The best solutions are simple solutions!
This is the thought we built our project on, created for easy implementation, affordability and effectiveness!
In Lima, one out of every six families doesn't have access to safe drinking water..
There are 10 million people living in Lima at the moment, thats around 1.5 million people without safe drinking water!
Lima has very special climate circumstances, it almost never rains (15 mm a year) because the Andes runs parallel to the coast. This creates a special circumstance; it keeps the big volumes of fog that come in from the ocean, on the coast. This gives a lot of opportunities, fog being a great source of fresh water.
The Creating Water Foundation worked together with almost 400 families in the slums of Lima on the installation of a 'fog farm' consisting of 60 fog catchers. This is the biggest fog collection project in the world at that moment!
What is a 'fog farm' you ask?
- This is a photo of our project in Lima, Peru.
Fog catchers capture water from the fog that is present 8 months a year in Lima, in a very simple way.
A 'fog catcher' is simply said a net that hangs tightly between two poles with a gutter beneath it to direct the water to the tank.
So how do they work and how exactly do you capture the water;
- the fog moves 'through' the net and the tiny water droplets in the air hit the net and stay behind.
- More and more droplets hit the net and form bigger droplets.
- Gravity moves the water droplets down when they are big enough.
- They end up in a 'gutter' on the bottom of the net and are directed in a storage tank.
- We distribute the water to different lots on the land and start producing fruits and vegetables!
- This is one fog catcher with a capturing surface of 2 x 16m2 = 32 m2!
On average these nets capture around 100 liters a day!
The families we work with start to improve their situation by building their own fog catchers. We support them by financing materials for the farms, training on fog farm 'technology', urban agriculture and water utilization.
Together these 'fog catchers' can capture around 10.000 liters per day!
With this water we suddenly have the possibility to start growing plants, vegetables, fruits and create an additional stream of income for the community!
The first harvest of zuchinni in Peru, sustained with 100% water from the fog catchers:
Video: 10.000 liters of water a day from the fog in Lima, Peru - Creating Water Foundation
If you don't feel like reading the whole thing or you just want to learn more :)
Enjoy!
Want to learn more about this innovative project?
Visit: www.creatingwater.org
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More updates and info on the project will follow soon!