The 'magic mesh' that can make water out of thin air: Researchers reveal system to harvest morning fog for drinking and farming

·        Mesh can extract water from fog

·        System already being trialled in Chile to provide drinking water

Creating water from thin air may seem a tall order - but US researchers have unveiled a system that could bring drinking water to remote areas.

MIT researchers have developed a special mesh that can extract the water from morning fog, channeling it into reservoirs.

They have already trialled the system in Chile, and say it could have a dramatic impact on the lives of remote communities.

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One of the fences already installed in Chile. The special mesh can extract the water from morning fog, channeling it into reservoirs.

By changing the size of the holes and fibres, researchers say they have already improved the system by 500%

HOW IT WORKS

Fences made from a simple system of suspended mesh structures are placed on hilltops in areas with persistent fog and prevailing westerly winds.

When the fog arrives, the water condenses in the mesh and drip down pipes to water butts, where is can be fed directly into watering systems or used by locals as drinking water. 

Variations in the mesh spacing as well as the size and the wettability of the fibers in the mesh all affect the volume of water that can be collected each day.

Researchers at MIT's School of Engineering, working with colleagues at the Pontificial University of Chile in Santiago, are harvesting potable water from the coastal fog that forms on the edge of one of the driest regions on earth. 

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Using a simple system of suspended mesh structures, placed on hilltops in areas with persistent fog and prevailing westerly winds, local Chilean communities collect fog water for drinking and agricultural use. 

'This water has been naturally desalinated by the sun, we are trying to build meshes to capture it straight out of the air,' said Gareth McKinley of MIT, who is leading the project.

Fog collecting technology is still in its infancy but laboratory experiments have shown that variations in the mesh spacing as well as the size and the wettability of the fibers in the mesh all affect the volume of water that can be collected each day.

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The fences feed into water reservoirs

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The researchers created dozens of lab systems to test different types of mesh

'By changing the size of the holes and fibres, we've improved the system by 500%'

Regions were the system has been installed have alreasy seen major changes.

Former fisherman have turned into farmers because of fog water, the team said.

'The technology holds great promise as a locally deployable and scalable alternative to other energy-intensive desalination technologies,' MIT said.

'Mesh-based Fog Harvesters are passive, inexpensive to fabricate, with close to zero operating costs, and can be deployed in similar environments throughout the world.'

There's approx 10bn m2 of fog water in Chilean cloud, 4% of that will provide drinking water for an entire year, the team say.