Archives

The History of
Primary Water

Rare interviews, recovered recordings, and the voices of the pioneers who proved the Earth generates its own water.

Play

Interview — 1985

What is Primary Water?

This captivating interview, conducted in Escondido, California on September 22, 1985, features Dr. Stephan Riess alongside Ross Frazier and Dr. Wayne Weber. In one of the last recorded conversations of his life, Riess shares his discoveries on water sourcing and geology — explaining the concept of primary water as originating from deep within the Earth, untainted by surface contaminants.

He contrasts this with surface water, which he states often carries pollutants, and argues for tapping deep wells as the path to sustainable, inexhaustible water supply.

September 22, 1985 Escondido, California

Ancient Origins

Water From the Rock

The concept of water originating deep within the Earth is one of humanity's oldest recorded observations. In Exodus 17, Moses is commanded to strike the rock at Horeb — and from solid stone, water flows for the people to drink.

This ancient account mirrors what modern geology has confirmed: water exists within rock, formed by the Earth's own internal processes, and can be released through fractures in crystalline formations.

"I do not look for water. I look for the rock conditions that produce water."
— Dr. Stephan Riess
Play

Interview — February 1985

Dr. Stephan Riess on Primary Water

Part of a series documenting Riess's life work, this interview expands on the mechanics of primary water — how oxygen combines with hydrogen deep within the Earth to form liquid water, which is then pushed toward the surface through fissures and faults.

Riess emphasizes that this water is distinct from the traditional hydrologic cycle: it has never been part of the atmosphere until it reaches the surface, making it a renewable resource regardless of weather conditions.

February 1985 Interviewed by Dr. Wayne Weber
Play

Recovered Recording — c. 1953

Stephan Riess & Walter Russell

A previously unreleased reel-to-reel recording from the University of Science and Philosophy audio archive. In this extraordinary audio document, a letter written by Dr. Walter Russell — the polymath artist, philosopher, and scientist — is read to Dr. Stephan Riess. The recording captures Riess's feedback and thoughts in real time.

Russell and his wife Lao were reportedly overjoyed to find a working scientist whose field discoveries validated Russell's cosmological theories about the workings of matter. Russell saw Riess's discovery of primary water as direct confirmation of his own ideas about the dual nature of creation — that the universe operates through rhythmic interchange between compression and expansion, and that water is one of the fundamental products of this cosmic process.

c. 1953 USP Audio Archive
"The meeting of Riess and Russell represents a rare convergence: the empirical field geologist and the illuminated cosmologist arriving at the same truth from opposite directions. Riess drilled into rock and found water that shouldn't exist according to textbooks. Russell described a universe where its creation was inevitable."
— Primary Water Institute

The Pioneer

Stephan Riess (1898–1985)

Born in Germany, Stephan Riess studied geology at the University of Austria and later chemistry and metallurgy in Germany before emigrating to the United States in 1923. His early career as a mining engineer in California led him to investigate the unusual and significant flows of subterranean water that frequently flooded deep mines — water with unique chemical characteristics suggesting an origin entirely separate from conventional groundwater.

Riess coined the term "Primary Water" and dedicated over five decades to its study and extraction. His work took him from the deserts of California to the Negev in Israel, producing clean, sustainable water in areas written off by conventional hydrology.

800+

Successful wells drilled across California, Israel, Egypt, and Mexico

97%

Success rate — 70 producing wells out of 72 attempts

1959

Invited by PM Ben-Gurion to find water for the city of Eilat

1960s

Proposed 8,000 wells along the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Essential Reading

New Water for a Thirsty World

by Michael H. Salzman · 1960

One of the earliest comprehensive publications on primary water, Michael Salzman's New Water for a Thirsty World documents the pioneering discoveries of Dr. Stephan Riess and the scientific basis for earth-generated water. Written during the height of Cold War anxieties over resource scarcity, this book challenged the prevailing hydrological establishment by presenting extensive evidence that water is continuously manufactured deep within the Earth's crust.

Salzman meticulously details Riess's field work across California, Nevada, and Israel — documenting hundreds of successful wells drilled into hard crystalline rock in locations where conventional hydrology predicted no water could exist. The book remains a foundational text for understanding primary water theory and its implications for global water independence.

Read on Archive.org →