Susana Ninio, a student of the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) in Mexico, has developed a device that can collect six to 22 liters of water a day from fog.
With the "catchers," called Cecelic meaning fresh in Nahuatl, the student at the School of Industrial Design seeks a solution to water shortages that exist in the semi-desert and desert regions in Mexico and around the world.
With the "catchers," called Cecelic meaning fresh in Nahuatl, the student at the School of Industrial Design seeks a solution to water shortages that exist in the semi-desert and desert regions in Mexico and around the world.
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"There are many places with fog such as states like Chiapas, Tabasco, even in the center of the country there are places with high humidity and fog but little rain. Sites like Coahuila and Baja California are desert areas where it rains just one or two times a year, but in turn have 250 days of fog. In such places you can generate water through the fog and even if there is no rain,"explains Ninio .
This device she created is based on a "atrapaniebla" used in the Atacama Desert, Chile, from the 1970's which is based on bamboo and rope. "The difference is in the materials and size.
She used materials that are easy to break down and the channel for the water is like a hose, and has greater flexibility than many of the devices used in Chile which are easily broken because they are fixed on all four sides, and can not tolerate wind, "while mine has a set of tensions that make it more flexible and is inspired by the sailing ship so it has a little play, it can bend and not break, "she explained.
This device she created is based on a "atrapaniebla" used in the Atacama Desert, Chile, from the 1970's which is based on bamboo and rope. "The difference is in the materials and size.
She used materials that are easy to break down and the channel for the water is like a hose, and has greater flexibility than many of the devices used in Chile which are easily broken because they are fixed on all four sides, and can not tolerate wind, "while mine has a set of tensions that make it more flexible and is inspired by the sailing ship so it has a little play, it can bend and not break, "she explained.
Device operation begins when the fog passes through the Cecelic mesh where it is trapped, then it is condensed and can be dewatered as it drops into two gutters of PVC. These pipes lead water to the bottles molded of the same material, covered for weather resistance and after filling, containers can be rotated to bring the liquid without great effort. In this way, water can be useful for crop irrigation, cleaning, personal hygiene and even for human consumption, if subjected to a filtration process. "You can reach six to collect 22 liters of water a day, depends on the density of the fog, are figures that have been proven already in Chile, and on the basis of one square meter of mesh in addition to depending where you install and how much there is fog, "said the student.
According to the expert in physics of clouds and precipitation of the Center for Atmosphere Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Guillermo Montero, the two of the areas where the devices can be used most successfully are Ensenada, Baja California, or Las Alanzas, Coahuila.
"It's huge difference between water available to people living in the Valley of Mexico and those in the north of the country, found that numbers tell us that in the capital is spent up to 10 times more water than in northern cities. Also in these areas is up to 250 days with fog, which is the main feeder of the project, "he said. This research managed to be one of four winners of Imagine projects PVC, convened by ProVinilo, interest group of the National Association of Chemical Industry, CA
The concept has sparked such high interest that The New York Times chose the phrase "peak ... Ultimately, peak water is not about running out of fresh water, but about reaching ..... Fog catchers are the most extreme of backstop methods.
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