Fog harvesting can provide water to dry cities

Capturing water from fog – mass – can provide some dry cities of the world with drinking water.

What researchers in Chile have concluded what after studying the ability to harvest fog in the desert city of Alto Hostilo in the north of the country.

The average rainfall in the area is less than 0.19in (5 mm) per year.

Prominent Researcher of Universidad Mayor, Dr. Virginia Carter Gamberini said, “The city also has a lot of social problems.” “Poverty, drugs, many slums.”

Due to no access to water supply network, people in slums rely on drinking water that is distributed by truck.

However, fog clouds that regularly gather on the Mountain City are an unused source, the researchers say.

It is remarkably simple to capture fog water – a mesh is hung between the poles, and when the moisture -filled clouds pass through that fine mesh, in the form of drops. The water is then channeled in pipes and storage tanks.

It has been used on a small scale for several decades, mainly in rural South and Central America – in places with correct conditions. The biggest fog water harvesting systems In Morocco, Sahara is on the edge of the desert.

However, Dr. Carter states that a “new era” of very large scale fog harvesting can provide a more secure and durable supply of water in urban environment where it requires the most.

He and his colleagues assess how much water can be produced by fog harvesting, and that information can be combined with the study of cloud formation in satellite images and with weather forecasts.

From this, he concluded that the clouds that are regularly formed above the Pacific – and are blowing in the coastal mountain city – can provide people of Alto Hosyo’s slums with a permanent source of drinking water. He published his findings A paper in the Journal Frontiers of Environmental Sciences.

Alto Hospero fog above the Pacific Ocean – when the hot, moist air flows on the cold water – and then fly on the mountains. The strengthening situations of this place here. Carter and his colleagues allowed to indicate the areas where the largest versions of water could be cut regularly with clouds.

Depending on the annual average water collection rate of 2.5 liters per square meter per day per day, researchers worked:

• 17,000 square meters Aries can produce adequate water to meet the demand for 300,000 liters of weekly water that is currently given to urban slums by the truck.
• 110 square meters can meet the annual demand for irrigation of green locations in the city
• Fog water can be used for soil-free (hydroponic) agriculture, with 33 to 44LB (15 to 20 kg) of green vegetables in a month.

The Alto Hostilo is on the edge of the Atacama desert – one of the most dried places on Earth. With minimal rainfall, the main water sources of cities in the region are underground aquifters – rock layers with water -filled places – which were refilled thousands of years ago.

With the increase in urban population, and demand for those water supply from mining and industry, scientists say other permanent sources of clean water are immediate requirement.

Dr. Gamberini told that Chile is “very special” for its sea fog, “because we have an ocean in the whole country and we have mountains”.

His team is currently working on the “fog harvesting map” across the country.

“Water from clouds”, as Dr. Carter describes this, he said, “Increase the flexibility of our cities for climate change, improving access to clean water”.