Climate change and population pressures have led to more unpredictable rainfall patterns and the depletion of natural water sources, such as underground aquifers, in the area around the village rural of Morocco. Villagers started fog harvesting  after reading about the solution working in other areas.

Fog is caused by a unique microclimate. Warm air driven by ocean currents makes landfall on Morocco’s Atlantic coast . As the humid air rises, it hits the natural barrier of Morocco’s Anti-Atlas mountains, which start just 35km east from the coast and rise to more than 2,500m. From there, the air turns into blankets of thick fog, particularly between December and June. For years, the community saw this as a bad thing. They believed the fog prevented rainfall, turned fields to mud and made people ill.

Lots of people were reluctant and even negative  at the beginning of the project. Some even thought that cloud water would not be safe to drink, but slowly people began to be convinced, and now the local women call the nets their water wells.Over the past 10 years, they have erected vast mesh nets to capture the moisture at an altitude of 1,225m on the slopes of Mount Boutmezguida. It's now the largest fog harvesting project in the world. About 600 square meters of mesh nets capture water particles from the fog, which then condense and drip into collection trays. Roughly 6,300 liters of water can be harvested daily. The water is then filtered and mixed with underground water. More than 8km of pipelines have been installed to share the water between about 400 people in five villages.

Africa Team