Harvesting Fog and Dew for Drinking Water and Vegetable Garden Irrigation

With natural water supplies drying up and disappearing and areas affected by drought increasing in acreage every day, learning how to harvest all available atomized water from the air is important.

Alternative forms of irrigation for green roofs and living walls can sometimes be the primary irrigation source for rooftop plants.  We use air conditioning condensate and dew catchers on many of the green roofs we design.

This morning our lanai screen was covered in water droplets though there was not a cloud anywhere to be seen in the sky, a reminder of the available irrigation potential.

Dew available for Green Roof Irrigation

Additionally, a quick early morning walk through the garden offered up the opportunity to see dew droplets all across the vegetable leaves and other plants.

Dew available for irrigation in the garden

Dew can be an important source of 'free' irrigation.  Learning how to harvest the condensed water vapor is easy, as humans have been tapping this resource for ages.

Check out the TreeHugger article here for an informative look at how dew catchers provide drinking and irrigation water to some of Peru's underdeveloped areas.

Then check out an amazing YouTube video showing the construction of a DIY dew catcher!

Always consider dew as an irrigation source when designing vertical green in the Urban Core.