Abstract:The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, calling for access to safe water and sanitation for all by the year 2030 supports the efforts in water-scarce countries and regions to go beyond conventional resources and tap unconventional water supplies to narrow the water demand-supply gap. Among the unconventional water resources, the potential to collect water from the air, such as fog harvesting, is by far the most under-explored. Fog water collection is a passive, low maintenance, and sustainable option that can supply fresh drinking water to communities where fog events are common. Because of the relatively simple design of fog collection systems, their operation and maintenance are minimal and the associated cost likewise; although, in certain cases, some financially constrained communities would need initial subsidies. Despite technology development and demonstrated benefits, there are certain challenges to fog harvesting, including lack of supportive policies, limited functional local institutions, inexpert communities, gender inequality, and perceived high costs without undertaking comprehensive economic analyses. By addressing such challenges, there is an opportunity to provide potable water in areas where fog intensity and duration are sufficient, and where the competition for clean water is intensifying because water resources are at a far distance or provided by expensive sources.
From climate change to poverty to women's marginalization, humanitarian problems in rural Berber communities on the edge of the Sahara Desert in southwest Morocco -as in much of the developing world -are part of an inter-related web of social and natural systems. The semi-arid southern region of Aït Baamrane is one of the poorest in Morocco and has multiple health, education and sustainable development needs. Despite the human and ecological challenges that afflict those communities, fog remains a constant. Dar Si Hmad for Development, Education and Culture, a local Moroccan NGO, along with an international consortium of engineers and researchers has designed and installed a fogwater harvesting project that provides a holistic approach to addressing complex development challenges. The fog-collection system delivers potable water to hundreds of rural residents who have never had running water. This humanitarian technology project is based on deep local engagement and a shared commitment to education and environmental stewardship, which is reflected in training local community members, particularly women, to operate and manage the new fog-water catchment system. Furthermore, research and the advancement of scientific knowledge are core components of the initiative, and Dar Si Hmad works closely with engineers and social scientists who are committed to sharing useful science and technology with developing communities.This humanitarian technology initiative seeks to: promote fog as a viable source of potable water provide clean water to landlocked, rural communities in southwest Morocco free women and children from the time-consuming chore of collecting water contribute to stabilizing communities through sustainable development integrate emerging technologies to enhance water security combine community participation and engineering innovation with research in a comprehensive project that serves local needs and advances scholarship provide a case study for collaborative partnerships in rural North Africa and other semi-arid regions.
Fog harvesting techniques for water collection have been implemented successfully worldwide for several decades. However, at locations with high wind speeds, traditional installations require high maintenance efforts endangering the sustainability of projects. Furthermore, the efficiency of fog collection meshes and the water quality in the field are key questions for the implementation of large-scale facilities. This study presents a novel, durable fog collector design and investigates the yield (fog + rain) and inorganic water quality of different potential collection meshes at a test site in Morocco. The pilot facility proved very reliable with only minimal maintenance required. Rankings of the efficiency of different fog nets were set up, with monofilaments and three-dimensional structures tending to show higher yields than woven fabrics such as the traditional 'Raschel' mesh. However, differences from fog event to fog event could be identified. Water quality was better than that of local wells and met WHO guidelines, except for the 'first flush' just after the start of fog events.
The proliferation of text-based applications in the Mobiles for Development (M4D) domain tends to privilege the conventional wisdom that texting is a ubiquitous skill among mobile phone users. This view obscures many real and present barriers to using SMS and mobile features, most critically where low literate and/or oral language-dependent communities cannot rely on text as a viable communications system. This paper investigates mobile "utility gaps"-the spaces between high rates of mobile phone ownership and low use of productive features on mobile phones. These gaps preclude the adoption of many text-based development initiatives, which in turn affects the potential impact of such initiatives. Working with low-literate Berber-Muslim women in a predominantly oral-language community in rural southwest Morocco, we have found that an overall lack of functional literacy and numeracy is a major contributor to a mobile utility gap in that community. Non-standard mobile phone interfaces, a complex language environment with both Arabic and Berber dialects and multiple alphabets and gender-specific cultural norms also present significant impediments to using mobile phones as a development strategy in the Berber communities studied. Furthermore, we explore the paradox of social networks where a reliance on others to assist with phone use is often coupled with surveillance and a loss of privacy. These results are potentially relevant to projects involving other indigenous communities in North Africa.
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