Horizons: Catching fog with nets in Chile's Atacama Desert

Summary

The transcript discusses efforts in Chile to address water scarcity through innovative fog harvesting technology. Scientists at the Catholic University in Santiago are developing ways to collect fresh water from fog, especially in dry areas like the Atacama Desert. The water can be used for drinking, irrigation, and industrial purposes. This technology, which could be an alternative to expensive desalination, holds promise for remote and poor communities. The potential for large-scale fog harvesting is being explored, with hopes to scale it up for broader use, similar to the development of wind turbines.

Takeaways

• 🌵 Chile faces diverse weather challenges, from bone-dry deserts in the north to rain and snow in the south, affecting water supply for crops.
• 💧 Scientists at the Catholic University in Santiago are developing fog collection methods to increase the supply of fresh water.
• 🌫️ Fog can be collected using nets, capturing water droplets which can be used for drinking, irrigation, and industrial purposes.
• 🌍 Fog harvesting is already happening in other countries, but Chile's focus is on producing water for large, isolated communities.
• 🏜️ Research is being carried out in Chile's Atacama Desert, which has not seen rainfall in hundreds of years but receives significant fog.
• 🌱 Fog collection technology could provide a cheaper alternative to seawater desalination for farmers and communities.
• 🌬️ The fog forms over the Pacific Ocean and is pushed inland by prevailing winds, where it condenses on mountains.
• 🌳 The collected water is being used to irrigate crops like olive trees, grapevines, and cassia Salina trees in remote areas.
• 🧪 Scientists are learning from plants that naturally collect fog, improving the efficiency of fog-collecting meshes.
• 🏞️ Future fog-collecting farms could cover large areas, with ambitions to scale the technology to benefit entire valleys.

Q & A

What is the main challenge related to water supply in Chile?

The main challenge is obtaining water for crops in extremely diverse weather conditions, where some areas, especially in the North, receive little to no rainfall.

What innovative solution is being explored to address water scarcity in Chile?

Scientists in Chile are developing fog collection technology to capture fresh water from fog and use it for drinking, household use, irrigation, and industrial purposes.

Who is a leading expert in fog collection mentioned in the script?

Wen de Dios Rivera is a global expert working to perfect fog collection to provide fresh water to poor, isolated communities.

What makes fog collection different from seawater desalination?

Fog collection is expected to be less expensive than seawater desalination, making it a potentially more viable solution for large-scale water production.

Why is Chile an ideal location for fog harvesting research?

Chile, particularly the Atacama Desert, receives little to no rainfall but has plenty of fog, making it a suitable environment to test fog harvesting techniques.

How does the fog collection process work with the mesh system?

A mesh with round filaments collects droplets of water from fog. The droplets roll down into a trough by gravity, which then directs the water into a storage tank for later use.

What types of plants are benefiting from fog water at the test site near La Serena?

At the test site, olive trees, grapevines, and a type of tree called cassia salina are being irrigated using the water collected from fog.

What is the significance of studying plants in this region for fog collection?

The local plants naturally collect water from fog to survive. Scientists are learning from the plants to make fog collection more efficient.

What is the long-term vision for fog harvesting according to the experts?

The long-term vision is to create large-scale fog collection systems, such as hanging massive meshes between mountains, to provide water to entire valleys and communities.

How long do experts think it will take to perfect fog harvesting technology?

The timeline is uncertain, but experts compare it to wind turbines, which took around 50 years to develop from small windmills to large, efficient turbines. Similarly, fog collection could evolve into a large-scale solution over time.