Harvesting Water from Fog: Could it be the solution for global water scarcity?
Today 1 in 10 people do not have access to clean water globally. On the edge of the African Sahara desert, around Mount Boutmezguida in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas mountain range, the area is very dry and water is scarce and precious. However, the area is foggy about half the year. People in these rural communities spend 3 hours per day travelling to fetch water.
To mitigate this issue, an NGO Dar Si Hmad collaborated with German Water Foundation to install fog-harvesting nets at an elevation of 1200 meters on the mountains to collect water. As these nets catch the fog, it trapped in the mesh and goes down as a form of water through the pipes that are situated below the nets. These pipes are connected to tanks that then connected to piping system to deliver water to homes of residence in nearby villages.
The 31 installed net can capture 1,600 gallons of water per day. And it is manly used for drinking and agriculture purposes.
This project could change millions of lives that are living in slums and rural areas and lacking water infrastructure. The technology has been adopted in different countries around the world. For instance; Eritrea, Preu, Chile, Guatemala, Nepal, Yemen, and Oman. However, it is not applicable to all rural areas around the world since it mainly depends on fog.
Source: [DW English]. (2016, November 7).Morocco: Catching fog in the mountains | Global 3000 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_kXxGCi2-Q&t=245s
