Drinking water is being collected by creating fog traps in the Atacama Desert
Chile’s Atacama Desert is extremely dry, with virtually no measurable rainfall. Although it is a coastal region, sea breezes blow inland. New technology could provide valuable drinking water from sea breezes.
Fog traps are mesh screens that can trap fog droplets; when enough water accumulates, it flows into a collector. Since the 1960s, fog nets have been used in deserts to collect drinking water, providing enough for one person from just one square meter of mesh.
Dr. Ursula Stachewicz and her team at AGS University of Science and Technology in Krakow developed a high-quality electrospun fiber that uses electrical energy to improve fog-capturing capabilities. Stachewicz explains that the material is inspired by spider webs, which have both water-repelling and water-attracting properties. This allows droplets to first stick to the fiber and then gather in the collector.
A nanofiber mesh improves a mist trap’s ability to capture small droplets that could slip through larger fiber gaps. Electrospun fibers are already used in air filters and dust-cleaning fabrics and could be mass-produced at low cost.
This technology could help supply clean drinking water in areas lacking infrastructure, especially in water-stressed regions like the Atacama.
(Edited)
Original author: David Hambling
Edited by Rahman Mahfuz
Courtesy of The Guardian
