CloudFisher does exactly what it says on the tin. On the slopes of Mt. Boutmezguida, in the Anti-Atlas range, the project's organizers have erected a series of tall steel poles, hung with rectangular black polymer nets. These are the fog harvesters. They look like the flags of long-buried pirate ships, standing out from the slope of the mountain, the only man-made thing for miles around, but they behave rather like Echinopsis cacti. Built on arid, rocky ground at an elevation of more than four thousand feet, they can, in twenty-four hours, collect up to seventeen gallons of water—condensed fog from the nearby Atlantic—per square yard of netting.
Reliable access to freshwater would, of course, provide a host of benefits to rural, water-poor districts in North Africa. According to the World Health Organization, a community requires about twenty gallons of water per person per day in order for its residents and their crops and livestock to thrive. Even a relatively small CloudFisher installation could provide a consistent water source for a group of rural families or a village. In a part of the world that is battling the progressive effects of continuous drought—exhaustion of wells, topsoil erosion, population loss as the land becomes inhospitable to agriculture—fog-water collection could be a life-altering adaptation.
The greatest benefit of the technology, though, might be time. In arid regions around the world, the task of obtaining water for the family frequently falls to women. Residents of Morocco's rural villages commonly spend as much as four hours a day walking to and from functioning wells. The lucky families own or borrow donkeys, but often the women simply carry the barrels—five gallons each, weighing nearly fifty pounds—on their heads. In Africa alone, women spend an estimated forty billion hours a year fetching water.
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SoylentNews has covered fog harvesting before. This article had a video with an interesting 'before' and 'after' segment that really shows the difference it can make.
Using 'Atrapanieblas'—large nets erected on the hillside—farmers like Maria Teresa Avalos Cucho take advantage of the daily fog to capture condensation, harvesting between 200 and 400 liters a day from each panel—which is then stored in tanks, and gravity-fed to the crops below.
It's efficient. It's resilient. And it's a hell of a lot more economical than paying truck drivers to bring water each day. According to the fabulous Permaculture Magazine, where I found this particular gem of a video, harvesting fog also has particular potential in coastal areas where the alternative is energy-hungry desalination. As we've noted before, fog harvesting also has been utilized in urban areas to bring fresh water to the slums.
Could California use the same technique to alleviate drought, at least in coastal areas that are famously foggy like the Bay Area?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jdavidb on Friday March 25 2016, @02:54PM
So, is the water that is harvested from fog basically already distilled? Or would it be contaminated and need purification?
By the way, be sure to read the last two paragraphs of the summary. The problem of distance from water is very real, especially in Africa, and the water that is available to most of these people is contaminated with serious parasites. For the last two years my family has done a small bit of participation with a charity that drills fresh water wells in Africa to try to ameliorate this problem. There are many such groups, and you might be interested in supporting one of them, too, when you find out just how bad the situation is for many people. Imagine having four hours of your day consumed just fetching water.
And sure it's easy to tell people to just move, but that's not always feasible, especially when you're dealing with an oppressive government. Even there are no legal barriers to moving, the economic opportunity to be able to afford to do so may likely have been robbed from you.
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 25 2016, @03:13PM
There's a Namibian beetle [asknature.org] that harvests all the water it needs from dew and fog, and I wouldn't be surprised if this project is partly inspired by that example.
There have been related stories over the years [slideshare.net] about people trying to use the hydrophilic and hydrophobic channels that present on the beetle in water harvesters and also clothing.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Friday March 25 2016, @03:53PM
While we're on the subject, World Water Day [wikipedia.org] was this week. Not sure anyone here would want to support Healing Hands International [youtube.com], but there are many charities focused on bringing water to a thirsty world.
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @07:06PM
It wouldn't be pure, but if they're drinking from wells already, it could be a huge improvement in quality assuming toxic stuff aren't used to make it.
To me if I'm sponsoring them I'd sponsor condoms and education not wells or food. Stuff that might help GDP per capita go up without "increasing the capita". Yeah many might die, but if you just sponsor wells and food even more will die later when the wells/food donations hit limits (there are limits to how much freshwater you can take from the ground sustainably and they're often not that high).
If people are living in a desert the solution to the problem of there not being enough water is either not live in a frigging _desert_ or not have so many people. Don't do what people are doing in the USA and pumping out groundwater to keep golf-courses green in a desert!
If this water from fog would be wasted then sure use it for the people. But I suspect once it goes large scale it's going to have significant impact on the desert fauna and flora. Those beetles and lizards are going to find life a bit harder.
