Peru nets water from fog

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Friday, February 12, 2010
Peru nets water from fog
By Sophie Kevany | The Miami Herald

Millions of Peruvians live without running water, paying six times the norm for deliveries to cover rudimentary washing and cooking needs, but in the hills surrounding Lima, Elizabeth Pinous Reuilla relies on fog.

Above her house in the settlement of Bella Vista, southeast of downtown Lima, stand five large nets. In a city that gets an annual rainfall of less than an inch, the nets draw thousands of gallons of water from fog that covers the area six months a year.

"With this water, we have trees, fruits, vegetables and we can wash," Pinous said.

The system works by snagging tiny fog droplets that build up on the mesh, droplets that then fall into open metal channels under the nets. The water then runs off into plastic pipes, downhill and into concrete reservoirs.

German researchers Anne Lummerich and Kai Tiedemann, who worked with the community to develop and build the first nets, said it was like "turning on a tap."

More:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/84409.html

[protocol rv]

1. This technique is fairly old

The BBC had a special on the use of nets to catch fog several years ago. It works particularly well when mountains are close to the sea. In Venezuela it happens naturally, the mountains are right on the coast, and the trees catch the clouds, and drip water even in the dry season.