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Thirst quenches as the fog appears
Even though the morning looks like it's going to be bright and sunny, the fog is slowly starting to get thicker. At the rate it is thickening, Chandra Maya Limbu's face brightens up. She says "If the fog stays like this for 3 hours then today I won't have to go to fetch water"
Just above her house, in a narrow valley huge black nets are suspended. The volleyball like nets arouses many people's curiosity. A distant glance at these nets, it cannot be imagined that they collect water from fog which is supplied through two water points to eleven houses in Dhwajaydanda.
This remarkable technology was first experimented in South America a decade ago. In the case of Nepal, where it is not economically and technically viable to provide water through regular sources, especially in hilly regions where there is no snowfall, fog water harvesting has been identified as an effective alternative source.
NEWAH has been constantly involved in implementing drinking water and sanitation programs for rural communities and now is undertaking fog water harvesting wherever necessary or feasible. NEWAH in partnership with Solve a local organization in Dhankuta provided water to people in Dhwajaydanda. One of the schools in Megma in Ilam, receives water through NEWAH's fog water scheme. Drinking water to devotees in a temple in Pathibhara of Taplejung is also made available through this programme.
Simple technology
During the cold season when the hill is covered with fog tiny drops of water accumulates in the hair, eyelashes, and moustache. Drops of water also drip from the pine trees. Fog, which is in vapor form turns to water when it comes in to contact with any kind of fibre. Thus, on this basis, the process of collecting fog water has been conceptualised.
According to Pradeep Regmi, fog water supervisor of NEWAH, fog water is collected through polypropylene a material used for protecting nursery plants. One square meter of net is posted in the foggiest and most windy area to detect in which season how much water is collected from fog. In areas tested to collect high amount of water, a ten-meter long, and five feet high net is posted a few feet above ground level. When the fog hits the net it form into drops of water and travels through a drain on the lower part of the net and gets collected in the tank. The density and speed of fog and the population to be served are factors that decide the number of nets to be used.
Providing easy access to drinking water is not a simple goal, as it may sound. If large amount of money is invested, water can be made available even if the source is far away. However, where there is no source at all, providing water to people's houses is a difficult task. Regmi says, "In areas where Fog water harvesting is carried out drinking water problem is solved to some extent".
Last year, during March the storms pulled down five of the six fog nets in Dhwajaydanda. The village people had posted the nets firmly with the help of the NEWAH staff but the nets could not withstand the strong winds. The technicians from NEWAH express that, "The main challenge to this technology is the damages caused by the winds and storms." They inform, "In new project areas the size of the net has been reduced for them to stand the strong winds."
Although, management is a difficult part, this technology has largely fulfilled the thirst of many consumers. A retired British army soldier 'Man Bahadur Limbu' who served 20 years in the army says, "I have roamed the whole world but I had never seen such a technology. I had seen water dripping from trees but I didn't have the brains to collect, probably thats why we've been facing hardships for all these days."
To collect the fog water, 20,000-liter tank has been constructed in Dhwajaydanda. The technicians assume, "If it fogs regularly then the tank should fill within the winters." "The strong winds trouble us a lot, we have to keep checking the net almost everyday, at the end of it all our hard work pays, at least we don't have to spend a whole day to fill a pot (Gagri) of water." Dambar Tamang of Dhwajaydanda says, "If we can protect the net from the March winds then the tank will get filled by November January, once it gets filled we won't have to go down to collect water."
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