Chile – Atacama Desert Center 2007 – Ongoing
Fog Collection Educational Project
Update – July 2009
There are presently two large fog collectors (LFCs) at the Atacama Desert Center (ADC) site in northern Chile. Both were built by members FogQuest and the second one was built by FogQuest in 2008 as part an environmental-educational project. The second LFC continues to provide water for the plantation in what is the driest desert the world. The first LFC provides water for the station house where professors and students work. The project is periodically reviewed and when the needs for water are greater it is anticipated that additional LFCs will be built.
Update – 2008
There are presently two large fog collectors (LFCs) at the Atacama Desert Center (ADC) site in northern Chile. Both were built by members FogQuest and the second one was built by FogQuest in 2008 as part an environmental-educational project. The second LFC continues to provide water for the plantation in what is the driest desert the world. The first LFC provides water for the station house where professors and students work.
This includes an appreciation the plant, insect and animal life that is supported by the fog water. The students go by bus to the newly inaugurated Atacama Desert Center where they participate in field work and lectures. FogQuest agreed to play an important part in the EXPLORA project by funding and constructing a large fog collector (LFC), water storage tank, drip irrigation system, and small greenhouse. We were very fortunate to have received sponsorship for this effort from the Aurora Rotary Club in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and thank the members and the executive for their generous support.
You can see the large fog collector in the video link provided. This one fog collector will provide about 300 liters water a day for the demonstration garden, which includes one olive seedling, one orange seedling, six atriplex, five aloe vera, one alfalfa, and two pine trees. The idea is to show the young students, university students, and other visitors, what can be done by individuals in small projects or in larger projects that are scaled up to produce much more water from 10 or 100 LFCs. The site is at Alto Patache, which in turn is about 8 km from the coastal settlement Chanavaya. Both are near the city Iquique in northern Chile.
Approximate location this project.