Scientists in Australia are developing an entirely different fog collection strategy modeled after the Stenocara beetle of the Namib Desert. FogQuest is currently evaluating the potential of a project in Tanzania, and will soon construct 15 large fog collectors in Sidi Ifni, Morocco. Since then, small and large fog collection projects have been established in Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cape Verde Islands, Eritrea, South Africa, Yemen, Oman, Ethiopia, Israel, and Nepal. Schemenauer’s first fog collectors were developed in El Tofo, Chile in 1987, which led to a fog collection project in the village of Chungungo, Chile in 1992. The system is completely passive, requires no energy inputs, and can last ten years provided it’s taken care of. If all goes well, larger fog collectors of approximately 40 square meters, which can produce 200 liters per day, can be set up for $1000 to $1500 each. If these conditions are met and there is funding available, the organization builds a small fog collector, costing from $75 to $200, to see how much water can be harvested. Since the work of building and maintaining the fog collectors depends on the locals themselves, FogQuest needs a local partner and a community willing to pitch in. When a fog collection project is proposed, FogQuest first assesses the conditions of the location to make sure there is enough fog. The all-volunteer organization gets funding from grants, donations and membership fees. Eventually, the trees will become self-sustaining, collecting their own fog water, reforesting the area and replenishing the groundwater.įogQuest was founded in 2000 by Sherry Bennett and Robert Schemenauer, an atmospheric scientist who has been working on fog collection for over 20 years. ![]() Not only do they supply ample drinking water, they provide enough water for villagers to have gardens and grow tara trees which produce tannins that are sold for leather treatment. ![]() FogQuest’s project in the village of Bellavista here is producing 2271 liters of water a day with seven fog collectors. The hills above Lima, Peru receive about 1.5 centimeters of rain each year, but fog from the Pacific Ocean moves in from June to November. Harvested fog water meets the World Health Organization’s drinking water standards. In the village of Chungungo, Chile where annual precipitation is less than 6 centimeters, 100 fog collectors produced 15,000 liters of water a year for ten years. Fog collectors, which can also harvest rain and drizzle, are best suited to high-elevation arid and rural areas they would not work in cities because of the space constraints and water needs of an urban environment.įog collection projects have used from 2 to 100 fog collectors, and depending on the location, each panel can produce 150 to 750 liters of fresh water a day during the foggy season. ![]() ![]() When the fog rolls in, the tiny droplets of water cling to the mesh, and as more and more cluster together, they drip into a gutter below that channels the water to a water tank. Fog collectors look like tall volleyball nets slung between two poles, but they are made of a polypropylene or polyethylene mesh that is especially efficient at capturing water droplets. 5 grams (half the weight of a paper clip) of water. Fog collectors can be used in regions and deserts that receive less than one millimeter (about the thickness of a paper clip) of rain each year, but to work, they require fog and light winds.įog, a cloud that touches the ground, is made of tiny droplets of water-each cubic meter of fog contains. FogQuest, a Canadian non-profit, uses modern fog collectors to bring drinking water and water for irrigation and reforestation to rural communities in developing countries around the world.
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