It’s a devil’s pact: The gleaming rays of sunshine this time of year come hand-in-hand with body-drenching humidity. But what if that humidity could serve as a commodity for our current and future water needs in South Florida and beyond? What if clean water could be created … right out of thick air?

A niche industry has emerged in recent years to do just this, and a small Cooper City, Florida, company, with access to all the suffocating humidity they could ever want, is a key player.

Atmospheric Water Solutions or AWS, sits in a very unassuming office park, but since 2012 it has been tinkering with a very remarkable product. They dub it the AquaBoy Pro. Now in its second generation, the AquaBoy Pro II, it is one of the only atmospheric water generators available to the everyday buyer on the market in places such as Target or Home Depot.

Atmospheric water generator sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. But Reid Goldstein, the executive vice president of AWS who took over in 2015, says the basic technology traces back to the development of air conditioners and dehumidifiers. “It’s essentially dehumidification technology with modern science thrown in.”

The device’s sleek exterior resembles a water cooler without the cooler and costs upward of $1,665.

It functions by drawing in air from the outside. In places with high humidity, that air brings plenty of water vapor along with it. The warm vapor makes contact with cooled stainless steel coils inside, and, similar to that inconvenient water that drips from your air conditioning unit, condensation is created. The water is collected and cycled through seven layers of high-grade filtering until it comes out the tap in EPA-certified, clean drinking water.

Just like that water cooler at work, the household version of the device can create about 5 gallons of drinking water a day.

The amount depends on the humidity in the air, and where the device is located. Put in your garage or somewhere outside and you’ll get more. Stick it in your kitchen with the air conditioner going and it will make slightly less. According to Goldstein, the device requires anywhere from 28% to 95% humidity, and temperatures between 55 degrees and 110 degrees to function.

You can see why somewhere like South Florida is ideal.

About three quarters of the 1,000 units sold so far have gone to homes and offices here or in similarly humid areas around the country, as well as global locales known for their stifling air like Qatar, Puerto Rico, Honduras and the Bahamas.

The other portion of sales have come from bigger devices the company is continuing to tinker with, which can make anywhere from 30 to 3,000 gallons of clean water a day and have the potential to service far more dire global needs.

AWS believes products like theirs, which requires zero groundwater to function, are perfect to reduce day-to-day needs, such as drinking water or filling up your coffee machine.

However, their leaders have a vision of expanding business for needs such as growing agriculture, servicing kidney dialysis machines, and providing drinking water to hospitals — some of which they already do. They are currently developing a mobile unit that can create 1,500 gallons of water a day, which they say could serve construction sites, emergency relief and remote areas.