
and You Still Haven't Made That Call I Asked You to Make in 2018 !
Dear Shri Devendra Fadnavis ji,
Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra
cm@maharashtra.gov.in
Dear Prof Omar Yaghi,
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2025) · Chief Science Officer, Atoco · UC Berkeley
yaghi@berkeley.edu / oyaghi@lbl.gov / +1 510-643-5507
Dear Dr. Samer Taha,
CEO, Atoco Inc., Irvine, California
info@atoco.com / atoco.com
My 2018 blog — that started this :
>> Déjà Vu ? #Latur #Marathwada #Waterwar [ 28 February 2018 ]
And all my blogs on Water :
In that 2018 blog, I had specifically urged Shri Fadnavis ji — by name — to pick
up the phone and call Prof Omar Yaghi at UC Berkeley, who had invented a
device that harvests water directly from dry air — even in desert conditions
with just 10–20% humidity — using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs).
I had provided his contact details directly :
📞 +1 510-643-5507
That call was never made.
Maharashtra continued to send water trains to Latur.
Seven years passed.
And now : Prof Omar Yaghi wins the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry !
Prof Omar Yaghi — the very scientist I had urged you to call in 2018 — has been
awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2025 for his invention of Metal-
Organic Frameworks (MOFs) — the same technology that enables water harvesting
from thin air.
[ Guardian report : Nobel laureate Omar Yaghi invents machine that harvests water from dry air — Feb 2026 ]
His device can now harvest litres of water per day from air with just 10–20%
humidity — conditions that exist across Marathwada, Vidarbha, and every
drought-prone district of Maharashtra.
No dam. No canal. No pipeline. No tanker. No water train.
Just air — and a Nobel Prize-winning technology that Maharashtra could have had since 2018.
The technology today — what Atoco has built :
Prof Yaghi's company Atoco (Irvine, California) has gone far beyond the original lab prototype :
⚡ A shipping-container-sized unit (~20 feet) that produces up to 1,000
litres of clean water per day
⚡ Entirely off-grid — solar powered — zero grid electricity required
⚡ Operates in desert air at 20% humidity — far drier than Marathwada in
any season
⚡ Water quality is near-distilled — clean, potable, no treatment needed
⚡ Target cost : 1 cent per litre at scale — cheaper than any tanker or pipeline
⚡ Deployable in 48 hours — no infrastructure, no digging, no pipes
[ Sources : Donga Science / Interesting Engineering / Atoco.com ]
For Maharashtra's 40,000 drought-prone villages, a deployment of 10 units per
village would provide emergency drinking water within days of a drought being
declared.
Compare that to the cost, the delay, and the political turmoil of water trains every summer.
And the Make-in-India opportunity :
Atoco is currently manufacturing in California. But the MOF sorbent material — the
heart of the technology — can be synthesised in India. IIT Bombay and CSIR-NCL
Pune already have teams working on MOF chemistry.
A Maharashtra–Atoco joint venture to manufacture MOF water harvesters in
Pune or Aurangabad could :
✔ Solve Maharashtra's drought problem at scale
✔ Export to 50 water-scarce countries across Africa, Middle East, and South Asia
✔ Create a new industrial cluster — Water-from-Air Manufacturing — with
10,000+ jobs
✔ Make Maharashtra the global supplier of Nobel Prize-winning technology
What I urge you to do — today :
1. Shri Fadnavis ji —
call Prof Yaghi today : yaghi@berkeley.edu / +1 510-643-5507.
Congratulate him on the Nobel Prize.
Invite him to Maharashtra for a pilot. He will say yes. That call is 7 years overdue.
2. Launch a Maharashtra MOF Water Pilot :
Select 100 of the most drought-affected villages in Marathwada. Deploy 10 Atoco
solar-powered units in each. Measure output over one season. Scale statewide if
successful.
3. Fund an Indian MOF manufacturing hub :
In partnership with IIT Bombay or CSIR-NCL Pune, establish production of MOF-
based water harvesters. Target : 1 lakh units in 3 years.
4. Integrate MOF units into Jalyukt Shivar 2.0 :
Alongside your 34,000 physical conservation works, mandate MOF deployments in
every district with critical groundwater levels.
Shri Fadnavis ji,
you are doing the right things with dams, check dams, and Amrit Sarovars.
But the 21st century solution to water scarcity is not only underground — it is also
in the air above us.
Prof Yaghi has proven it. The Nobel Committee has validated it.
Maharashtra just needs to reach out and use it.
That phone call is 7 years overdue.
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
08 May 2026 | Mumbai
hcp@RecruitGuru.com | www.hemenparekh.ai
PS : Chat with my Digital Avatar at www.hemenparekh.ai
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