Faced with low annual rainfall and the depletion of underground aquatic resources, 16 villages of the Sidi Ifni province, in the arid and mountainous region of Aït Baamrane, in the south-west of Morocco, are benefiting from the use of innovative technology to supply their drinking water. Women and girls, to whom the task of fetching water had habitually been assigned, are the main beneficiaries of this advanced technology named CloudFisher. Since 2018, they no longer need to travel long distances, for hours, to seek out this vital resource. Now it flows into their homes. How? Through the collection of mist water, an ancestral know-how that’s been brought back to life thanks to technology.
Perched at an altitude of 1,225 meters, at the summit of Mount Boutmezguida, the slopes of which are regularly enshrouded in mist and clouds that have come in from the Atlantic, a set of nets now form part of the landscape. This metallic structure, which resembles spiders’ webs, is used to capture droplets of water from fog. Driven by the wind, the fog passes through the nets, which trap fine drops of water. “These are then collected in the storage tanks. The water is channeled to the inhabitants’ homes via the pipes and branch connections in place”, explained Aissa Derhem, president of the Dar Si Hmad Foundation, which initiated this extensive project. To date, almost 1,000 people are enjoying the use of this water. Each household is entitled to 5 metric tons of water per month by paying 10 dirhams each month and 7 dirhams per metric ton of water.
“Our system has brought about positive transformations to the communities, especially the women. Rural migration is intense. Men go off looking for a job and women stay at home”, Aissa Derhem said. This project has changed the lives of 300 women and young girls in the village. The Dar Si Hmad Foundation has set up the ‘Water School’ to raise awareness of environmental issues among grade-school children from the villages involved. Reading and writing workshops are also available for the women who benefit from the fog water harvesting project. “Today, these women are our primary representatives in the villages. They are conserving their ancestral role as water guardians. If a problem arises, they alert the team of technicians to repair [it]”, Aissa Derhem explained.
1,088 m² of new nets programmed for 2025
Once a far-fetched dream, access to drinking water has become an everyday reality for the inhabitants of these 16 villages.
“An initial experiment was launched in 2015. The net was woven and so it got torn apart because of the wind. The region is known for its very strong gusts of wind which reach up to 70 km/hr. That caused a lot of problems. They had to be sewn each time. From then on, we decided to install the new CloudFisher system which is more resistant, robust, and durable”, Aissa Derhem said.
Designed by the engineer Peter Trautwein, a member of the German water foundation Wasserstiftung, and CEO of Aqualonis, a company based in Munich that sells the technology, the CloudFisher proved to be very effective after a long trial period carried out at the Boutmezguida site. “More than thirty nets have been erected. It’s the biggest network of water harvesters in the world, covering almost 1,700 square meters”, a representative of Aqualonis said. In addition to its capacity to resist the wind, the net also improves the water collection efficiency. “This system collects 30 liters/m²/event. We get close to one hundred events per year. An ‘event’ refers to the passage of the fog”, the president of the Dar Si Hmad Foundation explained.
“The project benefited from funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation and has been carried out in partnership with the German Munich-RE Foundation and the University of Munich. The Dar Si Hmad Foundation, for its part, ensures and finances the management and maintenance of the system, with its own funds. We have a team of technicians dedicated to this task”, Aissa Derhem said.
This fog water collection project has been a dazzling success. It has won numerous national and international awards and distinctions. The Dar Si Hmad Foundation has decided to extend its collection project to other communities. “We plan to add 1,088 m² of CloudFisher nets in 2025. The first step of the project is to connect six new villages. The second step involves putting up nets on Mount Taloust. We’re also looking at setting up giant nets on Mount Tabtist. Our goal is to install 3,000 m². According to our projections, we’ll be able to achieve a significant yield of around 80 to 90 litres/m² per fog event. Which is huge”, Aissa Derhem said.