Clean drinking water out of thin air

Patrick LaLiberte
Staff Writer

       Giant nets with fine mesh are being used to catch and condense fog into drinking water in southwest Morocco. Moisture from the air is gathered on the nets and combine to form liquid water, which then falls and flows into a reservoir. The project, which is run by a Moroccan woman named Dar Si Hmad, spans six hundred square miles, making it the largest functioning fog collection project in the world. It provides water for over five hundred people between five different villages. The villages have recently been hit by severe droughts, so the water gathered from the fog catchers will be of great value to the villagers. If not for the giant nets, the people of the villages would have to walk for up to three hours every day to wells which were often depleted of water.  
         Condensing fog to make drinking water is not a new practice as it began in the 1980's. There are several active fog harvesting projects in places such as Chile, Peru, South Africa, and even California. Efforts to bring a fog harvesting project to Morocco began ten years ago, but the project did not launch until 2015 after roughly four years of testing. The project was a huge success as the nets in Morocco collect about 6,000 liters of water a day, and the water is then filtered and sent to the homes of the villagers through nearly five miles of piping. The project received much praise and was even awarded the 2016 United Nations "Momentum for Change" award. The plan over the next two years to is to expand the project to eight other villages, aiding over five hundred more people. Dar Si Hmad also plans to bring fog-catching nets to other parts of southwestern Morocco to provide clean drinking water to a wider variety of people.

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