It's not like we have a shortage of people in the world. And unless we develop the technology[1] to get off this planet and colonize space, it's best to extend the time we can survive on this planet till we do so. If you're not thinking for the long term benefit of the human species and prefer to think selfishly then logically you should save your money for yourself and not donate it for wells for other non-closely related people. But if it makes you feel good, then ok fine.
[1] It's not for the lack of people (or smart people) that we haven't done this already - we've practically got most of the tech already, there's just no will to do so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @03:09PM
Didn't find an exact location for the mountain described, but the area seems to be very close to the Atlantic. I'm wondering if the 17 gallons per square meter still holds up in the desert or much further away from oceans, lakes, or in very low humidity environments.
Either way, if it's clean drinking water, it can be of big help in a lot of areas regardless of the above.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 25 2016, @05:50PM
I've read other articles that indicate these things will work in the desert. Maybe less efficiently, but they work. Use the search term "warkawater" if you're interested in learning more.
This particular article is from Ethiopia - http://inhabitat.com/nature-inspired-warkawater-towers-use-condensation-to-collect-drinking-water-in-ethiopia/ [inhabitat.com] Note that the warkawater idea isn't "high tech" at all - it was discovered by natives in Africa long ago, and it can be made with locally available materials throughout most of the world. Deep in the desert, the materials would have to be transported in, but what do grasses and some bamboo cost?
Oh - best reference possible - http://www.warkawater.org/design [warkawater.org] The design is shown on that page. The list of materials 1/3 down the page mentions bio-plastic and metal pins, but those "high tech" items can be replaced with natural products, at the sacrifice of some efficiency.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday March 25 2016, @06:55PM
Same thing I mentioned above from a long time ago post here on SN.
The thing is these warkwater towers don't require wind, they generate their own chimney effect, and therefore usually work 24/7 and pick up much less dust.
The problem is the high tech materials for which there really aren't any natural products that are available or work. At least not in the area the towers are needed and used. There are also simpler designs available that work on the same free standing chimney effect principal.
Still that isn't that big of a problem. Even if donated by industrialized countries, these end up being relatively cheap and maintainable. (although assembly is complex and not likely to be done by the natives without training).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by snick on Friday March 25 2016, @03:10PM
Where was that moisture going? Is there a newly arid region downwind from these harvesters?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday March 25 2016, @04:29PM
Where was that moisture going? Is there a newly arid region downwind from these harvesters?
I suspect the amounts collected are negligible on the scale of things (for now), but your point is well taken. Very few if any solutions to problems caused by too many people for the local resources can be solved without external costs. Unfortunately, those costs tend to be ignored when calculating economic effects as environmental, social and cultural costs are generally ignored and left for future generations to worry about.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday March 26 2016, @11:18AM
Don't know if you noticed it, but that was suggested by the dept line:
The dept line is often overlooked.
We editors DO strive for something funny, pithy, or poignant (though, frequently, the Muses fail us and something mundane is best we can concoct at the moment.)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by seeprime on Friday March 25 2016, @03:25PM
While condensed water is fresh water, it also contains all the microbes and dust that built up on the equipment. Filtration and possibly disinfection, will still be needed to have genuinely safe to drink water., unless the people consuming the water are immune to whatever would be in it, which is quite possible. The process is a great start.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @04:03PM
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday March 25 2016, @06:13PM
Actually these schemes appear in various forms, and have been discussed here on SoylentNews before.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/04/14/0051250 [soylentnews.org] which points to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-tower-pulls-drinking-water-out-of-thin-air-180950399/ [smithsonianmag.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday March 25 2016, @04:10PM
Don't go off to the academy, or travel into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters - your only concern is to get those droids cleaned and ready and repair the units in the South Ridge.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @10:22PM
Star Wars borrowed a lot from Dune, didn't it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @05:23PM
I'm preeeetty sure that if they would have isolated the load bearing footing poles
(electrically AND mostly thermally) that the setup would yield even more?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 25 2016, @05:53PM
The spice must flow!
(Score: 1) by Osamabobama on Friday March 25 2016, @08:54PM
Let's see, about 500 million women in Africa, so 40 billion hours a year...that comes out to 80 hours a year, each. Of course, that isn't equally distributed; it would be about 13 million women working 8 hours a day, but that wouldn't be equally distributed, either, as many certainly live closer to the well. So, somewhere upward of 13 million women spend up to 8 hours a day fetching water.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by SemperOSS on Saturday March 26 2016, @12:46AM
Hm, maybe somebody should re-read Dune by Frank Herbert for other methods of water harvesting.
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 26 2016, @03:45AM
mmmm urine and sweat!