Turning a desert into an oasis: Maroccan scientists transform fog into drinking water • FRANCE 24

Abdi Salam Amir’s olive trees are dead. Killed by the drought that’s gripped Morocco for the past six years. We used to call this landf literally abundant water. There was water everywhere. End of story. It used to be a region where there was enough water. Now if you want to find it, you have to dig 160 or even 240 m. But to drill that deep, you need money. Look, everything is dry. There isn’t a drop of water left there. There’s nothing left. Everything is dead. And all of this is because of the drought. He can no longer sell his olives. The vineyards also burnt down. Like him, many Moroccans are suffering from the lack of water. The country has experienced record heat waves of up to 50° C, and there’s been less rain each year. The most isolated mountain villages are on the front line. In southern Morocco, these scientists set themselves a challenge to find water for those who no longer have any. And they succeeded. These huge nets installed at altitudes above 1,200 m capture fog to extract water. You see these nets? They’re threedimensional. So when the fog gets here, it’s trapped. It’s like a kind of spiderwe. And so the water has time to get trapped to trickle down here. And then from there, it goes to the system below where everything is stored. The location is ideal. The city region is regularly covered in thick fog that gets pushed into the nets by cold currents from the ocean. This 100% green system collects an average of 37,000 lers of water each day, which is then distributed to neighboring villages. For about €4 a month, families now have access to running water. Before they used wells. And with wells, there’s not always a guarantee of water. With drought, the wells are depleted. With climate change, it’s even worse. And now, for them, it’s like a miracle because collecting fog water and having water in this abundance is almost impossible to imagine. All right. Now we have water at home and we don’t have to walk for hours anymore. When it’s hot, we can just turn on the tap. Today, nearly 1,000 people have access to water thanks to this project. Morocco, which has the world’s largest fog traps, plans to install more nets to combat both climate change and water shortages.

In Morocco, giant nets capture fog to provide drinking water to villages affected by extreme drought. Installed at over 1,200 meters above sea level, these collectors gather 37,000 liters per day, transforming the lives of nearly 1,000 residents. An innovative, sustainable, and unique project that effectively combats water scarcity. J. Ben Brahim and L. Chaussay from France2 explain.
#Morocco #desert #drinkingwater

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50 comments

  1. If fog, which is just water by another name, is ‘harvested’ here, then the fog/water is not going to go inland and fall as rain somewhere else.

  4. Fun Fact! The Sahara Desert is the cradle of modern man. Every 25k years, it turns into a paradise that is teaming with life. Our ancestors came out of the last Glacial Maximum devastated. The last green Sahara was about 10k years ago… our ancestors went right from suffering for thousands of years to Eden for thousands of years.

  5. How do we make more friendly housing and more friendly roads? Use the earth around. Make domes that grow plants around you. Blend your home with the environment, same with your car. Why wont they do this? It takes away profit, and someone could technically build it for cheap.

  6. Do you think it's a little bit sad where a disaster happens it's always goes like:

    "X country from Y region suffer approximately Z billions dollar worth loss of something. There are total of 3 rich people, 2 politician and entire system to make it possible".

    And then, the supposed to be a good news always goes something like:

    "But, here, listen to our story of a certain people from this non-profit organization doing good things in this small community somewhere. Now the life in X community is improved because of them"

    Great thanks to these good people to make it happens. But why do I feel like even if an ordinary person like me and my neighbors giving any kind of support to them, it's still can't match whatever the destruction the rich people and the politicians cause?

  7. I wonder if they learned this from the desert beetle, fog condensing on its body and water droplets running down to its mouth. We can learn a lot from nature.

  10. The same technique of collecting water is used in the Andes Mountains!

    When he again has water for his trees, he needs to plant another crop around their base so that the soil is not absorbing so much heat! He also needs to dig half moons to give each tree more chance of survival. See the Great Green Wall of Africa on how others are doing this in the Sahel.

  12. Morocco are near to atlantic ocean and mediterranean, what the mountains need are more trees, trees collects and condense water from vapors, they will also store it to their bodies and slowly release the excess water below ground. They also promotes condensation which increase rain production. They should also limit production of CASH CROPS like oranges, tomatoes and potatoes, they consume lots of water to produce. The best example are in china, drought resistant plants and trees dominate TAKMALAHAN desert, they still produce cash crops like watermelon, but in sustainable way, around 80% must be drought resistant plants and trees and 20% cash crops, not just they turn the desert into green environment, they also increase precipitation and rain rate .

  13. This only works near the sea. Inland, it takes too much water from the air. This drastically reduces humidity. But there are many living creatures that thrive on humidity (insects, reptiles, mosses, lichens, etc.). Because of these devices, this ecosystem is being destroyed, and many living creatures are dying.

  22. That is the cause of climat change. Its not our cars or ovens. They are good for the climate as they are from a circular process.

  23. You must report on the cannabis plants of the narco king, the villain who submits to his prostration an entire people plunged into extreme poverty.

  27. Where is Marocca?
    In English we spell Morocco this way. If French media wishes to host an English article, then they need an editor who can spell in English.

  35. So weird to have this kind of struggles, while some instagram chicks complain on their $100K/week vacations that the latte is not creamy enough.

  37. there is no innovation here.

    same technic is used in canarias islands for many years now. just in front of moroccan coasts

    they call it fog collectors or cloud catchers or cloud milking…

    though it's still a good idea to provide water to poeple

    however it would be a better idea to stop intensive farming and pumoing from water tables…stop farming products not suitable for dry climate like avocado or berries fruits or watermelons…

  44. Fantastic. Where does the water go after it goes down the drain? The next step is to set up water re-use systems.

  48. Amazing 🇲🇦 work 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 but this system only works at high altitude location where 90% water distress area are low altitude location.

  50. I hope every visitor of Morocco as a tourist can come enjoy the beauty of the country and plant a tree somewhere, we need to encourage this culture around the country

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