Fishing for Clouds
The CloudFisher technology traps water droplets like a spider’s web and stores them for future use
Put simply, fog is a cloud that touches the ground. It forms when warm, damp air cools down. As this happens, millions of tiny water droplets are formed. And voilá! Condensation is created. Fog is common in both coastal regions and mountainous areas. However, many of these areas do not have adequate access to freshwater. Aqualonis, based in Munich, Germany, created the CloudFisher to capture water condensation so that it could be used for drinking or agricultural activities. A CloudFisher looks like a tightly woven square fisherman’s net suspended vertically in a metal frame. Water droplets form as clouds pass through the net and then run downwards into a container for future use. CloudFishers are used in places like California, Tanzania, Eritrea, and Morocco. The amount of water captured varies by country and season. In Morocco, for example, the annual average is 23 liters per square meter of net area and fog day. This corresponds to 1,242 liters per CloudFisher (54 m²) and fog day.