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Prospects of Fog Water Collection in Nepal
- The aim of the fog water collection project is to reduce the burden associated with carrying water in the hills of Nepal by creating a sustainable water supply using simple technology based on specific environmental principles. The fog water collection project has been so effective in this regard for several key reasons. First, the systems are operated and maintained by the community. This encourages a notion of ownership and tenure within the community. Secondly, fog represents a very abundant water source that is only limited by the number of collectors one chooses to install. The system can be modified along with the water demands of the community. Thirdly, there is no negative effect on the environment. These three salient points highlight the efficiency and sustainability of fog water collection as a means of rural water supply for hill and ridge communities. Fog water collection systems are designed to incur long term benefits to rural villagers who formerly relied on labor-intensive methods of water procurement. The modular nature of the system also allows communities to use the water for a variety of applications, including seasonal cash-crop production, for small tree nurseries, and for rearing livestock.
- In the ridge and hill communities of Nepal, a technological standard for water supply has really yet to emerge. Steep slopes hinder the transport of water from the source to the point of supply and variable climatic and precipitation patterns impose limitations to effective scientific and technical innovations for water procurement in these regions. Additionally, the changing paradigm towards large-scale water supply infrastructures is not applicable in many remote mountainous areas for lack of roads and resources. Fog water collection represents an innovative solution because it based on an understanding of both the social and physical environment. It also challenges the dominant notion that water has to be expensively lifted from below. Fog collectors tap a natural, atmospheric source of water that is often underestimated though virtually limitless. It is a particularly appealing technology considering most hill communities (who may otherwise benefit from electric pumping schemes) are off the electric grid. Additionally, galvanized CGI roofing an integral and expensive component of rain water harvesting is also rarely incorporated into housing construction in hill areas. Perhaps most prevalent, is that the amount of water available from fog per meter squared of collection surface is greater than that of rain water in many locations.
- In hill villages, women typically spend between six and eight hours per day carrying water for domestic use. Still, few communities meet their minimal requirements and even fewer reach the WHO suggested 45 liters per capita guidelines. The fog water collection project in Dhoje Danda, Dhankuta, produces over 600,000 liters of water per year, which is two times greater than the demand of the small community. Implementing a project of this scale costs between five and six thousand dollars. The social implications of a fog water supply is manifested in two important ways. The time savings afforded by collecting water from fog allows community members to participate in other income generating and/or community development endeavors. The community in Dhoje Danda has been using surpluses from their maintenance fund to build toilets and buy saplings for a small community nursery. In addition to time savings, the fog collection systems have resulted in increased water consumption, and improved hygiene and sanitary practices. The quality of the water being consumed has significantly improved as well, a particularly salient point in a country where only about 42% of the rural population has access to clean drinking wate. (Nepal Water for Health, Annual Report: Commitment to Community, 2002-2003)
- The potential for replication of these pilot projects is very promising and exciting. The systems are easy to construct, and are assembled using materials that can be locally procured in most mountain regions. Thus far fog water collection systems have only been implemented in a small region of Eastern Nepal. However, this region is topologically and climatically representative of a much larger part of the Eastern Himalaya, suggesting that this technology could be used effectively in the Sikkim, West Bengal and Assam states of Northeast India, throughout Bhutan, and certainly parts of the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of China, and Kachin, China and Shin states in Myanmar. Beyond the Hindu-Kush Himalaya, fog water collection has applications for domestic and agricultural use in many foggy regions where there is a social demand for water.
However, further replications and the expansion of fog water collection is restricted by social and technical variables. The social demand for water arises when communities have settled on a ridgeline for reasons other than access to water. For communities that have settled below viable water sources however, appropriate technologies are generally in use, and the demand for fog water collection will be negligible. The second restriction is imposed by the climate and topology of the region in question, both of which will determine the ability of villagers to collect an adequate water supply from fog. For these reasons, fog water collection has a very specific functional niche. Fog water collection represents the simplest, most effective technology available to ridge and hill communities.
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