‘Fog Catchers' in Moroccan Desert Make Water Out of Thin Air

For a country that suffers severely from the side effects of climate change and severe drought, locals are sure to be continuously active in finding ways to provide drinking water for villages on the edge of Sahara desert in South West Morocco.

Giant nets have been set up in the dry, mountainous areas of South West Morocco to catch moisture from the air in hopes to produce drinking water. Led by a Moroccan NGO, this project has been known to be the largest functioning fog collection in the world. So successful it has been that it was able to provide clean potable water to 500 people in different drought-struck villages in the region.

The science behind fog collection revolves around the ability for the fine meshing of the net to condense fog into water, mimicking the process through which needles of pine trees and redwoods function in the event of little rainfall.

According to a report from CNN, fog collection has been developed in the 1980s and has been prevalent in Southern American countries such as Peru and Chile. The idea has been brought to Morocco in mid-2000s and took a total of four years to test its feasibility.

As the project of fog collection may be too risky, enough research must be done to ensure that the project will be able to yield enough capacity to create a significant impact on the lives of the locals. Fortunately, after setting up large nets at about an altitude of 4,000 feet, they were able to collect 6,000 liters of water in a day.

The condensed water is then cleared of all impurities before being sent to water lines in villages around Southern Morocco. The area in consideration has been suffering from a rapid decrease in population as people migrate due to the lack of potable water. This new project is giving hopes to lessen the migration of people from the area.