Project description:
Fog collectors combined with drip irrigation
This project is aiming to implement fog collectors combined with drip irrigation to householder and villages in rural area of Eritrean high land. By know it has been successfully shown that fog collectors can harvest good amount of water in Eritrea.
A water source produced by fog collectors combined with drip irrigation have potential to build agriculture business unit that allows people to put up wealthy and also to pay back the fog collectors and irrigation equipment expenses. On top of the pay back there is a commitment with the benefiters to plant trees and sustain them over an 8 years time. In order to success with this pilot project a local committee is going to build to coordinate the benefiters needs such as work shops, fertilizer, materials and usw over 2-3 years.
The project is at the moment on the Phase I, ware a detailed social economical study in three villages in Zoba Maakel region is performing. In the Phase II measurement with 1m2 area test collectors are going to be performed to find suitable location and finally in Phase III the fog collectors including drip irrigation is going to be build.
Status quo fog collectors:
Eritrean high lands has optimum condition for fog collection, there are twenty large fog collector (LFCs) successfully installed and operate in Nefasit ten and Arborobu for elementary school and families since 2007, each oft them have 36 m2 collecting surface area and produced 170 l fog water per collector and day. In total the fog collectors produce 3400 l per day. This project has been implemented with local NGO and WaterFoundation.
Status quo drip irrigation:
What is fog collector?
Fog collector is a simple and innovative technology with which out of fog, water can be collected. For harvesting water out of fog a relative fine mesh is placed between two posts in location where it is fogy and windy. Part of the fog that flows thru the mesh will become little water droplets which then drops down to channel that is installed under the mesh between the two posts. The water flows than via gravity to water tanks. There by there is no electrical or mechanical components required.
What is drip irrigation?
Drip irrigation or micro irrigation is a simple technology for irrigation that helps to save water and fertilize plants at the some time, there by drip irrigation allows dripping water through network of pipelines slowly direct to the soil or plants the tank. As well her the technique doesn’t require any sophisticated mechanism.