CSU Monterey Bay professor catches water with nets

SEASIDE, Calif. (KION-TV)-- A CSU Monterey Bay professor has been working for the past 17 years to perfect technology to collect water from fog.

“I got the idea on a retreat," Applied Environmental Science professor Daniel Fernandez said. "It gets me thinking and it gets me excited”

When it is foggy Fernandez says the nets can collect up many liters of water in a day.

“These fog nets collect water that is in the air that wind blows,” Fernandez said. “Those little droplets of water hit the mesh when enough of those drops of water accumulate on the mess they start to grow.”

If there is too much sun or no fog at all the nets do nothing.

The question arises could these nets contribute to a home's water supply?

“Given our typical water usage, a single house would need 100 square meters of fog mesh and it has to be foggy,” Fernandez said. 

Another problem is that not all types of fog work.

“The type of fog that would be collected more will be the ocean fog or maybe mountain top fog, tulle fog less so because we depend upon the wind," said Fernandez.

As California faces drought concerns this new kind of hope is creeping through the fog right in our own backyard. 

“By studying fog, we get a greater appreciation of water and it might give us hope of what might be possible,” Fernandez said.