A yearlong field study on the outskirts of Chile's Atacama Desert has shown the viability of fog harvesting as a method to supply clean water to communities in the arid region.
Local researchers chose the town of Alto Hospicio to run their tests. About 10,000 people live in informal settlements due to the area's rapid growth. Only around 1.6% of these settlements are connected to a water network, with most receiving water via trucks.
"This research represents a notable shift in the perception of fog water use—from a rural, rather small-scale solution to a practical water resource for cities," Virginia Carter Gamberini, the first co-author of the study, said in a press release.
"Our findings demonstrate that fog can serve as a complementary urban water supply in drylands where climate change exacerbates water shortages," she added.
The region, which is the driest nonpolar place on Earth, gets less than 1 millimeter of rainfall each year, according to a report by Popular Mechanics. One of the main water sources for cities in that area is underwater aquifers, but they haven't been recharged since between 17,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The researchers discovered that they could produce an average of 2.5 liters of water per square meter per day, with a potential yield of 10 liters during peak fog season. If they used 17,000 square meters of water-collecting mesh, they estimated they could collect around 300,000 liters, which is enough to meet the weekly needs of nearby communities, the report added.
The fog harvesting setup is simple, as it only requires a fine mesh to be mounted where it can intercept the fog along with a gutter and tank system to collect the droplets.
The practice, which dates back to ancient times, has been employed to help small communities around the globe and has been gaining momentum over the past few decades. It's an accessible way to address water scarcity in drought-prone areas amid a changing climate.
The largest fog-harvesting system in the world is located in Morocco, where it helps supply 400 nearby residents with fresh water. It earned the United Nations Climate Change prize in 2016.
California officials have been looking into using the technology to help address the state's recent climate-induced drought, with potential water shortfalls expected to continue into the foreseeable future.
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Definitely 👍 By unlocking the potential of fog harvesting in the arid region, researchers expect that the water collected can be used for drinking, irrigation, and food production, but they'll need to build out the infrastructure to support its expansion.
"We hope to encourage policymakers to integrate this renewable source into national water strategies," concluded Gamberini. "This could enhance urban resilience to climate change and rapid urbanization while improving access to clean water."
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