Make a drink from the fog

New technology to create drinking water from fog can meet the increasing water needs of people in dry areas.

Scientists from the MIT Center in the state of Masachussett, USA, are developing the first systematic studies to optimize the efficiency of fog harvesting. Some countries with limited drinking water, such as Chile, Peru and Mexico, have experimented with the fog collection technology that created drinking water a few years ago.

To harvest the fog, they use plastic netting on the piles, as air contains mist that travels through the net, droplets condense on the net surface, and then the water is collected back into the reservoir.

The grid made of water from the fog. (Photo: KC Park)

This device works fine depending on the type of grid used. "This method has low cost, ready-to-use and sustainable materials." We found that to increase the amount of water we needed to minimize the distance between the webs and the thickness of the webs by three times The width of a human hair, however, makes them less durable, " said Gareth McKinley, an MIT engineer.

"With the new technology we increase the capacity to produce water from a few liters per square meter of netting to more than 12 liters per square meter per day, which is capable of meeting the large water needs in rural arid areas. Chile, where communities have limited access to electricity and drinking water , " he added.

Water from the fog is quite pure and safe to drink directly. However, with current pollution situation, toxic substances can exist in dew drops, especially in industrialized areas, where high levels of pesticides and agricultural waste, researchers Their level of harm was not detected in the water samples collected in Chile.

The team's next plan will be to develop a new design in Chile to determine the durability of the material and the efficiency of the grid, which they hope will be implemented in large scale with local people.