Comments on: Bamboo WarkaWater tower harvests potable water from air

By: italian bamboo water feature – Shopping for Others

italian bamboo water feature – Shopping for Others — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 23:28:24 +0000

[…] Bamboo WarkaWater tower harvests potable water from air … […]

By: JO CRYDER

JO CRYDER — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:54:54 +0000

California is experiencing a dramatic drought and has been suffering for years. Since San Diego is in the southern most location from the water sources, our water shortage has always been problematic. It is becoming even more critical as populations expand and will continue to worsen. The warkawater tower system could be an answer for individual residences for water much like solar is for electricity. Since Vittori is currently seeking private or government funders for two towers that he hopes will launch in 2015. Perhaps developing a tower that can be sold to Southern Californians would be another way of raising funds for towers in Ethiopia.

By: Tafline Laylin

Tafline Laylin — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 21:12:47 +0000

Thanks Roland!

By: Roland Wahlgren, Atmoswater Research

Roland Wahlgren, Atmoswater Research — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 05:52:00 +0000

The WarkaWater tower is an interesting advance for enhancing water security. The towers are fog collectors, designed with netting to capture the liquid water droplets from fog. The organization FogQuest issued, in 2010, an update about their fog water resource evaluation studies in northern Ethiopia (see http://www.fogquest.org/?page_id=650). The ‘fog season’ lasts from late May to early January in this region.

The article presented here by Green Prophet flags a ‘related article’ about “…capturing water from thin air in Peru.” The device in the Peruvian billboard is a mechanical dehumidifier with a coil chilled below the dew-point of the the ambient air which enables condensing liquid water from the water vapour in the moist air surrounding Lima. Mechanical dehumidification is a completely different physical process compared to fog collection.

Fog collection is a passive process requiring no artificial energy input. The process is only worthwhile to attempt in a limited number of regions globally having a considerable number of foggy days annually.

Processing of atmospheric water vapour into liquid water by means of mechanical dehumidification requires about 0.4 to 0.6 kWh of energy to produce a litre of liquid water. This process is effective in many tropical locations (latitudes between 30 deg N and 30 deg S) with elevations below, say 500 m.

– Roland Wahlgren, Atmoswater Research