This video from BBC News explores the potential of fog nets to alleviate the water crisis on Peru’s populated desert coast.
As you wander through the urban environments of the capital city of Lima, it’s easy to forget that you are in the middle of a desert. It almost never rains here on Peru’s central coast, but we do get plenty of fog during the Southern Hemisphere winter (June-August).
This constant fog produces some interesting effects on the hills around the capital. Where the conditions are right, it can even produce bright green hills covered in grass and beautiful vegetation, such as occurs in the Lomas de Lachay.
Beautiful national reserves aside, Lima is in a present and impending water crisis. With nearly a third of the country’s population, at least 9 million people live in the extended metropolitan area. This makes Lima the 2nd most populated city in the world in a desert eco-region, after Cairo in Egypt (Cairo’s metropolitan area has nearly 23 million people!).
What makes Lima unique is that it is a desert constantly covered in haze during the winter season, and at some altitudes the fog rises year-round. Someone had the brilliant idea to use this natural phenomenon (caused by the cold Peru Current that originates in Antarctic waters) to help solve Lima’s water crisis.
BBC News takes a critical look at this deceptively simple looking technology called “the fog net” in the video below. Let us know what you think of it!
Video Courtesy Of: BBC News Youtube Channel
