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Review
. 2012 May;41(3):221-34.
doi: 10.1007/s13280-012-0247-8. Epub 2012 Feb 12.

Fog as a fresh-water resource: overview and perspectives

Otto Klemm  1 , Robert S Schemenauer, Anne Lummerich, Pilar Cereceda, Victoria Marzol, David Corell, Johan van Heerden, Dirk Reinhard, Tseggai Gherezghiher, Jana Olivier, Pablo Osses, Jamal Sarsour, Ernst Frost, María J Estrela, José A Valiente, Gebregiorgis Mussie Fessehaye
Affiliations
Review

Fog as a fresh-water resource: overview and perspectives

Otto Klemm et al. Ambio. 2012 May.

Abstract

The collection of fog water is a simple and sustainable technology to obtain fresh water for afforestation, gardening, and as a drinking water source for human and animal consumption. In regions where fresh water is sparse and fog frequently occurs, it is feasible to set up a passive mesh system for fog water collection. The mesh is directly exposed to the atmosphere, and the foggy air is pushed through the mesh by the wind. Fog droplets are deposited on the mesh, combine to form larger droplets, and run down passing into a storage tank. Fog water collection rates vary dramatically from site to site but yearly averages from 3 to 10 l m(-2) of mesh per day are typical of operational projects. The scope of this article is to review fog collection projects worldwide, to analyze factors of success, and to evaluate the prospects of this technology.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Image of the 18 m2 flat-panel fog collector located at Mount Machos (Valencia region, Spain), together with the water tanks
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Three mesh types for fog collection. The Raschel mesh (35% shading, left panel, www.marienberg.cl) has been successfully applied for many years in 35 countries in five continents. It is used double layered in SFC and LFC (only one layer is shown here). The middle panel shows a robust material with a stainless mesh, co-knitted with poly material (http://www.meshconcepts.co.za), which has been employed in South Africa. The right panel shows a newly proposed design of a three-dimensional net structure (1-cm thickness) of poly material (http://www.itv-denkendorf.de). Note that no overall comparison of mesh collection rates and technical performance has been conducted yet. The edge lengths of mesh sections shown are 6.5 cm
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Map with locations marked that were successful, are successful, or bear the potential for being successful in collecting fog for the production of fresh water in arid or seasonally arid regions. The potential must have been proven by an evaluation project
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Flow diagram of a typical fog collection project. Numbered tags are used to discuss processes and discussions in “Project Schedule” section
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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