Water is one of the keys to the future of humanity. Is that it? axis of life. In an increasingly arid world, every drop is important and the search for alternative resources is becoming increasingly urgent. So, is there any place with water that has not been searched yet?
More than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, representing a permanent volume of 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers. With this much volume, how is it possible that there are large areas of the world that are left without water, with people even dying of thirst?
It happens because of such large quantity, fresh water represents only 2.5%. And much of this meager percentage is inaccessible because 68.7% of it is ‘trapped’ in ice floes and the other 30% consists of groundwater.
Only 1.2% is surface water, distributed in permafrost (69%), lakes (20%), rivers (0.49%), and in soil, atmosphere, and living things (on average, 70% of all Cells are made up of water). just like Earth).
Parallel, The world population continues to grow, increasing the need for waterIt is mainly intended for agriculture, industry, electricity generation and domestic use. According to a study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the demand for water will rapidly increase by 2050, to 55% of what was recorded at the beginning of this century.
However, there is another answer left to be answered; whether there are undiscovered places where water can be obtained. The answer is Yes. For example, fogIt is nothing more than a cloud with small suspended droplets.
Useful for drinking
The LIFE Nieblas project, co-financed by the European Union, has enabled development over the last four years Three innovative systems for capturing water from fog. In Spain. Additionally, systems that provide cheap and efficient extraction of water from fog.
water from fog useful for reforestation or irrigation The places where the living fluid is needed the most are also to drink. In fact one of the systems was used to collect a type of water called ‘Nieblagua’ and marketed as: drinkable.
In any case, the aim of the project is rather to collect it for public use. restoration of degraded areas and diversifying water resources in times of need through arid, reforestation and agricultural use in Mediterranean regions.
After the years Research and testing in the Canary Islands, The main partners of the LIFE Nieblas project, the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), the Canarian public company GESPLAN, the Canary Islands Agricultural Research Institute (ICIA), the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC) and Cabildo Gran Canaria, presented the results. The aim now is to encourage the use of these systems throughout the Peninsula.
Three systems developed to ‘capture’ water in fog use different materials and technologies and managed to capture more. 500 liters of water per square meter in 10 months.
35,000 liters have been collected with 27 collectors of different types developed until July 2023, and 215,000 liters are planned to be collected throughout the development process of the project.
Pattern, Canary pine leaves
Research has also enabled development more primitive but very efficient systems ensuring tree plantations thrive and overcome dry summers. All these innovations have the potential to be installed in other locations in Spain and Portugal. Actually, the project is currently investigating its feasibility in Catalonia.
Researchers took as a model Canary pine leaves, These have a ‘secret’: They are designed to trap tiny fog droplets. This natural observation inspired an idea in the LIFE Nieblas project, resulting in the most efficient and versatile rain collector: needle collector.
It is an easy-to-assemble and small-sized collector with crossbars on which metal threads similar to the needles of canary pines are suspended. Fifteen structures (approximately 9 square meters) captured up to 525 liters of water per square meter during 10 months of testing in the Canary Islands.
Two other much larger models were tested: tower collectorsIt has two different covers, one made of kiwi mesh and the other made of volumetric mesh. Only one type of volumetric mesh managed to capture up to 379 liters per square meter.
These are not prototypes, they have already been tested and are working. “ready-to-market builds It is used in areas where fog and wind conditions are met,” comments CREAF researcher and Life Nieblas scientific advisor Vicenç Carabassa.
The project’s promoters also tested a much more primitive model that serves both reforestation and agricultural plantations. This is a single collectorIt is a hard, tubular structure that surrounds cultivated trees to protect them from goats or other herbivores.
Catalonia’s potential
Covered with the same kiwi mesh as the tower collectors, the structure is able to trap water from fog, retaining moisture and preventing attack by shoots.
“Until now, these restorations were irrigated by transporting water by tankers or even helicopters, at a cost of up to $100,000. 260 Euros per live tree two years later,” emphasizes Gustavo Viera, GESPLAN technician and project coordinator.
LIFE Nieblas is now investigating whether this simpler technology works well in all areas with direct influence of the Mediterranean. For this purpose, in collaboration with the RESTARC project (aiming to train entrepreneurs in the Circular Economy), approximately 100 individual collectors were established for the replanting of species in the Mediterranean. wild olive or Mastic gum In a quarry under restoration in Garraf.
Catalonia could be ‘a potential place to extract water from fog’ From different parts of the region,” says Vicenç Carabassa.
In addition to fog water collection systems experts, experts in a wide range of fields were also included in the study. restoration of degraded areasevaluation of soil regeneration processes, sensorization of fields, irrigation systems and meteorology.
Apart from the previously mentioned organizations, the owners of the land where the tests were carried out, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of La Laguna, Heredad de Aguas de Arucas and the Intermunicipal Community of Firgas and Viseu Dão, Lafões from Portugal participated.
LIFE Nieblas Project: https://www.lifenieblas.com/
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