CloudFisher harvests drinking water from fog

In a pilot project on Morocco’s northern Atlantic coast, the fog collector CloudFisher with a total mesh area of 1,600 square metres will supply the inhabitants of 13 Berber villages around Mount Boutmetzguida with drinking water and water for agricultural use. The German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches - DVGW) is supporting the construction of the test installation jointly with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The region in the Anti-Atlas mountains is one of the driest in Morocco. It borders on the Sahara, the soil is eroded and the semi-arid area is subject to long periods of drought.

The CloudFisher was developed by the German Water Foundation. It is the world’s first fog collector in series production which can withstand wind speeds up to 120 km/h. The wind forces the fog through a vertical mesh. Tiny drops are caught on the mesh and collect into large drops, which run down to a collecting gutter under the influence of gravity. From here, the water from the fog runs through pipes to a reservoir. Four cisterns store the water, ensuring availability until well into the dry season. Up to 18 litres of water per person per day can be stored in this way and used to irrigate small growing areas.

Global areas for application are countries with a high incidence of fog on arid sea coasts, such as Tenerife, Morocco, Eritrea, Tanzania, South Africa, Yemen, Oman, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Iran.

In a press release the DVGW Chairman Prof. Gerland Linke explained the association’s involvement: “Access to clean water is the decisive basis for human civilisation, contributes to poverty reduction and promotes the economic growth of the community of nations. Almost 770 million people are excluded from this worldwide. We see it as our job to help the countries involved to establish a secure basic supply of drinking water, because having clean drinking water of top quality is by no means a matter of course.”

Further information on CloudFisher

(dvgw/wi)