World's Largest Fog Harvester Installed In Moroccan Desert

The world’s largest fog harvester can now be found in Morocco, providing water to hundreds of people without proper access to this life-giving substance. Designed by regional NGO Dar Si Hmad (DSH), the facility, measuring nearly 600 sq m (around 6,458 sq ft) in area, collects usable water from mountain fog to meet the needs of those living in the extremely arid Aït Baâmrane region.

Located in the land-locked southwestern part of Morocco, Aït Baâmrane is home to people who have to constantly battle water scarcity and drought. It is, however, blessed with water vapor-laden fog that shrouds the area for a total of six months every year. Using advanced CloudFisher technology, the organization recently erected enormous polymer nets, held together by sturdy steel poles, in the Anti-Atlas mountain range.

As the developers point out, mountainous fog is usually denser and more moist than the kind found near coasts. Consequently, they provide greater amounts of water. In addition to the fog collection system, the team has also installed solar pumps and up to 8 km of pipes that carry the harvested water to the village below. The entire system was constructed by the NGO, with help from a number of universities, foundations and other organizations.

According to the developers, the system is capable of harvesting around 17 gallons of water, per square yard of each fog net. At present, the gigantic installation delivers clean, usable water to over 400 locals, who until now had no access whatsoever to running water. Furthermore, the new fog harvester helps people save valuable time. Previously, the task of collecting water, which took more than three and a half hours every day, fell on women. As a result, young girls often had to forego schooling, in order to lend a hand with the chore.

The newly-built system allows local women and girls to do a myriad of other things, without having to waste time collecting water. Dating back to ancient times, fog harvesting has now become an incredibly efficient way of collecting water, thanks to remarkable advances in technology. Last year, for instance, a team of MIT scientists designed a new and innovative polymer net that can capture five times more water from the atmosphere than regular polyolefin mesh nets.