The reduction mechanism of the RuO2(110) surface by molecular hydrogen exposure is unraveled to an unprecedented level by a combination of temperature programmed reaction, scanning tunneling microscopy, high-resolution core level shift spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. We demonstrate that even at room temperature hydrogen exposure to the RuO2(110) surface leads to the formation of water. In a two-step process, hydrogen saturates first the bridging oxygen atoms to form (O-br-H) species and subsequently part of these O-br-H groups move to the undercoordinated Ru atoms where they form adsorbed water. This latter process is driven by thermodynamics leaving vacancies in the bridging O rows.