WHAT: Fogwater Collector
WHERE: El Tofo ridge, above Chungungo, Chile.
WHY: To create a model for low-energy, low-cost water harvesting in arid regions. The success of the pilot program - built to deliver drinking water to a village near the Atacama Desert of northern Chile - inspired 20 similar projects, ranging from Peru to Namibia; the 2nd International Conference on Fog and Fog Collection convenes in Newfoundland next July.
WHO: Corporaciòn Nacional Forestal de Chile, funded by the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa
HOW: 100 ultraviolet-resistant polypropylene nets, each 13 feet high by 40 feet long, are stretched on poles at a site 4 miles from the coast. Positioned at right angles to prevailing winds, the nets trap droplets of water from the fog that passes through. The collected water drains into a 26,400-gallon tank, then flows into an underground distribution system. The fog collector system, at a cost of about $450 per net, provides an average of 3,800 gallons of water a day, or 8 gallons per villager - more than double the amount supplied by the well-and-trucks system that it replaced.
